Google: searching with the asterisk Aug10 '05
I am really enjoying the latest feature for searching via Google: fill in the blank.
The deal is... whenever your search can be posed as a question, you can rephrase it so that there is a "blank," of which Google will fill.
This probably won’t make sense without some examples.
‘Search Query’ Report examples
I took a look at my search query report for yesterday, and I chose some phrases that could have been converted to a "fill in the blank" question:
- difference between atom and rss
- My site is listed 4th or 5th, but the entry that Google links to doesn’t help, because I never answered the question, "What is the difference between Atom and RSS?" Rather, I just speculated on the topic, and left it open.
- A better search would be: the difference between atom and rss is *
- My site doesn’t show up here at all, and rightfully so - because I never had the answer anyway.
Notice the asterisk in the second query above. That asterisk tells Google to search for phrases with the words surrounding the asterisk, in sentence order, where the asterisk can be any words in between.
Here’s another common search query that often shows an entry on my site, as a result:
- wps file
- Once again, I wrote an entry that speculates on this topic, rather than answering the question, "What is a WPS file?" - which is what anyone searching for "wps file" would probably want to see.
- A better search would be: a wps file is *
Both of these revised searches above will produce better results, rather than speculation.
Other fun examples
Here are some more fun examples of searching with the asterisk, which I came up with off the top of my head:
- jimmy carter was the * president of the united states
- * was the first internet browser
- the united states entered world war I in *
- * is the tallest building in the world
- there are * billion people in the world
I could have fun with this all day.
Categories: Search 
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Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.
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