Become a Google Search Master (here's how)

Category: Search-Engines

Google is offering online video classes aimed at turning ordinary mortals into Google “Power Searchers” who can use the search giant’s most sophisticated tools to quickly search, research complex questions, and find the most pertinent results. You might be surprised by how well that pays, and by the might of your own Google Fu. Read on, grasshopper...

Opportunities for Google Search Experts

“Internet Researcher” is the generic job title, and it’s part of the new “gig economy.” Working from home - or wherever else you can find Internet access - a generalist Internet Researcher is needed by companies large and small. Such experts can answer questions like:

What is the market for widgets in a defined geographic area? What laws and regulations impact a business planned in a given city and state? How does weather influence sales of a given product?

Large corporations may employ Internet Researchers to answer a steady flow of questions full-time, paying $50,000 to $65,000 per year according to salaries reported at Glassdoor.com. Smaller firms engage freelance Internet Researchers for ad hoc assignments; freelancers tend to earn less, in the $38,000 to $45,000 range. You can find this type of gig on sites like Flexjobs, Upwork, and Fiverr.

How to become a Google Power Search Master

Working from home (or the beach, if you can get Internet access), interesting problems to solve, and work/life balance are the top advantages that Internet Researchers see in their jobs. Income potential and career advancement prospects are two of the downsides.

Google offered its first advanced search courses back in 2013, and established a global community of Power Searchers who graduated from it. That alumni association acts as a cadre of ambassadors, first for the many uses of search, and secondly for Google Search.

The curriculum for Google Power Searchers is taught by Daniel Russell, a senior research scientist at Google. It consists of two segments. The first, “Power Searching With Google” is a series of videos grouped into three Units: Introduction, Interpreting Results and Advanced Techniques. Students progress as their own individual paces; there is no time frame for completing the course.

The second half, “Advanced Power Searching” consists of challenges in which a student learns by actually searching, interpreting results, and applying techniques to refine the results (literally, “re-searching”). The techniques include the less well known operators and search modifiers, Google properties aside from Search that may yield fruit, and strategies for homing in on the ideal information as fast and efficiently as possible. This course consists of video and text components. It is also self-paced.

The Power Searching classes may be found here.

One thing you'll learn in these courses is how to use Google search operators to help you refine your search results. For example, you can use the site: operator to limit results to a specific website. Here is an example search phrase:

inbound faxes site:askbobrankin.com -- will find pages that contain the phrase "inbound faxes" at askbobrankin.com only.

If you want to explore advanced Google search options on your own, see my related article Here's How to Strengthen Your Google Fu.

“Internet Researcher” sounds a lot cooler than “Uber driver,” is much more convenient, and probably pays better. What question might you pose to one? What are your favorite Google search tips? Your thoughts on this topic are welcome. Post your comment or question below...

 
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This article was posted by on 23 Jun 2020


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Most recent comments on "Become a Google Search Master (here's how)"

Posted by:

Ed Maps
23 Jun 2020

This sounds so much like the spam comments on many web articles that tell you how to earn thousands of $ from home. Can we assume this is legit?


Posted by:

RandiO
23 Jun 2020

Thank you for all that you do to keep us informed.
When there are jobs like an Internet Researcher at $50-65k range; how could I possibly recommend anyone to go for STEM and then get into hock for a Bachelor's of Science degree?


Posted by:

Charles James
23 Jun 2020

Thanks, as always for the newsletter. One thing that was annoying was the repeated LendingTree ad. It was annoying and disruptive of the reading process, especially if the reader has no interest or need for a loan. I don't begrudge you making money off of your skills and knowledge. I've benefited from it and have probably told several hundred people by now about your website, but please...don't go totally commercial on us. Thanks.


Posted by:

RandiO
23 Jun 2020

@CharlesJames: I am not sure if AskBob will allow you to use an adBlocker, if you promise to continue your evangelical efforts to tell "several hundred people"... Or, at least, buy him a few Snicker bars.


Posted by:

David
23 Jun 2020

I see ads, but nothing that I would call intrusive. No pop-ups, just inline.


Posted by:

Brian B
23 Jun 2020

One major complaint I have with Google advanced search, is that if you need to go back to the input page to fine tune your search question, or even correct a typo, all the filters you applied have been wiped clean, requiring you to re input them all.


Posted by:

DesC
24 Jun 2020

When I click on "continue reading", it defaults to Mozilla Firefox. The ONLY advert I receive is a small box top right hand corner for PC Matic. The other adverts are totally blank and signified by a "working circle" as in Windows 10. I must, however, add:
1. I use Linux Mint
2. I am resident in Europe, not USA
BUT
3. When I "copy and paste" the address for "continue reading" into Opera I get the same absence of adverts, BUT NOT WITH Chromium - all the adverts are there, visible AND annoying. If Firefox/Opera/Vivaldi/Brave etc. etc.


Posted by:

DesC
24 Jun 2020

etc. etc. do not hide the adverts, then change from Windows if it's really annoying.
Interesting as always, Bob, keep up the good work!


Posted by:

TrishQ
24 Jun 2020

I am using AdBlock on Chrome under Windows 10 and I have no problem with the link or with ads. Only the little one for PCMatic appears. If I did find something annoying I would try to fix or get around it. Keep up the good work although the paranoia on this site seems a bit over the top at times from my vantage point in Australia!


Posted by:

citellus
24 Jun 2020

To Charles James and others;
Yes, sometimes the ads are annoying. But Bob has nothing to do with that. The web site that hosts his messages is independent from his messages and does whatever they want.

And I got no Lending Tree ads. They get switched around. I got mostly Samsung ads.


Posted by:

Joel Bergmann
24 Jun 2020

Very nice. I could do with a hefty income for doing research from home! My problem is that the new Google Internet Researcher icon looks too much like the old Soviet "Star" emblem with a hammer and sickle in the center!!


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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Become a Google Search Master (here's how) (Posted: 23 Jun 2020)
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