12 more google tips and tricks you need to know

1.Find similar sites:

Here's another handy operator: Related. This one helps you find pages that are similar to one you already know about, so for example related: techradar.com tells you about our sister sites and some of our rivals.

2.Get nutritional information:

Bacon Tofu google tipsWhat a surprise - bacon isn't as healthy as tofu

Some food-related searches will display nutritional information, so looking for chocolate cake will display the calories, nutrients, vitamins and fat in a typical recipe. 

Where it gets clever is when you tell Google to compare things, such as compare apples and oranges or compare bacon and tofu.

3.Search between two numbers:

You can restrict Google's search to a specific number range by using two dots, such as 1914..1918 or $250..$350. Annoyingly the financial one doesn't recognise UK pounds: if you type £100..£150 you'll get results in the $100-$150 range instead.

4.Find specific files:

The filetype: operator enables you to search for specific kinds of file, such as Word documents or PDFs. Google indexes most things, so it's just a matter of dropping the dot from the file extension and searching for filetype:xml, filetype:svg or filetype:cs. It's important to note that Google only searches for the file extension, so an XML document that isn't saved with the .xml extension won't show up in a filetype:xml search.

5.Find apps:

You can bring Google's search powers to the world of smartphone apps by clicking More > Apps at the top of the results page. That's particularly handy for Android users, as Android can install apps you select from the Google Play website using your desktop browser.

6.Customise your search settings:

Google enables you to customise your search results in several ways. You can use SafeSearch to filter explicit results (and lock it so the kids can't go in to your search settings and switch it off again), turn Google's instant results off, increase the number of results you get per page and make selected search results open in a new window when you click on them.

7.Personalise your search settings:

If you let it, Google can record your search history and provide access to it on any device. There are several benefits to doing so: You will get more relevant results because Google knows more about you, you'll get better search predictions, and you can search your history for stuff you've looked for previously. 

Google even organises it into categories such as shopping, news, images and travel. The downside, of course, is that it also records anything dodgy or embarrassing you might have looked for.

8.Translate from one language to another:

Translate - Google tipsNow you can quickly offer flowery insults in any language. Need to translate something in a hurry? Just type translate language A language B (where language A is the language you're translating from and language B the language you're translating to) and you'll see a big friendly translator at the top of the page.

9.See what others are searching for:

Google Trends shows you what others in your country are searching for, with occasionally puzzling results: at the time of writing the UK is interested in Boris Johnson, FIFA 15 and Vitamin D. Google even provides a screensaver that shows you real-time searches - presumably with filtering to screen out the scary stuff.

10.See Google's best doodles:

If you click I'm Feeling Lucky without entering any search criteria Google will take you to its collection of doodles, the customised logos it uses to mark important dates

11.Uncover Easter eggs:

Monster - Google tipsTravel in style, or at least pretend to with Google Maps. If you search for google in 1998 you'll see Google as it was when it first launched. It's not the only Google Easter egg: searching do the harlem shake in YouTube makes the screen dance while do a barrel roll will spin the screen around. In maps, getting directions from Fort Augustus to Urquhart Castle in Scotland enables you to travel by Loch Ness Monster.

12.Do everything in a single screen:

Google's Advanced Search page enables you to use many of its most useful features without having to remember the operators that make them work - so you can enter number ranges, specify the exact words to look for, filter by language, date, reading level, file type or usage rights, restrict your search to a particular site or domain… you get the idea.