Advance Search on Google

Using the search engine of Google can have additional advantages in helping with your family history research. The following are some key tricks to try using Google.

First use Google’s ‘Advance Search’ box. It is located in the main search box for Google. The Advance Search is to the far lower right corner with the title ‘Settings‘. Click on it. Now there are many things to select from to help narrow your search. For exact if you have an exact phrase such as a hometown or a business name, using this section will help.

If you need a specific name not to be found in a certain location, such as Henry Jones in Baltimore, Maryland you add that. You won’t get any pages with Henry Jones in Baltimore.

For finding sites in a different language, place the language but don’t worry with Google’s translation ability, you can still read it in whatever language you need.

An item overlooked are files in PDF (portable digital files) which could prove to hold a wealth of information. Under the selection of file type, you select PDF and that only those files appear for what you looking for.

By having Google return only pages where your ancestor’s name appears and excluded several sites and terms you did not want to see results from. These simple changes allowed a whole new group of sites to be presented, places where new records can be found.  

Photos: Google ‘Settings’ main page and Google Advance Search Page.

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