TEAM LinG 01_599305_ffirs.qxd 7/15/05 6:50 PM Page i Google™ Search & Rescue FOR DUMmIES‰ 01_599305_ffirs.qxd 7/15/05 6:50 PM Page ii 01_599305_ffirs.qxd 7/15/05 6:50 PM Page iii Google™ Search & Rescue FOR DUMmIES‰ by Brad Hill 01_599305_ffirs.qxd 7/15/05 6:50 PM Page iv GoogleTM Search & Rescue For Dummies® Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Google is a trademark of Google, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2005924613 ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-9930-9 ISBN-10: 0-7645-9930-5 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1B/QT/QY/QV/IN 01_599305_ffirs.qxd 7/15/05 6:50 PM Page v About the Author Brad Hill has worked in the online field since 1992 and is regarded as a pre- eminent advocate of the online experience. As a best-selling author of books and in his columns, Hill reaches a global audience of consumers who rely on his writings to help determine their online service choices. Brad’s books include a Publishers Weekly bestseller and a Book-of-the-Month catalog selection. Brad’s titles in the For Dummies series include Internet Searching For Dummies, Building Your Business with Google For Dummies, and Yahoo! For Dummies. He operates the Search Report Web site (www.TheSearchReport.com) and is a staff blogger at WeblogsInc (www.weblogsinc.com). Brad is often consulted in the media’s coverage of the Internet. He appears on television and radio Webcasts and is quoted in publications such as Business Week, the New York Times, and PC World. Brad doesn’t get outdoors much. Sunshine baffles him. As compensation, he is listed in Who’s Who and is a member of The Author’s Guild. 01_599305_ffirs.qxd 7/15/05 6:50 PM Page vi 01_599305_ffirs.qxd 7/15/05 6:50 PM Page vii Author’s Acknowledgments Every book is a partnership of author and editor. Susan Pink is the editor of this book and a collaborator in other projects as well. Her keenness, careful reading, and incisive comments shine through every paragraph . except for the extra chapter I slipped in at the last second. You’ll know it when you see it. Besides being an unusually fine editor who makes me look a lot better than I would without her, Susan has a gift for remaining calm during the most intense deadline crises. She also laughs at all the right times. Colin Banfield had the challenging job of technical editor. His insights were invaluable. Many thanks to Tom Stocky at Google for his unflinching willingness to answer my seemingly endless, detailed questions. Melody Layne at Wiley Publishing nursed this project from the start, getting it off the ground quickly and helping shape its focus. I’m very thankful. Mary Corder pulled me into the For Dummies family several years ago, and is, by now, sick of seeing her name pop up in my acknowledgments. But I am for- ever grateful, so she’ll have to deal with it. Many thanks to all the copy editors and production experts who pored over every page of the manuscript. Finally, I’d like to thank the Pulitzer Committee for this fine honor. Oops . that speech is from an alternate reality. 01_599305_ffirs.qxd 7/15/05 6:50 PM Page viii Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Media Development Project Coordinator: Adrienne Martinez Project Editor: Susan Pink Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Acquisitions Editor: Melody Layne Barry Offringa, Julie Trippetti Technical Editor: Colin Banfield Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer, Editorial Manager: Carol Sheehan Joe Niesen, TECHBOOKS Production Services Media Development Supervisor: Richard Graves Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth Special Help Tom Stocky Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director Publishing for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 02_0599305_ftoc.qxd 7/15/05 6:51 PM Page ix Contents at a Glance Introduction ................................................................1 Part I: Jumping Into Google ..........................................9 Chapter 1: Google Saves the Day, Every Day ...............................................................11 Chapter 2: Reclaiming Your Time from Wasteful Searching .......................................21 Part II: Taming Google ...............................................49 Chapter 3: Recovering the Facts: Using Google as an Answer Engine .....................51 Chapter 4: Froogle and Google Catalogs Rescue Your Gift List .................................65 Chapter 5: Saving Yourself from TV News with Google News ...................................85 Chapter 6: Preserving Online Conversations with Google Groups ...........................97 Chapter 7: Mapping the Web’s Terrain .......................................................................125 Part III: Specialty Searching ....................................133 Chapter 8: Searching the Neighborhood ....................................................................135 Chapter 9: Shining the Search Spotlight on Specialty Categories ...........................167 Chapter 10: The Professional Rescue Team at Google Answers .............................175 Chapter 11: Experimenting in Google Labs ................................................................193 Part IV: Putting Google to Work ................................211 Chapter 12: Lifelines: Googling from Anywhere ........................................................213 Chapter 13: Reclaiming Your Lost Stuff: Google Desktop to the Rescue ................225 Chapter 14: Saved by a Thread: Reinventing E-mail with Gmail .............................233 Chapter 15: Giving Your Visitors a Leg Up: Google on Your Site .............................245 Part V: The Business of Google ..................................253 Chapter 16: Bringing Google and Its Users to Your Site ...........................................255