10 Google Search Hacks Everyone Should Know

It's not just you. Google Search has become significantly worse in recent years. In the past, you only had to watch out for low-quality content filled with SEO-bait keywords. Today, you have to be wary of AI-generated garbage, misinformation, and a generally worse UI. Still, it's not impossible to find good search results on Google. I've found a number of tricks that have helped me reduce the number of low-quality entries Google returns for my searches. Here are 10 such tips everyone should know about before their next search:

Remove AI from results

Credit: Pranay Parab

I'm still annoyed by Google's decision to slap AI right at the top of search results, and I make it a point to get rid of it every time I use a new browser or a new device. Doing this is much harder if you're using the Google Search app, so stick to web browsers if you want to rid yourself of AI results. To that end, there are actually a few easy ways to remove AI from Google's results. The quickest is to add -ai to your search queries and Google will remove AI results. Alternatively, you can try using the Hide Gemini browser extension.

Return Google search to 10 blue links

Google's best days were when it showed a simple page with 10 blue links the moment you searched for anything. If you want to return to that simplicity, you can use the Web search filter in Google. Once you search for something on Google, click the More button below the search bar up top, and select Web. This will remove all the clutter from Google Search and return 10 webpages at a time. If you use Chrome, you can simply type "web" in the address bar to start a Web search.

I've also written about a browser extension called Lucky, which does the same thing in Safari for iPhone. Lucky is available at a one-time fee of $3, and, in my opinion, it's well worth the price.

Search a particular domain

If you know the domain you want to visit, you can limit your search to that domain alone. For example, you could restrict results to .gov if you only want to look at official US government sites, or .fr if you only wish to search websites registered in France. Just add site:.gov (or any other domain of your choice) to your search queries, and you'll find better results that way. It's also useful if you want to restrict searches to .ac.uk or .edu sites, which are more education-focused.

Restrict results to one website

If you've found a trusted source that you like, such as Lifehacker, you can use Google to restrict your results only to that website. You can add site:lifehacker.com to your queries on Google, and it'll only show you results from this website. Just replace the name of the site with whichever one you like. This method is often better than using that site's internal search tools, too.

Look for specific file formats

When you're looking for specific information, you may be better off searching for a particular file format. For instance, if you're looking for scientific articles, you may have a better chance of finding a pdf file than a web result. In these cases, you can use the filetype:pdf filter to locate pdf files, and you can replace the file type to locate results in a different file format.

Google has easily accessible filters

If you're finding significantly worse results using Google search, you can try to refine the results by using Google's built-in filters. Just below the search bar, you'll see a few tabs such as All, News, More, Tools, etc. Click through each of these to eliminate certain types of results. Specifically, the Tools tab lets you refine results by date, and even allows you to remove results for related search terms and focus only on exact matches.

Use Google's Advanced Search

Credit: Pranay Parab

Sometimes, basic Google search tools just aren't good enough to find what you need. This is particularly true when your search terms include words that are popular for other reasons. For instance, you're searching "president," but not the president of your country. This is where advanced search could help you remove unwanted results. You can go to the Google Advanced Search page and use all the filters there to find what you need. Each filter has a helpful description right next to it, which makes it easy to figure out what you're doing.

Try reverse image search

Google also allows you to upload files and images to find results. Open Google search and click the + button in the search bar to upload a file or an image. You can attach a query to the image, and Google will help answer that question, or you can even look for images similar to the one you've uploaded. This can be useful if you want to detect fake profiles online, as scammers often steal profile photos from others to create a fake identity.

Use content blockers to hide unwanted results

If you can't always be bothered with using various manual methods to hide all the junk from your Google Search results, consider using a content blocker to do so. My favorite has long been uBlock Origin, which is available on desktop and on mobile. It'll remove all sponsored results, unwanted product listings, and most types of junk from your Google results.

Set your favorite websites as preferred sources

If you really like and trust certain websites, you should add those as preferred sources on Google. This will ensure that results from those sites are highlighted among search results and the Top Stories section in your search results. Google rolled this feature out in 2025, and it's the most effective way to find information from higher quality websites. If you'd like, you can click this link to add Lifehacker as a preferred source.

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