Google Hacks: Tips & Tools for Finding and Using the World's Information

Google Hacks: Tips & Tools for Finding and Using the World's Information
by Paul Bausch, Rael Dornfest, Tara Calishain

Google Hacks: Tips & Tools for Finding and Using the World's Information
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Book Summary Information

Author: Paul Bausch, Rael Dornfest, Tara Calishain
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-10
ISBN: 0596527063
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Book Reviews of Google Hacks: Tips & Tools for Finding and Using the World's Information

Book Review: New 3rd edition shows Google's expanded capabilities
Summary: 5 Stars

Google entered the world of search engines in 1998. It was a second incarnation of a search engine service known as BackRub. The name Google was a play on the word googol: a one followed by a hundred zeros. From the beginning, Google was different from the other major search engines online, winning converts with its friendly presentation and constantly expanding set of options.

In April 2002, Google began offering the Google API, which gives programmers a way to access the Google search results with automated queries. While you can still do all the searching, sifting, and sorting by hand, these queries can now be programmatically automated. This book is dedicated to showing Google users all of the tips and tricks that will make you a power user of this very advanced search engine. There have been lots of changes to Google since the 2nd edition of this book, so a new 3rd edition was really quite necessary. The table of contents is as follows:

Chapter 1, Web - This chapter describes the fundamentals of how Google's search works. You'll find tips and tricks for Google's special syntax; specialty searches such as the phonebook, calculator, package, and stock tracking; the Google cache; related links; and more. This chapter shows how to squeeze out every last bit of searching power from each syntax--and how to mix and match for some truly powerful searches.
Hack 1. Browse the Google Directory
Hack 2. Glean a Snapshot of Google in Time
Hack 3. Visualize Google Results
Hack 4. Check Your Spelling
Hack 5. Google Phonebook: Let Google's Fingers Do the Walking
Hack 6. Look Up Definitions
Hack 7. Find Directories of Information
Hack 8. Cover Your Bases
Hack 9. Hack Your Own Google Search Form
Hack 10. Compare Google and Yahoo! Search Results
Hack 11. Cover Your Tracks
Hack 12. Improve Google's Memory
Hack 13. Find Out What Google Thinks ___ Is
Hack 14. Browse the World Wide Photo Album
Hack 15. Find Similar Images
Hack 16. Track Stocks

Chapter 2, Advanced Web - Shows how to automate your web trawling, crawling, and recombination by hacking Google programmatically. Assumes you already have a programming background.
Hack 17. Assemble Advanced Search Queries
Hack 18. Search with Synonyms
Hack 19. Capture Google Results in a Google Box
Hack 20. Cook with Google
Hack 21. Permute a Query
Hack 22. Summarize Results by Domain
Hack 23. Measure Google Mindshare
Hack 24. SafeSearch Certify URLs
Hack 25. Search Google Topics
Hack 26. Run a Google Popularity Contest
Hack 27. Scrape Yahoo! Buzz for a Google Search
Hack 28. Compare Google's Results with Other Search Engines
Hack 29. Scattersearch with Yahoo! and Google
Hack 30. Yahoo! Directory Mindshare in Google
Hack 31. Spot Trends with Geotargeting
Hack 32. Bring the Google Calculator to the Command Line
Hack 33. Build Your Own Google Search Feeds
Hack 34. Search Google by Link Graph
Hack 35. Download Google Videos as AVI Files

Chapter 3, News and Blogs - Find out how to use a combination of Google tools to gather the latest news and opinions from across the Web. Search the media, casual conversations, and commentary by millions of people on their personal blogs. Get involved in a group discussion or start a blog of your own.
Hack 36. Scrape Google News
Hack 37. Visualize Google News
Hack 38. Map Google News
Hack 39. Track Your Favorite Sites
Hack 40. Scrape Google Groups
Hack 41. Seek Out Blog Commentary
Hack 42. Glean Blog-Free Google Results
Hack 43. Find Blog Commentary for Any URL with a Single Click
Hack 44. Track Topics on Blogs over Time
Hack 45. Blog from Your Desktop
Hack 46. Program Blogger with PHP

Chapter 4, Extending Google - Shows you how to go beyond the web browser, integrating Google into your toolbar, desktop, and browser. Take advantage of some of the services modeled on Google. Search on the go via instant messenger or from your phone or PDA.
Hack 47. Keep Tabs on Your Searches with Google Alerts
Hack 48. Google Your Desktop
Hack 49. Google with Bookmarklets
Hack 50. Google from IRC
Hack 51. Google on the Go
Hack 52. Google over IM
Hack 53. Googlify Your Browser
Hack 54. Search with Google from Any Web Page
Hack 55. Customize the Firefox Quick Search Box
Hack 56. Build a Google Screensaver
Hack 57. Add a Feed to Google Quickly
Hack 58. Tame Long Google URLs
Hack 59. Autocomplete Search Terms as You Type
Hack 60. Refine Your Google Search
Hack 61. Make Google More Accessible for Low-Vision Users
Hack 62. Search for Lyrics on Google

Chapter 5, Google Maps - Google Maps has changed the way people interact with geographic information with its clean, immersive interface for maps. Take a look at how you can use Google Maps to learn about your neighborhood and your world. And then find out how to mash-up your own data with Google Maps using the Google Maps API.
Hack 63. Think Global, Google Local
Hack 64. Get Around Google Maps
Hack 65. Find Yourself (and Others) on Google Maps
Hack 66. Build Your Own Google Map
Hack 67. Add a Google Map to Your Web Site
Hack 68. Map Flickr Contacts
Hack 69. Fly Across the Earth

Chapter 6, Gmail - Google's Gmail isn't your average, ordinary web mail service. This section delves deeply into its capabilities.
Hack 70. Create and Use Custom Addresses
Hack 71. Import Your Contacts into Gmail
Hack 72. Import Mail into Gmail
Hack 73. Export Your Gmail
Hack 74. Gmail on the Go
Hack 75. Use Gmail as a Linux Filesystem
Hack 76. Use Gmail as a Hard Drive
Hack 77. Program Gmail
Hack 78. Force Gmail to Use a Secure Connection

Chapter 7, Webmastering - If you're a web wrangler, you see Google from two sides: from the searcher side and from the side of those who want to get the best possible search ranking for their web sites. In this chapter, you'll learn about Google's PageRank, how to clean up for a Google visit, how to make money with your pages, and how to make sure your pages aren't indexed by Google if you don't want them to be.
Hack 79. A Webmaster's Introduction to Google
Hack 80. Get Inside the PageRank Algorithm
Hack 81. 26 Steps to 15 KB a Day
Hack 82. Be a Good Search Engine Citizen
Hack 83. Clean Up for a Google Visit
Hack 84. Remove Your Materials from Google
Hack 85. Get the Most Out of AdWords
Hack 86. Generate Google AdWords
Hack 87. Scrape Google AdWords
Hack 88. Add Search to Your Site
Hack 89. Feed News to Your Web Site

Chapter 8, Programming Google - This chapter introduces you to the Google Search Application Programming Interface (API), which underlies many of the hacks in this book. If you've ever wanted to begin programming, this is as good a place as any to find inspiration for doing so. Although most hacks in this book rely heavily on PERL, this chapter shows you how to program in Google using a multitude of languages.
Hack 90. Program Google in Perl
Hack 91. Install the SOAP::Lite Perl Module
Hack 92. Program Google with the Net::Google Perl Module
Hack 93. Loop Around the 10-Result Limit
Hack 94. Program Google in Java
Hack 95. Program Google in Python
Hack 96. Program Google in C# and .NET
Hack 97. Program Google in VB.NET
Hack 98. Program Google with ColdFusion
Hack 99. Program Google with PHP 5
Hack 100. Program Google with VBScript

Appendix - Keep tabs on what Google is doing and where it might be headed. This appendix provides a list of news sources and feeds that can keep you up to date with Google happenings. Once you subscribe to a few Google-related feeds, you won't have any trouble keeping up with the latest news.

You can read this book from beginning to end if desired, but for the most part, each hack stands on its own. Thus the book isn't any less comprehensible if you flip around to whatever sections interest you most. If you're a PERL newbie, you might want to try some of the easier hacks, and then tackle the more extensive ones as you get more confident, since the programmatic hacks make heavy use of PERL. The programmatic hacks in this book run either on the command line (that's Terminal for Mac OS X users and the DOS command window for Windows users) or as CGI scripts. I highly recommend this book to anybody who uses Google with any regularity.

Summary of Google Hacks: Tips & Tools for Finding and Using the World's Information

Everyone knows that Google lets you search billions of web pages. But few people realize that Google also gives you hundreds of cool ways to organize and play with information.

Since we released the last edition of this bestselling book, Google has added many new features and services to its expanding universe: Google Earth, Google Talk, Google Maps, Google Blog Search, Video Search, Music Search, Google Base, Google Reader, and Google Desktop among them. We've found ways to get these new services to do even more.

The expanded third edition of Google Hacks is a brand-new and infinitely more useful book for this powerful search engine. You'll not only find dozens of hacks for the new Google services, but plenty of updated tips, tricks and scripts for hacking the old ones. Now you can make a Google Earth movie, visualize your web site traffic with Google Analytics, post pictures to your blog with Picasa, or access Gmail in your favorite email client. Industrial strength and real-world tested, this new collection enables you to mine a ton of information within Google's reach. And have a lot of fun while doing it:

  • Search Google over IM with a Google Talk bot
  • Build a customized Google Map and add it to your own web site
  • Cover your searching tracks and take back your browsing privacy
  • Turn any Google query into an RSS feed that you can monitor in Google Reader or the newsreader of your choice
  • Keep tabs on blogs in new, useful ways
  • Turn Gmail into an external hard drive for Windows, Mac, or Linux
  • Beef up your web pages with search, ads, news feeds, and more
  • Program Google with the Google API and language of your choice

For those of you concerned about Google as an emerging Big Brother, this new edition also offers advice and concrete tips for protecting your privacy. Get into the world of Google and bend it to your will!


Everyone loves Google, and it's the first place many people turn to locate information on the Internet. There's a big gap, though, between knowing that you can use Google to get advance information on your blind date and having a handle on the considerable roster of fact-finding tools that the site makes available. Google Hacks reveals--and documents in considerable detail--a large collection of Google capabilities that many readers won't have even been aware of. Want to find the best price on a pair of leg warmers? Try the Froogle price-searcher that's hidden within the Google site. Interested in finding weblog commentary about a particular subject? Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest call your attention to the special Google syntaxes for that purpose. This book makes it clear that there's lots more to the Google site than typing in a few keywords and trusting the search engine to yield useful results.

If you're a programmer--or even just familiar with a HTML or a scripting language--Google opens up even further. A large part of Google Hacks concerns itself with the Google API (the collection of capabilities that Google exposes for use by software) and other programmers' resources. For example, the authors include a simple Perl application that queries the Google engine with terms specified by the user. They also document XooMLe, which delivers Google results in XML form. In brief, this is the best compendium of Google's lesser-known capabilities available anywhere, including the Google site itself. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to get the most from the Google search engine by using its Web-accessible features (including product searches, image searches, news searches, and newsgroup searches) and the large collection of desktop-resident toolbars available, as well as its advanced search syntax. Other sections have to do with programming with the Google API and simple "scrapes" of results pages, while further coverage addresses how to get your Web page to feature prominently in Google keyword searches.

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