The abilities of Google are not limited to typing simple queries in the search bar. No, you can’t find your keys with it yet, but there are different ways of searching and different keywords that you can use. These features are used to ensure that the desired information is readily accessible. Here are few of those phrases, syntax, and keywords that make searching easier and more efficient.

Characters & Words:

• "fooing foo" - Placing text inside a set of quotes and searches for the exact phrase
• -foo - the - before a word will locate pages that do not contain particular word.
• +foo - The plus is placed before a word to ensure that it is included in the search
• ~foo - the tilde searches for both the word it is placed before and its common synonyms.
• foo * - The asterisk can be used as a wildcard. It can be used as parts of words or entire words.
• number...number - search within a range of numbers
• OR - This word searches for one word or another. This function must be CAPITALIZED.

Mathematical Operations:

• + - * / ^ - The standard mathematical functions are available. They allow Google to be used like an online calculator.
• % of - find the percentage of a particular number
• in - The in function can be used to convert units from one type to another. This function includes everything from mass, length, number bases, to currency.

Filters

• site:foo.com - confine the search to a particular website
• link:foo.com - find the sites that link to a particular website
• filetype:pdf - restrict the search to a particular type of document
• safesearch:foo - remove adult content from the search results

Special

• define:foo - find the definition of a particular word from a wide variety of sources. Google heavily indexes wikipedia, which quite often provides answers to this query.
• phonebook:foo - find the phonebook listings for a particular item
• movie:foo - find reviews and show times for a particular movie
• movie:location - find a list of show times at the theaters in a certain location
• stocks: find out information about a particular stock
• weather:location - instead of looking out the window, find the forecast for a given location
• cache:foo.com - display the Google cache for a particular website
• info:foo.com - find out more information about a page
• related:foo.com - find related websites to the given website
• Usage Rights - the Advanced Search has a Usage Rights option for pages that registered with the Creative Commons More Info.

Special Numbers:
Google also automatically finds information on particular strings of numbers when they are searched.

• UPS tracking numbers
• FedEx tracking numbers
• USPS tracking numbers
• Vehicle ID (VIN) numbers
• UPC codes
• Telephone area codes
• And others…