I recently finished reading the book, The Google Story. It’s a fascinating story, but I found one of my favorite parts in the appendix (Appendix I). The authors, David A. Vise and Mark Malseed, list 23 Google Search Tips that have helped increase my productivity.

Right off the top, here are the favorite things that impress me:

• Phonebook: Type a business name & city/state or zip into the search box, and you’ll get listings w/ phone number and address. You can also type in a phone number and the results will tell you whose it is.
• Calculator: Type a math problem (12.5% of 1325, etc.) into the Google search box and get your answer.
• Dictionary: Type define followed by any English word into the search box
• Books: Search for a topic on Google Book Search and you will see info from actual books that Google has scanned and indexed.
• Free 411: I can easily get free directory assistance with the power of Google. I added “411″ as an entry in my phone and I just call that to get business phone numbers.
• Mobile Info: Send a text message to “GOOGLE” (466453) with a query and Google will text you back with the answer. (I also added this number to my phone’s address book for easy access.)
• News: Forget combing through different news sites… Google aggregates the news in one spot for you.
• Research: Hit up scientific and academic journals through the search box on Google Scholar.

Time is the new currency, and Google pays me well. I frequently catch my wife Googling scientific quantities and measurements. For instance, when she wants to know how many ounces are in a quart, she doesn’t want to click on more pages, she wants an instant answer — Google provides that.

While it wasn’t mentioned in the book, I need to share with you the power of Google Desktop. It’s free and indexes all your documents, presentations, e-mail and more for quick searches. I tend to use it mostly for tracking down email and documents on both my home and work computers. I admit, Google Desktop saves me 20 minutes daily. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

I’ve shared a bit of insight into my Google life. I really love their products and services, and they solve problems that we all encounter. Any company which solves real problems deserves a ton of respect.

I’m dying to learn your insider tips on using Google! Share them with us in the comments.

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