Frequently Asked Questions
Find more answers and discuss Google services in our
user
support discussion forum.
- Search Questions
- Why am I suddenly seeing pop-up ads on Google?
- How do I narrow my search?
- How can I restrict my search?
- How do I stop my previous searches from
appearing when I type in a new search term?
- How can I set the default number of hits
to 100?
- How are query results listed?
- International Questions
- How can I get back to the Google homepage
in English?
- Why is Google displaying in another language
when I didn't set any language preferences?
- How can I improve the accuracy or number
of results when searching for foreign words?
- Why does Google not offer more language
choices?
- How do I suggest a translation or spelling
improvement?
My question is not answered here. Where
can I send my question?
Why am I suddenly seeing pop-up
ads on Google?
Google does not allow pop-up ads of any kind to appear
on our site. We find them annoying. So why do they occasionally appear
when you search on Google? Here are a few possible explanations:
- You may have encountered a squatter with an address similar to Google's.
Occasionally, individuals will register domain names that are one
letter off from a well-known URL in hopes of attracting those who
make mistakes in their typing. Please be sure to enter www.google.com
into your browser and the pop-ups may go away.
- You may have encountered pop-up ads that are designed to be triggered
by web searches performed. These tiny "time bombs" can be planted
in your browser by any number of software programs that promise to
enhance the speed or performance of your web browser. A brief description
of these programs can be found in this article: http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,48177,00.html.
If you are experiencing pop-ups generated by one of these malicious
programs, you may need to remove it from your computer. One program
claiming to perform this service is available at
http://download.cnet.com/downloads/0-10106-108-63806.html.
We have no relationship with the individuals who created this software
and cannot vouch for it ourselves.
- Another possibility is that you visited a site that launched pop-up
windows in the background. These ads are known in the advertising
industry as "pop-unders." When you came to Google, the windows may
have become visible. Again, we do not condone this practice and do
not allow it on Google.
If you'd like more information on the advertising we do accept at Google,
you'll find it by visiting this page: http://www.google.com/ads/.
We wish you luck in your quest to quell pop-ups.
How do I narrow my search?
Sometimes a search is in the right neighborhood
but is overcrowded with too many irrelevant results. To refine your
search, try doing a new search in which you add more words to your
query. This will return a set of results that more closely matches
what you wanted to find. You can also exclude words by putting the "-" operator
immediately in front of each word you don't want to show up in your
results.
How can I restrict my search
to specific extensions, e.g., .edu?
Some words, when followed by a colon, have special
meaning to Google. One such word for Google is the "site:"
operator. To search a specific domain or site, use the "site:sampledomain.com"
syntax in the Google search box.
For example, to find admission information on Stanford's
site, enter:
If you would like to search for admission information
on all educational domains, enter:
How do I stop my previous searches
from appearing when I type in a new search term?
Fortunately (and unfortunately), this has nothing to
do with Google. It's a feature of Internet Explorer 5.0, which is possible
to disable using its menu. (You can verify this by going elsewhere on
the web to fill out a form and then return to that same page on which
you filled out the form.)
To disable this feature on Internet Explorer 5.0, go
to the Tools menu; select Internet Options; select the Content tab.
Within the Personal Information area, select AutoComplete. Click on
Clear Forms. You can also uncheck the Forms box in this same window
to keep this from occurring in the future.
Alternatively, you can delete individual entries from
the history by using the Down arrow key to select a previous
search, and then pressing Delete while an unwanted search
is highlighted.
How can I set the default number
of hits to 100?
Google's default (10 results) provides the fastest
results. However if you know that you always want more than 10 results,
you can visit our Preferences
page and set the number of results to 20, 30, 50, or 100. You will get
your chosen number of results for every search.
If you would just like to see more results on a per
query basis, you can change the number of results when you search from
our Advanced Search
page.
How are query results listed?
Google's order of hits is determined
by a combination of several factors, including PageRank priorities.
Please check out our Why Use Google
page for more detail, or take a look at Larry and Sergey's article The
Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine for pleasure
reading.
How can I get back to the Google
homepage in English?
You can access the standard Google homepage by clicking
on the "Google in English" link from any of our foreign language homepages.
If this does not work, your browser is probably not configured to accept
cookies.
If you want to change your Google interface language without
changing your browser's accept-language preferences, you can set your
Google language preferences manually on our "Language Options" page. However,
setting language preferences this way does require that cookies be enabled;
the accept-language behavior does not.
Why is Google displaying in
another language when I didn't set any language preferences?
Google makes use of the Web's standard language-preferences
mechanism, the HTTP accept-language header, to determine the display
language. Browsers can have multiple accept-languages, arranged in order
of user preference.
To view or modify accept-language in Internet Explorer
5, select "Internet Options" from the "Tools" menu. Click on the "Languages"
button to view or modify your current language preferences.
In Netscape Navigator 4.7, select "Preferences" from
the "Edit" menu. Expand the "Navigator" heading, and click on the "Languages"
subheading to view or modify your current language preferences.
Please note: other websites with multi-lingual capability
that support the accept-language header may also be affected by any
modifications to your language preferences.
How can I improve the accuracy
or number of results when searching for foreign words?
Google's technology is sensitive to the precise
spelling of foreign words. Spelling the word correctly with the appropriate
foreign characters will significantly improve the quality of your search
results as well as the number of hits. For instructions on typing foreign
characters with an English or any other keyboard, visit the following
page for instructions: http://www.starr.net/is/type/kbh.html.
Why does Google not offer
more language choices?
We continually add to our list of languages.
Stay tuned!
How do I suggest a translation
or spelling improvement?
Google aims to provide the most accurate translations
on our international pages. However, due to the subjective nature of translation,
you may encounter wording that does not seem right to you. Please contact us with specific words along with a possible
alternative
and we will consider your feedback when updating our user interface.
My question is not answered here.
Where can I send my question?
Please visit our Contact
Us page to find the appropriate place to send your question.
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