Love ’em or hate ’em, Google is an inextricable part of our lives. While they have many compelling and interesting services (many not always fully baked), the best thing they do, in my opinion, is the same thing they originally did: search. Here are some tips for good searching:

• You shouldn’t ever need to to go www.google.com. On the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, and older versions of Safari on the Mac, there’s a dedicated area for Google. Just click in there and start typing. On newer versions of Safari for Mac, there’s no extra area — just type your search in the main address bar.
• Use quotes around phrases (e.g. “mountain lion”) so you don’t get matches for individual words within them
• Use OR (in capitals) between words or phrases you want to find either one of (e.g. “snow leopard” OR lion OR “mountain lion”)
• Try to use less common words, or uncommon combinations of words
• You can use Tips & Tricks (really useful), Advanced Search, or Search Operators
• Gmail has its own Search Operators full of helpful tricks