Usefulness of search engine — Google

Google Search processes more than 40,000 search queries every second, Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade, Google’s Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Anglophone West Africa, said on Tuesday.

Kola-Ogunlade in a statement in Lagos State said that Google’s search engine was the most used across all platforms with more than 5.4 billion searches each day and 1.9 trillion searches per year.

“Using Google can be straightforward, whether you are doing academic research for assignments as a student, finding out about competitors as a business person or just for entertainment.

“Google Search web, image, video, news, maps and more tabs help ensure one gets the kind of results one is after,’’ he said.


Kola-Ogunlade said that, however, Google Search offered more ways to get better results; also listing five things one did not know one could do with Google Search.

He listed them as: searching lyrics to one’s favourite songs; search by voice; health condition; find a job faster, and googling for the weather.

Kola-Ogunlade said that Google displayed music lyrics at the top of its search results pages when you search for “song name” plus “lyrics”.

He said that one could find the lyrics to favourite songs and own the stage at karaoke, as a chorister, a musician or just simply as a music lover.

Kola-Ogunlade said that one could also search Google by speaking, by simply clicking on the microphone icon, say what you want to search for and watch Google reveal the results.

He said that the microphone icon could be seen at the right-hand side of the Google Search bar, saying the one could go ahead, click and speak.

Kola-Ogunlade said that in searching for health conditions and relevant health knowledge, panel results appeared, providing a snapshot of the condition, its symptoms and possible treatment.

He noted that it was also available on both mobile and desktop, covering over 800 health conditions.

“Google collaborated with a team of medical experts from institutions such as the University of Ibadan and the Mayo Clinic to ensure that all the facts gathered represented real-life clinical knowledge from health institutions and experts around the world.

“It should be noted though that the health card feature is intended for informational purposes only, users are advised to consult a medical professional regarding actual health concerns,’’ he said.

Kola-Ogunlade said that to keep up with new jobs that are posted throughout the day for both graduates seeking a job or an employee looking for the next opportunity, Google had offered a quick and easy way to find suitable vacant positions.

He urged job seekers to search for and apply to open positions directly from the Google search bar by just typing the job query into Google Search and it would give you a list of jobs that match that query.

“Details of the job posting, such as job title, location, whether the job is full-time, part-time or an internship will be included.

“If you use Google Maps integration, you can also search for jobs in any place that you can find on the map and if you are signed in, you can even see how long it will take to commute from home.

“Google has also made keeping up with new vacancies easy. Simply push the “get alerts” button to get email notifications when new jobs matching your search appear.

“If you’re planning your day, your week or some fantastic weekend getaway, it is important to take the weather into consideration,’’ the Google manager said.

According to him, asking Google what the weather will be like wherever you will be heading to will let you know if you will be needing an umbrella or a pair of sunglasses and guide you in your choice of clothing.

“If you’re travelling and want to know what to pack, simply ask Google, “What is the weather at Enugu like’’, or type in “Weather at Enugu”.

“Right there on your search results page, you’ll get the current weather forecast, extending to the next week,’’ Kola-Ogunlade said.