Google's Logo
Clicking it takes you to the Google's home page.
Advaned Search Tips link...
...takes you to Google Help on advanced search.
Evidently, Google is more concerned with what it does best - the search itself, rather than explaining how to do it.
About Google link...
...opens Google's information center.
Google Help, products, corporate information etc. are accessible from this page.
Example:
stem cell research
All three words must be present on each found page.
They may be positioned anywhere on a page in any order.
This is Google's default search mode when you use the main Search Box.
Results display selector...
...selects how many results to display on a search results page.
Example:
stem cell research
All three words must be present as one string on each found page.
It is the same as using quotation marks in the main Search Box: "stem cell research".
Example:
enquire inquire
At least one of the words must be present on each found page.
It is the same as using OR in the main Search Box: 'enquire OR inquire'.
This option is most useful for searches with synonyms or keywords with spelling variants.
Example:
car
The word must not be present on found pages.
It is the same as using the minus sign '-' in the main Search Box: '-car'.
This option is useful for eliminating unwanted topics.
Language
If a language is selected, Google tends to return pages written in the specified language.
But it doesn't happen all the time because many webpages have no indication in their tt about their language.
File Format
The search will return only results with your keywords in the files of the specified type, like Word or PowerPoint documents, or will exclude such files from results, depending on your choice in the drop-down menu.
This option is limited to six file types. You have to use the filetype operator for six more file types. It is described in the How to Use section.
Date
Limits search to web pages that Google has recorded in the past 24 hours, week, month, 2, 3, 6, or 12 months.
The search has nothing to do with the date a page was created, but rather when Google indexed it.
Occurrences
Restricts the query to specified parts of the web page. Another name for it is "field search".
See more details about field search in Web search basics.
Domain
Restricts the search to the specified website or domain.
This option is especially useful for searching a website that has no search engine of its own.
Usage Rights
Limits results to selected categories of content.
This is done in an attempt to make it easier for Internet users to avoid copyright infringements.
SafeSearch
Turns on/off the SafeSearch content filter for this particular search.
Similar
Finds pages similar to the specified web page.
This option runs the same search as the Similar pages link in a Google result.
Links
Returns a list of webpages linked to the page you type in the box.
It helps to find related Web documents or associated websites.
Google Book Search link...
...opens the Google Book Search page. You can search the full text of hundreds of thousands of books.
Depending on copyright restrictions, you can have full access to the text of a book, or see its fragments, or only its description and indication where to borrow or buy it.
Google Book Search allows public-domain works and other out-of-copyright material to be downloaded in PDF format.
Google tt Search link...
...takes you to the Google tt Search page. With programmers learning directly from the Internet for the most part, this feature is a godsend for them.
Google Scholar link...
...takes you to the Google Scholar search page. The Google Scholar sources are peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
Depending on copyright issues, Google Scholar provides multiple ways to access scholarly content, from free full text to library links and purchase options.
Google News archive search link...
News archive sources are major newspapers and magazines, news, historical and legal digital archives. Examples are BBC News, Washington Post Archives, Newspaper Archive, and New York Times Archives.
Many archives are free, others require fees for entire articles, with short previews are at no cost.
Articles are presented in list view or grouped into timeline periods.
More links for Topic-Specific Searches...
...open search pages that simplify searches in specific areas. Unlike some other features that have their own databases, such as Google Images, these interfaces use the main Google's database.
Their main purpose is to eliminate extraneous material and focus your search on the topic. For instance, Universities search lets you search the websites of more than 600 institutions worldwide.