Customizing Google Search Results

Google amazes me. It does so many things and does them so well, it really wouldn't need to add any features to keep me coming back. However, Google always adds features.

This tip lets you view Google search results by reading level. In working with students, that is a terrific option to help narrow down search results in a way that is meaningful and helpful to them.

So how does it work? When you go to Google to do a search, click on the "Advanced Search" option.

On the Advanced Search page, type in your search words. You can see I've entered "autism aspergers" as my search words. Then, lower on the page, you'll see one of the tools available to you is "Reading level". You can pop open that menu and select from several options:

• no reading level
• annotate reading level
• show only basic results
• show only intermediate results
• show only advance results

I chose to "show only basic results" and clicked the Advanced Search button in the lower right-hand corner.

You can see the results I got...and the options at the top of the page to explore search results at other reading levels.

I picked up this tip from Paul Hamilton at his blog Free Resources From The Net For Every Learner. A terrific blog! And he says he picked it up from Cheryl Oakes, who also has a terrific blog.