Thanks! I didn't know about that. It makes a difference, though I'm having trouble finding something that doesn't work even when it's in quotes right now.

Here's an example of how ridiculous Google has gotten about search queries:

http://www.google.com/search?q=gaps - top hit is The Gap store

http://www.google.com/search?q=%2Bgaps - top hit is gaps.cgi

http://www.google.com/search?q=gaps - top hit is gaps.cgi

Now who would search for "gaps" when they wanted to get to The Gap? And worse, if you add terms that are on the gap page when trying to look for, say, something about the income gaps between men and women (gaps men women), the store is the #1 hit.

> Now who would search for "gaps" when they wanted to get to The Gap?

Possibly someone searching for "Gaps summer range". There are a LOT more people who look for The Gap than for gaps.cgi, and it's quite likely some of them can't punctuate their sentences properly.

Very interesting. When I started using Google as an undergrad (circa 1999), I remember using the "+" character in searches, since that was standard procedure for searching linked strings before the age of Google Empire; I distinctly remember Google popping up warnings: "this '+' character is NOT necessary in searches" . . ..

Weird.

Plenty more tips on using Google there: http://www.searchlores.org/google.htm (Make sure you check out the main website, goldmine on internet search).

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%2B$HOME&aq=f&#... still doesn't work...

For comparison, here's what ddg comes up with: http://duckduckgo.com/?q=%24HOME&v=