You must have used Google Search, and some other search engines too. Ever bothered to use their advanced search option? Mostly people underestimate this option but it can really be very useful. I use them once in a while to find some number data, or some resources and fact files to support my reports, or just to find some white papers for a new research.

For example, I am really fond of Seth Godin, and wanted to read all the ebooks he has released so far. I found them easily by going to advanced Google Search and setting following parameters:

And on the results page, I found direct links to (if not all, but) most of the ebooks released by Seth Godin. You can use this idea to find pdf, ppt, doc etc on just about any domain. For example, you can use this feature on Compete.com, or Hitwise.com, or Comscore.com to find some really useful reports (Tip: While searching for reports, consider selecting Date Recency option to be 1 year or less).

At other instance, many people ask me for SEO reports templates they can use with their clients. We can again head on to advanced search option and select following parameters:

And this will lead you to direct links to various xls templates used by various SEO firms out there. Again, you can use this same idea to find presentations ideas and templates and other resources. Numerous combination of parameters result in endless possibilities, but I wonder how many times you have used this. Currently, Google and Yahoo offer advanced search options. Bing’s advanced search options are not so advanced yet.