A Class to Teach You How to Use Google

Think you know how to use Google? Think again.

One of the search engine’s biggest strengths is its simplicity — type anything into the search box and you’re off. But people could get a lot more out of Google, the company says, if they learned a few expert techniques, like searching by color, time or image. So Google is offering a free online course to teach search skills.

“It’s like a car you never take out of first gear,” said Dan Russell, whose title at Google is the joyful-sounding über tech lead for search quality and user happiness. “Sure, you can drive around town just fine, but if I show you second or third gear, you can get a lot more done. You could be a Formula One racing car driver. There’s all kinds of stuff there, but man, once I show it to you, you’ve got power.”

Google first offered the class in July, when 155,000 people signed up and improved their search skills 40 percent on average, according to assessments before and after the course. Registration for the next course began Tuesday morning and the first class is Sept. 24. There are three classes a week for two weeks, each a 50-minute video plus quizzes. Students can watch the videos anytime, but if they watch them at class time, they can participate in forums with other students and teaching assistants. (People can also watch the videos without signing up for the course, but they will not get a certificate of completion — potentially the new sign of cache alongside college diplomas on office walls.)

When Mr. Russell is not teaching, he studies how people use Google. What he has discovered, which he says is true across computer applications, is that most people learn the minimum amount that they need to get the job done and then stop exploring. They rarely change default settings, for example, or try out advanced features.

But do people really need a course to teach them how to use Google? Not at the most basic level, Mr. Russell said, but Google often adds new features and people can get more out of the search engine if they know about them. For example, he said, many people don’t realize that they can drag an image into the search box to find out what it is, rearrange news results by date or convert 20,000 leagues to miles. (Gadgetwise has a few tips.)

“If you don’t have any idea what’s possible, you won’t think to frame your questions that way,” he said. “It’s for everyday people who really want to make their Google searching more effective, more efficient and more accurate.”

The people who signed up to learn how to use Google the first time were diverse in age and experience — not just people new to the Internet — and 65 percent were outside the United States.

As for Google, anything that increases usage is good for the bottom line, Mr. Russell said.

Mr. Russell has long taught classes about Google to teachers and librarians, but Google had the idea for a class for the public after witnessing the popularity of a Stanford online class on artificial intelligence taught by two Google scientists. If people were interested in learning about something as complicated as artificial intelligence, many more were surely interested in learning about something much simpler, how to search Google. Google also plans to make available its software for teaching these types of courses, which are called massive online open courseware, and to offer more online courses itself. Next up: an advanced search class.

-By Claire Cain Miller, @NyTimes