With more than 4 billion web pages in its database, Google is suitable for many different kinds of searches. When you know what you are looking for, Google can be a pretty good first choice, as long as you want to search a word pattern that can be expected to appear on any results pages. The problem starts when you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Search engines aren't very good at finding things when you don't know the precise words, or if the terminology can be interpreted in different ways. A list of 8 tips occasional web searchers can use to improve their search skills, and collect better information faster is provided. Teacher-librarians can make an important difference in the information-seeking skills of their users (both kids and teachers!) by introducing them to a few high-quality, filtered directories of excellent web resources that they can use often to find the information that Google can't deliver. The list of 8 tips for faster and smarter searching is included.