I read an article titled “20 Tips for More Efficient Google Searches” on digg tonight. I bet if Google did have a certification program like what I mentioned in my “Does Google needs a GCS program?” post, the tips in this article would be a core part of the testing material.
One of the tips that I use a lot, especially at work is the site: syntax. Every time I need to find something on MSDN I head over to Google and just start the search with site:msdn.microsoft.com. This will instruct Google to only return results from the MSDN site.
Another feature I like to use allows you to see who is linking to a URL. I use this a lot to see who is linking to my site, an example of the syntax is link:www.andyblyler.com.
Those are the top two, of the many, Google syntax tips that I use. I do highly recommend that you visit the article and read all of the tips. You never know when they might come in hand. 
