I have an extensive listing of favorites (bookmarks for Netscape users). Often I will remember reading an article and I need it to help someone with a post. If I can't find it in my favorites, I go to Google.
To help people out with the way google works, I'm giving a little tutorial.
Lets pretend I want to search for coral food possibilities
If I type in the words coral food, I will get listings of every single page that has the words coral OR food OR coral food together.
coral food - Google Search
If I put quote marks around coral food like this "coral food" it will only return pages that have both words together.
"coral food" - Google Search
If I wanted to find all pages that have the exact words "coral food" together but I also want the page to contain the word borneman, I can structure a search like this "coral food" +borneman
I get these results
"coral food" + borneman - Google Search
One common way that I use the "+" feature, is that I add + reef tank to my searches. That way, if I'm looking for something only as it relates to the hobby and not all of the coral reefs of the world, then I only get things related to the hobby.
On the other hand I can also use the - (minus sign) in a search. For instance, if I wanted the words coral food to be in a phrase but I didn't want anything that Borneman said I would use this search....
"coral food" -borneman - Google Search EDIT: PLEASE NOTE THAT THE LINKS I PROVIDED DON'T WORK FOR LONG BECAUSE OF THE WAY GOOGLE WORKS. HOWEVER, THE METHODOLOGY STILL WORKS AND YOU CAN DO THE SAME SEARCH I PROVIDED AND GET THE RESULTS I ORIGINALLY LINKED TO. 
Google Search Tips 
