It depends on what you're working on. If you're working at the cutting edge, you will find that Google often doesn't have the answers you need... simply because they aren't out there.
Most often, however, you are just querying the database wrong. You either don't know the specific jargon or you are searching for an overloaded term.
Its kinda like when I get pitched by non technical people who are keen on starting up and they come with this "revolutionary, never seen before webapp" idea. Usually within two Google queries I will have some established players already working on the specific market, or at least digital corpses of some previous players. When I get no results, even after an hour or two of searching - that usually means that there is no market, where the would be founders are seeing it.
"Cutting edge" is often a synonym for "not having a clue" :D.
However, reading papers and studies that relate to what you are working on will provide you with a better foundation to solve the problem.