Google Search Operators:
Table of Contents
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Google Search operators are powerful tools that allow users to refine and focus search results. Here’s a comprehensive guide to various Google Search operators, including the common ones and those you’ve mentioned:
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Quotation Marks ” “
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Usage: Surround a phrase with quotes to search for that exact phrase.
Example: “digital marketing strategies” returns results that contain this exact phrase.
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OR Operator (OR or |)
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Usage: Use OR between terms to find pages that include either one term or the other.
Example: branding OR marketing returns results that contain either “branding” or “marketing.”
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AND Operator
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Usage: Google automatically uses AND between words, meaning results must contain both terms.
Example: branding marketing is equivalent to branding AND marketing.
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Hyphen (-)
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Usage: Place a hyphen before a word to exclude pages containing that word.
Example: digital marketing -advertising excludes results that contain “advertising.”
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Asterisk (*)
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Usage: Use an asterisk as a wildcard to replace a word or phrase.
Example: digital * strategies might return “digital marketing strategies” or “digital media strategies.”
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Parentheses (( ))
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Usage: Group terms or operators together to control the search logic.
Example: (branding OR marketing) strategies finds pages that contain “branding strategies” or “marketing strategies.”
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Define:
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Usage: Use this operator to get a definition of a word or phrase.
Example: define:branding provides definitions for “branding.”
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Cache:
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Usage: View the cached version of a page as stored by Google.
Example: cache:example.com shows the cached version of “example.com.”
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filetype
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Usage: Find files of a specific type by specifying the extension.
Example: digital marketing filetype:pdf returns PDF documents related to digital marketing.
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Site:
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Usage: Restrict search results to a specific website.
Example: site:example.com branding returns results about “branding” from “example.com.”
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Related:
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Usage: Find sites similar to the one you specify.
Example: related:example.com returns sites similar to “example.com.”
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Intitle:
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Usage: Search for pages with a specific word in the title.
Example: intitle:branding returns pages with “branding” in the title.
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Allintitle:
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Usage: Search for pages with all the specified words in the title.
Example: allintitle:branding strategies finds pages with both “branding” and “strategies” in the title.
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Inurl:
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Usage: Search for pages with a specific word in the URL.
Example: inurl:branding returns pages with “branding” in the URL.
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Allinurl:
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Usage: Search for pages with all the specified words in the URL.
Example: allinurl:branding strategies finds pages with both “branding” and “strategies” in the URL.
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Intext:
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Usage: Search for pages containing a specific word in the body text.
Example: intext:branding finds pages where “branding” appears in the text.
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Allintext:
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Usage: Search for pages containing all the specified words in the body text.
Example: allintext:branding strategies returns pages with both “branding” and “strategies” in the text.
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Weather:
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Usage: Get the current weather for a specific location.
Example: weather:New York shows the current weather in New York.
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Stocks:
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Usage: Get information about a specific stock ticker.
Example: stocks:AAPL shows the current stock information for Apple Inc.
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Map:
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Usage: Find a map for a specific location.
Example: map:San Francisco displays a map of San Francisco.
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Movie:
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Usage: Search for information about a specific movie.
Example: movie:Inception returns information about the movie “Inception.”
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Source:
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Usage: Use this operator to specify a source in Google News.
Example: source:NYTimes searches for news from “The New York Times.”
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Before: and After:
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Usage: Find pages published before or after a certain date.
Example: marketing before:2020 returns pages about marketing published before 2020.
Example: marketing after:2020 returns pages about marketing published after 2020.
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AROUND(X)
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Usage: Find pages where two terms appear close to each other, with “X” specifying the maximum number of words between them.
Example: digital AROUND(3) marketing finds pages where “digital” and “marketing” appear within three words of each other.
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Numrange (..)
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Usage: Search within a range of numbers, often used for years, prices, or other numerical data.
Example: best laptops $500..$1000 returns results for laptops within the price range of $500 to $1000.
Example: Olympics 2000..2020 returns results about the Olympics held between 2000 and 2020.
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inanchor:
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Usage: Search for pages that contain specific words in the anchor text of backlinks.
Example: inanchor:”click here” returns pages that are linked to with the anchor text “click here.”
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allinanchor:
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Usage: Search for pages that contain all specified words in the anchor text.
Example: allinanchor:branding marketing returns pages that are linked to with anchor texts containing both “branding” and “marketing.”
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Link:
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Usage: Find pages that link to a specific URL.
Example: link:example.com shows pages that link to “example.com.”
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Location:
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Usage: Search for news or other location-specific information.
Example: festival location:Berlin returns news or events related to festivals in Berlin.
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Author:
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Usage: Find content written by a specific author, usually used in Google News.
Example: author:”John Doe” finds articles written by “John Doe.”
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inbody:
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Usage: Search for pages with specific words in the body text.
Example: inbody:”digital marketing” returns pages where “digital marketing” is mentioned in the body text.
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allinbody:
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Usage: Similar to inbody:, but for multiple words. All specified words must appear in the body text.
Example: allinbody:digital marketing strategies returns pages with all these words in the body text.
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SafeSearch:
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Usage: Use this operator to filter out explicit content from your search results.
Example: safesearch:example query will return results with explicit content filtered out.
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“VERBATIM”
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Usage: Search using Google’s “verbatim” tool, which provides results exactly matching your query without Google’s usual interpretation.
Example: _verbatim_ digital marketing strategies provides results without synonyms, similar terms, or expanded results.
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intext: (variant of intext)
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Usage: While intext: and allintext: search the body text, another variant is using intext multiple times for different words.
Example: intext:digital intext:marketing searches for pages that mention both “digital” and “marketing” anywhere in the text, regardless of order.
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inposttitle:
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Usage: Find blog posts with specific words in the post title.
Example: inposttitle:branding returns blog posts with “branding” in the title.
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Daterange:
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Usage: Search within a specific date range using Julian dates. It’s not widely used but can be handy for precise date filtering.
Example: olympics daterange:2452389-2454489 returns results for the Olympics within this Julian date range.
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Around(10):
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Usage: Similar to AROUND(X), but specifically limits to a proximity of 10 words.
Example: branding AROUND(10) strategy finds results where “branding” and “strategy” are within 10 words of each other.
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Phonebook:
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Usage: Find phonebook listings for a person or business (Note: This is no longer widely supported).
Example: phonebook:John Doe New York returns phonebook listings for John Doe in New York.
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Blogurl:
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Usage: Search for blogs that contain a specific URL (mainly used in Google Blog Search).
Example: blogurl:example.com returns blogs that link to “example.com.”
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Source:
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Usage: When using Google News, you can specify a source.
Example: climate change source:BBC returns news about climate change from BBC.
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Hashtag (#)
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Usage: Search for content using specific hashtags (often works better on social media-related searches).
Example: #digitalmarketing returns content that includes the hashtag “#digitalmarketing.”
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Around(N)
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Usage: Limits the proximity of two search terms.
Example: digital AROUND(5) marketing will find results where “digital” and “marketing” appear within five words of each other.
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Inmeta:
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Usage: Search within a specific meta tag or custom meta field on a website.
Example: inmeta:author=”John Doe” searches for content by “John Doe” in a specific meta field.
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Inpub:
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Usage: Specifically useful in Google Scholar, it searches for publications from a certain source or publisher.
Example: inpub:IEEE returns scholarly articles published by IEEE.