There are over 40 different Google Search Operators that you can use to search or SEO purposes.
Key Takeaways
- Google search operators are combinations of particular words and symbols that enhance regular search results.
- “”, !, or :; words like OR, NOT, or AND; and commands such as site:, or inurl:.are called Google Search Commands
- Using a Google search operators list helps make search results more relevant and specific.
What Are Google Search Operators?
Google Search Operators, Advanced Search Operators, or Google Search Commands are combinations of remarkable words and symbols that enhance regular Google search results. You can also use advanced search commands with Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines.
Some common types of search operators include:
- Special character operators like “”, !, or :
- Words like OR, NOT, or AND
- Advanced search commands like site:,filetype:, or inurl:
- Any combination of these
Here are a couple of practical examples:
To search for the definition of pasta, try to define:pasta like this:
Finding the definition of something with Google Search Operators
To find news about SEO, try “SEO news” like this:
Finding a word or phrase precisely with Google Search Operators
Benefits Of Using Google Search Operators
Advanced Google search operators may seem complicated at first. However, their power will help you optimize the information you want to find and take your SEO strategy to the next level.
1. Make Your Search Results More Relevant
According to Internet Live Stats, 3.5 billion search queries are made on Google daily. You must filter through many search results to find the necessary information.
Using Google’s advanced search operators will yield more specific results. You can find relevant information and refine your search results quickly and easily.
For instance, if you search for “digital marketing” on Google, you will get more than 3.4 billion results!
However, using the allintitle:, one of the search operators, you can reduce this number to just 9,1 million results. You only see “digital marketing” results in the page title.
Narrow the number of search results with the allintitle: operator.
2. Enhance Your SEO Efforts
Google search operators can also be helpful for your SEO by:
- Getting internal links ideas
- Detecting page indexing problems
- Finding guest posting opportunities for your website
- Detecting unsafe pages on your domain
- Discovering duplicate content on your website.
We will give detailed instructions in the incoming section.
3. Google Search Operators Rules To Follow
Here are some notices:
- Google will ignore punctuation that is not part of the search operator.
- Avoid spaces between symbols or word commands and your search terms. For example, site:roidigitally.com works, but site: roidigitally.com does not work.
You can directly use Search Operators in the Google search bar. However, accessing the advanced search feature is much easier.
To use advanced search, tap the “Settings” at the bottom of the results page, then select “Advanced Search.”
44 Google Search Commands
To make it easier to follow, we’ve split the Google search operators list into three groups:
- Working: Google returns the advanced search results you intended.
- Unreliable: Google still supports it, but search results may need to be more accurate.
- Not-Working: Google officially no longer supports it.
Here is the complete list of 44 commands:
1. Working Google Search Parameters List
| Search operators | Purpose | Example |
| AND | Find results that relate to both of the terms you search | cookie AND donut |
| OR | Find results that relate to one of the terms you search | cookie OR donut |
| I | Find results same as OR | cookie | donut |
| “ ” | Find results that mention an exact word or phrase | “cookie shop chicago” |
| – | Find results that exclude a word or phrase | cookie -donut |
| * | Search for any word or phrase you mention | cookie * donut |
| ( ) | Group your multiple commands | (cookie OR donut) shops |
| define: | Find the definition of a word or phrase | define:billiards |
| cache: | Find the most recent cached (saved) version of a webpage | cache:tesla.com |
| filetype: | Find a specific type of file (e.g., tiff, pdf, or docs) | tesla filetype:pdf |
| ext: | Find the same results as filetype: | tesla ext:pdf |
| site: | Look for results from a specific site | site:tesla.com |
| related: | Look for sites with content similar to a specific domain | related:tesla.com |
| intitle: | Look for sites with a specific term in the title tag | intitle:SEO |
| allintitle: | Look for sites with multiple terms in the title tag | allintitle:SEO reporting tools |
| inurl: | Search for URLs with a specific word | inurl:SEO |
| allinurl: | Search for URLs with multiple words | allinurl:SEO reporting tools |
| intext: | Search for sites with a specific word in their body text | intext:SEO |
| allintext: | Search for sites with multiple words in their body text | allintext:SEO reporting tools |
| weather: | Look for the weather in a specific location | weather:chicago |
| stocks: | Find information about a stock, including its price and current trends | stock:tesla |
| map: | Search for a map of a location | map:disneyland |
| movie: | Find information about a movie | movie:home alone |
| in | Convert between two units (e.g., currency, temperature, or weights) | 100 USD in AUD |
| source: | Look for articles from a particular source in Google News | tesla source:usatoday.com |
| before: | Look for results from before a specific date | tesla before:2020-06-01 |
| after: | Look for results from before a specific date | tesla after:2020-06-01 |
Note: You can use the _ operator as a wildcard in Google Autocomplete.
An example of using an underscore character as a search command
2. Unreliable Google Search Modifiers
| Search operators | Purpose | Example |
| #..# | Find information within a specific range of numbers. | best cartoons 2000..2010iPad case $50..$100 |
| inanchor: | Find sites with backlinks containing a specific anchor text | inanchor:tesla |
| allinanchor: | Find sites with backlinks containing multiple words in their anchor text | allinanchor:tesla stock |
| AROUND(X) | Find sites where two words or phrases appear within “X” words from each other | apple AROUND(5) iphone 15 |
| loc: | Find results from a certain place | loc:”san francisco” tesla |
| location: | Find information from a particular place in Google News | location:”san francisco” tesla |
| daterange: | Find information that people published within a particular date range in Julian format | daterange:22001-22365 tesla |
3. Not-Working Google Search Commands
| Search operators | Purpose | Example |
| “+” | Find results that contain an exact word or phrase | jobs +tesla |
| ~ | Find results that contain synonyms for a word or phrase | ~nutritious recipes |
| inpostauthor: | Find posts or articles by a specific author in a stopped Google Blog Search. | inpostauthor:”philip kotler” |
| allinpostauthor: | Find the same results as inpostauthor:, but exclude the quotes | allinpostauthor:”philip kotler” |
| inposttitle: | Find content with specific words in the title | inposttitle:seo tools |
| link: | Find content that links to a specific URL or domain | link:tesla.com |
| info: | Find information about a specific website | info:amazon.com |
| id: | Same results as info: | id:amazon.com |
| phonebook: | Find the phone number of a person | phonebook:mark zuckerberg |
| # | Find content with a specific hashtag on Google+, but it stopped when this social network ended. | #seotips |
9 Expert Tips To Use Google Advanced Search Operators
Google Search operators can be valuable SEO tools when you know how to use and combine them. Here are nine tips to put these operators into action effectively:
1. Check Your Site Indexation
Indexation is when Google Bot accesses and analyzes the content and stores your web pages in its database. This process allows your website to appear in search results and get traffic from Google.
Using the site: search operator, you can check if Google has indexed your pages.
Let’s say gizmodo.com is the site you want to check its indexing status on Google.
Search for site:gizmodo.com, and you’ll roughly know how many pages Google has indexed on this site.
Google has indexed approximately about 708,000 pages on gizmodo.com.
Utilize Search Console to determine the number of pages Google indexed on your website.
The formula – site:URL – uses the indexing status of articles you’ve recently published.
For example, we recently published a post about Off-Page SEO. To see if Google has indexed it, we search for:
site:roidigitally.com/blog/what-is-offpage-seo/
The result shows that Google has indexed our content.
2. Discover Ideas For Your Internal Linking
Internal links build connections between different pages within your domain. They help search engines access all your pages and index them. The navigation menu is an example.
Let’s say we want to place internal links with the anchor text “internal linking”; we search on Google with the following command:
site:roidigitally.com/blog/ “internal linking”
ROI Digitally’s site internal linking ideas.
3. Detect Non-Secure Pages On Your Domain
Previously, Google only warned “Not Secure” when users tried to sign in to a website.
However, since Google Chrome launched version 68, it has warned users of insecurity for all websites that do not use HTTPS. This warning means that HTTP sites harm both users and SEO. Therefore, you need to update your website to switch to HTTPS. This approach helps improve website security, increases trust, and improves website rankings.
To find pages that are still using HTTP on your site, combine site: and -inurl: like this:
site:yourwebsite.com -inurl:https
This formula means:
- The site: operator lets Google check and evaluate your entire website system.
- The -inurl: operator is exclusionary, only showing pages that still use HTTP (insecure).
4. Search Resource Pages For Your Link Building
Resource pages are curated web pages that link to resources such as tools, products, applications, or services. Importantly, resource pages provide topics your audience will find helpful (see the image below).
An example of a Resource Page
You have to ask the owner of a resource page to include your content, which might give your site a backlink. But the hard part is finding the right resource pages.
Utilizing Google’s advanced search operators provides the solution: search using one of the following commands:
- Your term intitle:resources
- Your term intitle:links
- Your term inurl:resources
- Your term inurl:links
Let’s say we want to find resource pages for financial literacy websites; we run a search:
financial literacy intitle:resources
And it will display resource sites related to financial literacy like this:
The results show resource sites related to financial literacy.
5. Look For Websites That Accept Guest Posts
Guest posting (blogging) is an SEO tactic for creating content for other sites to promote your brand. Many SEO experts use guest posting to build backlinks, enhance authority, and drive website traffic.
One of the Google search operators below can help you find relevant guest posting opportunities for your site:
- Your term inurl/intitle:“write for us”
- Your term inurl/intitle:“guest article”
- Your term inurl/intitle:“submit a post”
- Your term inurl/intitle:“become an author”
- Your term inurl/intitle:”contribute”
- Your term inurl/intitle:“submit an article”
For example, if we want to find guest post ideas for healthy recipe websites, we search like this:
healthy recipes intitle:”write for us”
And Google will return websites accepting our guest posts:
The results show some guest post ideas for healthy recipe websites.
The inurl: operators return the same results as the intitle: operators.
6. Spot Duplicate Content
Duplicate Content occurs when the similar content appears:
- On your site: Two or more pages show the same content.
- On other sites: Someone copy and paste your content onto their websites.
Duplication is undesirable!
Luckily, Google search parameters can assist you in detecting and resolving duplicate content issues.
To check if anyone has copied your content, you can use Google operators as likes:
-site:yourdomain.com “paragraph or sentence you want to check for duplicates”
Then, enclose it in quotation marks (“”) to check whether your paragraph or sentence appears anywhere else on the web.
If you spot someone copying your content, ask them to link to your site with the appropriate information.
Now, to find duplicate content on your site, use the following operators:
site:yourdomain.com “paragraph or sentence you want to check for duplicates”
Here, use the site: operator to specify that you only focus on your website.
Then, enclose it in quotation marks (“”) to check for any matches.
7. Remove Your Files From Google’s Index
Let’s say you use content in Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, or unique documents. This content could include eBooks, white papers, or market reports aimed at attracting potential customers. You probably want Google to refrain from indexing these files.
The reason is that if Google indexes them, they will appear in search results. Users can view or download them at their discretion without providing you with their contact information. The consequences are loss of leads and sales.
So, has Google indexed your particular files?
Using a combination of the filetype: and site: operators can help you:
For example, site:yourdomain.com filetype:pdf
If you find that Google has indexed your lead generation files, you can block them by adding “noindex” to the meta tag.
8. Identify And Analyze Your SEO Competitors
For example, you want to know which websites are ahrefs.com’s competitors.
Try the search command: related:ahrefs.com
Search for related:ahrefs.com on Google.
Then, use the site: command to analyze these competitors further.
If you look for the site:moz.com, you’ll see it has published a lot of content. This content is available in its Help and SEO Learning Center sections.
Results after searching site:moz.com on Google
If you use the site: again to check Moz’s SEO Learning Center, you’ll gain a better knowledge of its published content type.
Search site:moz.com/learn/seo to understand Moz’s content types better
The results show that it focuses on Definition type articles.
Next, search for intitle:(“what is”|”what are”). Then, Google returns 86 results related to what is or what are on Moz’s blog.
There are 86 pages related to What is or What are on Moz’s blog
Note: Google can’t tell you whether these pages receive organic traffic. It would be best to use an in-depth SEO analysis tool to learn more about it.
9. Look For Outreach Prospects’ Social Media Profiles
Most link-building tactics revolve around Outreach.
It allows you to contact website owners (via social media, email, etc.) and persuade them to point to your article.
To search for prospects’ social media profiles, you can use operators like these:
prospect’s name site’s name (site:x.com OR site:instagram.com OR site:facebook.com)
In this example, you must use parentheses () to group multiple commands.
The OR operator will help you search for your prospect’s profile on any social media platform you specify.
Then, you can contact these prospects using the information you find.
Conclusion
Google search commands can be helpful SEO tools if you use them effectively. So bookmark this guide for quick reference when you need it.
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need advice from SEO experts with over 15 years of experience!
Frequently Asked Questions
- What Are Google Search Operators?
Google search operators are special symbols and characters that help users refine their ability to find standard information. Sometimes, people call Google search operators “search parameters” or “advanced search operators.”
Google search commands can be helpful in everything from technical SEO reviews to competitor analysis.
- What Is The Google Search Operator For Finding Backlinks?
You can use the intitle:“backlinks” or intitle:“guest post” operator to find sites that will place backlinks or guest posts.
- What Is Google’s Advanced Search?
Advanced Search of Google is a more detailed tool for finding content on Google. It uses search operators, or “advanced operators,” to locate content more accurately and quickly.
This tool has a separate search window compared to the regular search bar. It offers drop-down menus and search bars that narrow search results to specific needs.
- How To Do A Google Advanced Search?
Visit https://www.google.com/advanced_search to go to the Advanced Search page. Here, narrow your search results by filling in your request in the fields. However, you do not need to fill in all the fields; you only need to fill out at least one.
You can do a Google advanced search on Google Chrome or any other browser.
- What Is The Google Search Operator For File Type?
The filetype: operator can help you limit results to a particular file type or extension. For example, filetype:docx pasta will search for DOCX files and URLs ending in .docx whose content contains the term pasta.
