One of the most important online skills is to know how to search on Google.
Simply entering a few keywords on Google is often NOT enough to find the information you are looking for.
Why? Google processes over 60,000 search queries every second, translating to over 5 billion searches per day.
However, by using “Google search operators”, you can narrow down your search results and find exactly what you need more easily.
What Are Google Search Operators?
Google search operators are special characters or words that can be added to a search term to refine the results on Google.
For example, the “site:” search operator can be used to find results from a specific website whereas the “filetype:” operator can be used to find results of a specific type, such as PDFs or Word documents.
Google search operators can be extremely useful for finding exactly what you’re looking for.
By learning to use search operators, you can save yourself a TON of time when searching on Google.
So in this guide, you’ll find a lot of useful Google search operators that can be used by anyone from beginners to advanced search users.
Are you ready to find them out? Let’s jump into the details without much ado.
25 Most Useful Google Search Operators 2022: Beginners to Advanced!
1. site:
One of the most commonly used operators is “site:”, which allows you to search for all web pages on a particular website. This is useful if you want to find all pages on a website or mention a particular word or phrase.
For example, if you wanted to find all pages on BloggersPassion.com that mention “blogging tips“, you would enter “blogging tips” site:google.com into the Google search box.
2. intitle:
Another useful Google search operator is “intitle:”, which only shows you results that have the specified word in the title. This can be helpful for finding specific articles or blog posts.
Suppose I want to find out the list of all pages that have “how to start a blog” keyword mentioned at title level. This will help me understand the competition level for the mentioned keyword as well. So I will make a search for intitle:”how to start a blog” in Google search.
3. inurl:
This operator searches for a specific word or phrase in the URL of all web pages on a particular site.
For example, if you wanted to find pages that mention “SEO” on BloggersPassion’s website, you would enter inurl:seo site:bloggerspassion.com into the Google search box and it will display all the URLs that contain the word “SEO” at URL level.
Have a look;
4. filetype:
The “filetype:” operator lets you specify the type of file you are looking for, such as a PDF or an image. This allows you to specify the type of file that you’re looking for, and it will only return results that match that file type.
For example, if you wanted to find a PDF on WordPress, you could search for “filetype:pdf WordPress” and it will return you all the search results that have a WordPress PDF file to offer.
5. *
This asterisk (*) operator can be used to search pages that contain anything before your keyword.
For instance, how to * a website, will return pages that contain “how to…”
Have a look;
See that? You’ll notice all the “How to” posts showing up when you enter the * operator before the keyword “how to”.
Top 10 Basic Search Operators
Are you new to using search operators? Then, you may want to use the following basic Google search operators.
1. in
If you want to convert between two similar units, you can use the “in” operator.
For instance, “10 meters in cm” will return the following result.
As you can see above, Google will automatically convert the units when you use the operator “in”.
2. –
You can put the minus (-) symbol in front of any keyword to exclude that term from the Google search results.
For example, bloggerspassion -blog will show you everything other than the blog results.
Have a look;
3. “ “
You can insert any phrase in quotes (“ “) to show exact-match search results on Google.
Here’s an example;
As you can see above, when you enter the search term “what is a blog”, Google will show you all the results that contain that exact-match word. Sometimes, Google will also return synonyms or related terms to show broad results.
4. stock:
This operator will show you the current information about a stock including its current price and recent trends.
For example, when you use the string stock:tesla, Google will show the current stock price of Tesla.
5. define:
This operator displays definitions from various online dictionaries for any word or phrase that you type into Google.
To use this, simply enter define: followed by a word or phrase into the Google search box and Google will display definitions from several different dictionaries. For example, when you use the string define:small, Google will show the following things.
6. $
This operator will search for prices.
For example, when you type something like iPhone $200, Google will show you all the search results with the prices of the iPhone.
Have a look;
7. weather:
This search operator will help you find the weather for a specific location.
For instance, when you search for weather: new york, it will show you the current weather in New York City.
8. loc:
If you want Google to search only a specific location, you can use the loc: search operator.
For example, loc:berlin will only give you search results that are specific to one location i.e. Berlin.
This search operator will be extremely helpful if you want to narrow down specific location search results or if you’re a website owner who’s doing local SEO, it can be really helpful.
9. map:
This operator will show you the exact map of a specific location you want.
For example, map: London will show you the Google Maps of London city.
Have a look;
See that? If you want to directly open Google’s map widget of a specific location, use the map: operator.
10. #
You can use the search operator # (hashtag) to find hashtags.
Simply, put # in front of a word. For example, #throwbackFriday will show you a list of the searches that contain that particular hashtag.
Have a look;
10 Advanced Google Search Operators to Use In 2022
Are you looking for advanced Google search operators to find exclusive information on Google? Then, you should definitely try the following TEN search operators.
1. cache:
This advanced Google search operator will show you the cached version of any website. This operator can be useful when the original page is unavailable or if you just want to see what it looked like at a certain time.
To use this operator, simply enter cache: followed by a web address into the Google search box and Google will display its cached version of the page.
For example, cache:bloggerspassion.com
2. inanchor:
This operator is useful if you want to search for an exact anchor text used on any links.
Example, inanchor:”WordPress SEO”
As you can see above, the inachor: operator will help you find those anchor text links with the exact-match keyword.
3. allintext:
This will search for specific text contained on any web page
For example, allintext: blogger income reports
As shown above, you’ll only find search results that include specific text on web pages.
4. related:
This search operator displays websites that are similar to the website that you type into Google.
This can be useful if you want to find other websites on a similar topic or if you want to find alternatives to a particular website.
For example, if you wanted to find websites related to Google’s website, you would enter related:google.com into the Google search box.
As you can see, you’ll find all the related search engines that are similar to Google.
5. Pipe operator |
| (pipe operator) can be a simple replacement for the Google search operator OR.
| operator actually combines searches.
For instance, when you search for SEO | PPC you’ll get the following result;
As you can see above, the pipe operator works similarly to the OR operator.
6. source:
This operator will allow you to select a specific source in Google News.
This search operator will be extremely helpful if you want to cite specific news sources.
7. AROUND(X) operator
This search operator is a bit tricky. It helps you get results where your search terms are close to each other.
The X is how many words at most can separate the two search terms.
For example, if you use the search term SEO AROUND(4) video
You’ll only get results where “SEO” and “video” are within 4 words of each other.
Have a look;
8. ..
This search operation can be used to refine the search results within the range of numbers that you mention.
For example, if you want to find a list of all the smartphones that are within the range of $100 to $500, you can use the search operator as smartphones $100..$500 and Google will show you products within that price range.
9. Allinurl:
This operator will show only those pages with the search query specified in the URL.
For instance, if you enter the search term allinurl:gift card google play, Google will show you all the URLs that contain the words Google play, gift, and card.
You can use this operator to filter out irrelevant search results for popular topics or products.
10. movie:
This search operator will show you the information about a movie including its series (if any).
For example, the search query movie:iron man, will show you the movie widget on Google search results along with all the film series.
Have a look;
FAQs | Essential Google search operators
Here are some of the frequently asked questions about Google search operators.
What is a Google search operator?
Search operators are special characters or words that you can add to your search to narrow down your results to include only relevant results, saving you time and frustration.
What does the site: operator do?
The “site:” operator lets you search for results from a specific website. So if you wanted to find all the articles about the website “Mashable” on Google, you could search for “site:mashable.com”
Which operator is used for the exact search?
You can use the “quotation marks” search operator to find search results with an exact match. When you use this operator, you are telling Google to search for the exact phrase that you have used in quotation marks. For instance, “what is search engine” will show all the pages that contain the keyword used in the quotation marks.
What is an inurl?
The inurl search operator is a Google search operator that allows you to search for a particular word or phrase in the URL of a webpage.
For example, if you wanted to find all websites that contained the word “SEO” in their URL, you would use the inurl search operator like this: inurl:SEO, and Google will show all the web pages that contain the word “SEO” in their URL.
What are some of the most popular Google search operators?
Here are a few of the popular Google search operators.
– Use quotation marks to find an exact phrase: “google search operators”
– Use an asterisk as a wildcard: import*
– Use the tilde operator to find synonyms: ~any keyword
– Use site: to only search a specific website: site:example.com
Related Posts:
Final thoughts on Google search operators list 2022
The FASTEST way to find the information you want on Google is to use search operators.
There are dozens of search operators available, each of which can be extremely useful in various situations. So if you want to get the most out of Google, it’s a GREAT idea to learn about different search operators.
Did you find the Google search operators list useful? Have we missed any of your favorite search operators? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Keep reading the article at BloggersPassion: Learn Blogging & SEO from Anil Agarwal. The article was originally written by Anil Agarwal on 2022-05-09 01:31:01.
The article was hand-picked and curated for you by the Editorial Team of WP Archives.