Everything You Need to Know About Advanced Search Operators for Google

Advanced Search Operators

TechsPlace | Searching something online is slowly becoming a tedious job since there are many sources and sites to scourge and look at. Therefore, it has become a necessity to refine the search results on the search engines. This is the reason why search operators have become so crucial.

There are many search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Baidu, Microsoft, etc. to choose from; however, almost every one of them tends to have almost the same search operators. These search operators are a type of command that helps to narrow down the search results so that you can find your requirement with complete ease. Many commands have their specific objectives as some may fall in the basic category and some in the advanced search operators’ category.

Basic Google search operators

Using the right command and punctuation can make your searching work much more precise and accurate. Some of the common and very basic operators are listed below:

  1. Link: (e.g.- link:youtube.com) – this will search for those sites which get linked back to the mentioned site.
  2. Site: (e.g.- site:youtube.com) – this will search for sites and pages which belong to the mentioned site.
  3. OR (PPC OR SEO) – OR is used for searching pages which has at least one of the mentioned keywords.
  4. Cache: (e.g.- cache:moz.com) – this command will show how the site is seen by Google.
  5. Related: (e.g.- related:facebook.com) – this operator will help you search for sites that are similar to the site mentioned.
  6. Info: (e.g.- info:youtube.com) – this operator helps find every related piece of information regarding the website.
  7. $ – (e.g.- $canon) – this is to find the price of a product.
  8. # – (e.g.- #oscars) –this is to find the trending hashtags and their pages.
  9. @ – (e.g.- @xyz) – this will find social pages related to the keyword.
  10. * – this is used to replace the wildcard terms or the unknown ones.
  11. .. – (e.g.- $50.$500) – this is placed between two numbers to find results in that range.
  12. – this puts a text inside quotes so you will get results which have the same text as it is.

Advanced Google search operators

Some of the advanced operators, which are used to define and refine the searches and save your time are listed below:

  1. Allinanchor: (eg- allinanchor:domestic web designing company) – search results will include pages that have the same words in the anchor text.
  2. Allintitle: (e.g. – allintitle:best seo practices) – search results will involve the pages where titles have the same words.
  3. Allintext: (e.g. – allintext:detect plagiarism) – search results will include all the sites in which the text has the words mentioned.
  4. Filetype: (e.g. -filetype:pdf) – results of the search will include the pages of the same file type.
  5. Info: (e.g. – info:twitter.com) – search results will involve information about the given site.
  6. Inanchor: (e.g. – inanchor:seo) – it will find pages that have the word mentioned in the anchor.
  7. Define: – it will give the definition of the searched word.
  8. Allinurl: (e.g.- allinurl:web designing) – this will give the pages where the URL has the words mentioned.
  9. Author: (e.g. – author:xyz) – using this, you can find blogs written by the named author.

Backlinking queries

Backlinking is one of the best ways to optimize your website which can help the webpage to rank higher. Proper backlinking can help the webpage to get more prominence in various engines. A backlink is a citation where one website gets linked to another web resource or webpage. Some of the common types of queries for finding the right backlinking sources are done by:

  • Finding webpages for finding the industry resources

Eg: keyword “top 10 sites”/”top sites”

  • Finding the right websites for guest posting opportunities

Eg: keyword/competitorName + “guest blog”

  • Finding web pages to promote your widgets, tools, infographics, etc.

Eg: industryName intitle:tools

  • Finding the right web pages for listing your website

Eg: keyword + “add site”/”submit site”/”suggest site”/”post site”/”recommmned site”

  • Finding blogs for sponsored or paid review posting

Eg: keyword + intext:”this is a paid post”

  • Finding non-profit organizations for donation purposes

Eg: keyword site:.org.uk (in the UK)

  • Finding reviewing websites

Eg: productName intitle:review

  • Finding governmental institution websites

Eg: keyword site:.gov.in (in India)

  • Finding link reclamation opportunities

Eg: Brand Name-rd:sitename.com

  • Finding pages with broken links

Eg: keyword intitle:resources

Infographic on Advanced Search Operators:

Advanced Google Search Operators