Google Search Operators

What are Search operators?

Search operators are special commands which extend the capability of regular text search in search engine.

Google Search Operators – They are special Characters that modify search for most compatible results compared to regular organic search.

Google Official Definition for Search operators - symbols or words in your search to make your search results more precise.

How to use Text Search operators in Google Chrome Browser?

Enter search operators directly into the Google search box, just as you would a text search

Basic Web Search Operators

1. " " - Put any phrase in quotes to force Google to use exact-match. On single words, prevents synonyms.

e.g: "APJ Abdul Kalam"

2. OR - Tesla OR Edison

Google search defaults to logical AND between terms. Specify "OR" for a logical OR (ALL-CAPS).

3. ( ) - (wright brothers OR aviation) first flight

Use parentheses to group operators and control the order in which they execute.

4. – Minus symbol – use this operator to exclude the term from results

5. (*) - An asterisk (*) - acts as a wild-card and will match on any word.

6. (..) - with numbers on either side to match on any integer in that range of numbers.

e.g: Microsoft announcement 2017..2019

7. In - Use "in" to convert between two equivalent units. This returns a special, Knowledge Card style result.

II. Advanced Search Operators

1. intitle: Search only in the page's title for a word or phrase. Use exact-match (quotes) for phrases.

e.g : intitle:Microsoft vs Apple

2. allintitle: Search the page title for every individual term following "allintitle:". Same as multiple intitle:'s

e.g: allintitle: Microsoft vs apple

3. inurl: Look for a word or phrase (in quotes) in the document URL. Can combine with other terms.

e.g: apple announcements inurl:2019

4. allinurl: Search the URL for every individual term following "allinurl:". Same as multiple inurl:'s.

e.g: allinurl: amazon field-keywords Yamaha

5. intext: Search for a word or phrase (in quotes), but only in the body/document text.

e.g: allintext: best wifi

6. filetype: Match only a specific file type. Some examples include PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT, and TXT.

e.g: "Dakar rally announcements" filetype:pdf

7. related: Return sites that are related to a target domain. Only works for larger domains.

e.g: related:indiatimes.com

8.AROUND(X): Returns results where the two terms/phrases are within (X) words of each other.

e.g: tesla AROUND(3) edison

To Summarize and for ease of use the operators are listed in the image below

Conclusion

Using Google Search operators can fine tune your search results thereby increasing your productivity while you search online, also it opens up new opportunity to see results that might not have appeared during an Organic search with our using the search operators.