Matteo Duò ⋮ ⋮ 12/16/2020

Google Search Operators

Google search operators make searching for things online so much better.

Once you’ve mastered just a few of these special commands, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without them.

In this post, we’ll guide you through some of the best Google advanced search operators (that actually work) and
show you how to use them effectively.

hWhat Are Google Search Operators?

Google search operators (sometimes called Google advanced search operators or Google search commands) are
special commands that extend the capabilities of regular text searches on Google.

Search operators help you narrow down search results, and they can be useful for everything from content research
to finding online discussion to technical SEO audits.

They can also be used with other search engines like Bing and Yahoo too.

Just like Gmail search operators, using Google search operators help you find exactly what you are looking for in
everyone’s favorite search engine.

They range from basic definitions like this:

An example of the definition function using Google Search Operators

To finding advanced indexation issues with websites:

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How Do I Use Google Search Operators?
It’s as simple as searching for something on Google. You can enter search operators directly into the Google search
box just as you would a text search:

Using search operators is as simple as doing a Google search

Except in special cases (such as the “in” operator), Google will return standard organic results.

You can use symbols and/or words in your search terms to make your results more accurate.

Just remember:

Google typically ignores any punctuation (that isn’t part of a search operator).
Don’t include spaces between the symbol or word and your search term. Using this search command,
site:kinsta.com will work, but this site: kinsta.com won’t.

Google Search Operators List

Here is a complete list of all working Google advanced search operators:

“search term” Use this to do an exact-match search.

OR Search for this OR that. This will return results related to the two terms or both.
AND Search for this AND that. This will only return results related to the two terms
– Exclude a term or search phrase.
* Acts as a wildcard and will match any word or phrase.
( ) Groups multiple terms or operators to control how the search is shown.
$ Search for prices.
define: Displays the meaning of a word in a card-like result.
Cache: Returns the most recent cached version of a web page (as long as the page is indexed).
filetype: Shows results of a certain filetype (PDF, DOCX, TXT, PPT, etc.)
site: Limit results to a specific website.
related: Find sites related to another site.
intitle: Find pages that contain a specific word in the title.
allintitle: Like “intitle,” this finds web pages containing all of the specific words in the page title.
inurl: Finds pages with a certain word in the URL.
allinurl: Similar to “inurl,” this finds web pages containing all of the URL’s specific words.
intext: Finds pages containing a specific word in the content.
allintext: Finds results containing all of the specific words somewhere on the page.
AROUND(X) This proximity search finds pages containing two words (or phrases) within X words of each other.
weather: Finds the weather for a specific location.
stocks: See stock information
map: View map results for a location search.
movie: Finds information about a specific movie.
in Convert one unit into another (like currencies, weights, temperatures, etc.)
source: Find news results from a certain source within Google News.

How to Combine Google Search Operators

One of the most useful things about Google search operators is that you can combine them for particular use cases.

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You can quickly find the source of a quote, an original image, or even official documentation for (almost) anything.

Use your imagination. There are loads of search operator combinations. Here are just a few examples of combined
search commands to take inspiration from.

40 Advanced Google Search Operators

Knowing the different parts that make up a search operator is useful, but having some specific uses is more useful.

So let’s put these Google search operators into action. You can achieve anything with Google’s advanced operators
with some imagination (and some trial and error).

Don’t be afraid to play around either and edit the examples below. You might just discover a cool new search
command.

Let’s go:

1. Find related sites

related:[website]

Let’s say you’ve found a site that you want a link from, or maybe you just want to collect as many similar sites for
some competitor research. Using the related: search operator will show you similar sites related to the URL you add.

Find a bunch of link prospects related to your keyword

It’s as simple as that.

2. Find Pages to Add Internal Links

Site:[website] keyword

This is one of my favorite ways to help improve WordPress SEO. And thanks to Google search operators, it’s pretty
quick to do.

Internal links help visitors and Google move around your site. But to get any benefit from them, you need to be
adding them to relevant pages.

This is where Google operators make this easy.

Simply search your site along with a word or phrase, and Google will show you relevant pages you can internally link
to and from.

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 Find internal link opportunities with the site: search operator

3. Search Content on a Specific Site (And Find Any Indexation Errors)

site:[website]

You can use the site to find something from a specific website and limit your search to that single site. For example,
you may use it to find the contact page or link opportunities of a specific site.

Or you can find specific content by using this operator:

Site:[website] “keyword”

This will show you any pages on the website you’ve searched containing the keyword you’ve added.

Find exact match content on your site

This can be a great way to find pages to add internal links to (so you drive more traffic to your website).

You can also use this Google search operator to find any indexation errors. It could be that a page that you want
Google to index is not showing up. Or vice-versa, you may discover pages you don’t want to be indexed are showing
up (and you might need to keep them private).

Say you check how many of your blog posts are showing up in Google with this operator:

site:yourwebsite.com/blog

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 Find indexed blog posts in Google super quick

You see that 19 pages are indexed but know that you have published 50 posts… then that would be a good enough
reason to investigate what is happening to the other (non-indexed) articles.

Just keep in mind that using this method to assess Google indexation is only a very rough estimate. For more
accurate search engine results, check out Google Search Console.

4. Find Exact Matches

"[search term]"

If you put quotation marks around a word or phrase, the search results will only contain results that match exactly the
word or phrase in the quotes.

Find pages that that match exactly your keyword

You can take advantage of this operator to uncover guest post opportunities by using:

“write for us”

“become a contributor”
“contribute to”
“write for me”
“guest post guidelines”

And you could even go a step further and combine the exact match operator with the site: operator to search a
specific website for exact text. This is great for finding duplicate content.

5. Exclude Specific Words or Phrases

-[keyword]

In this Google search operator, the minus sign is used before the search term to remove a particular keyword from
the search results. It’s helpful when you’re looking for something with more than one meaning and want to exclude
the other meaning.

It’s also useful if you want to remove some branded search results. You can exclude multiple keywords as well.

6. Include Specific Words or Phrases

keyword1 +keyword2

If you want to make sure that some of the keywords are definitely included in every search result, you can use the +
operator before that certain word. This is useful if you’re specifically searching within a niche topic.

7. Return the cached version of a page

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cache:[website]

Using the cache: Google search operator will return the most recently cached version of the webpage available on
Google. This may be useful if a site is down and you still want to read something on it.

Just remember, the cached version probably won’t look as good as the live website:

Quickly view the cached version of a webpage

8. Search for Specific Keywords in a URL

inurl:[keyword]

The inurl: operator followed by a keyword lists all search results that include the keyword somewhere in their URL.
This can be helpful when finding guest post opportunities, contact pages, or potential direct competitors.

Examples you could try:

inurl:guest-post
Inurl:guest-contributor-guidelines

Try this search operator keyword inurl:guestpost to find sites that accept guest posts (probably) that are related to
the keyword you’ve searched.

Find guest post opportunities related to your niche

It doesn’t matter where you place your keyword (before vs after the search operator):

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 Find potential sites to publish guest posts on

9. Find Keywords in Page Titles

intitle:

The intitle: Google operator shows results that have the specified keyword or phrase within the page title.

Like all search operators, you can chain together most operators to get custom results.

For example, you could do an exact search for “mountain bike” and combine it with the intitle: operator to show only
pages that contain “2020” in their page title.

Find results that contain the keywords you define

Pretty useful for finding up-to-date product guides.

10. Find Exact Keywords in Page Titles

allintitle:

Similar to intitle: but more specific. If you start your query with allintitle: Google will only show results containing all
the terms in the page title you specify.

For example, using the command allintitle:pizza is amazing will only show results that contain the terms “pizza is
amazing” in the title.

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 Find results that exactly match your keywords

Don’t forget it’s not just Google search where this operator works:

In Image Search allintitle: will show images where the filename contains the terms you specify.
In Google News allintitle: will show articles where the titles include the terms you specify.

11. Find Keywords Inside Page Text

intext:

Like the previous operators, the Google search operator intext: will show any results containing the keyword you
specify inside the text of the page.

So if you’re looking for articles on specific subjects, this operator can help refine your search.

12. Find Exact Keywords Inside Page Text

allintext:

The allintext: operator will help you find entire phrases or keywords in the page text.

Say you know you mentioned a term or phrase in an article but can’t remember which article. Use this operator to
check.

For example, let’s say we know we’ve mentioned ‘Traffic comparisons for WordPress sites…’ on the blog before, but
we can’t remember where.

(Hint: we do in our what does SEO stand for article)

The allintext operator would uncover this phrase in the text for us:

Find any phrases used across a domain

13. Find Keywords Inside Anchor Texts

inanchor:

This operator is pretty useful for SEO. The inanchor: search operator shows pages that have the keyword you’ve
specified in the anchor text.

14. Find Exact Keywords Inside Anchor Texts

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allinanchor:

The allinanchor: Google search operator shows the entire keywords/phrases in anchor text:

To be honest, you’ll probably end up using this operator more than the regular inanchor: command as it’s more
accurate.

15. Find Keywords Within URLs

inurl:

The inurl: operator will show you results that contain the keyword you specify somewhere in the URL.

Useful for trying to remember that URL you forgot or finding pages that are about specific topics.

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16. Find Exact Keywords Within URLs

allinurl:

Like the previous operator, this shows keywords that appear in URLs. Only this time, it will show the entire keyword or
phrase you have specified.

Find exact keywords inside of URLs

17. Find Content Created by Specific Authors

postauthor:

This search operator helps you to find content creators quickly. Just drop in their name, and you’ll be able to find blog
posts and articles written by them quickly.

A great way to use this Google search operator is for finding influencers in your niche who may be open to sharing
your work or contributing to your site. This could be especially helpful if you are doing any SaaS marketing.

You can also use it to find influencers to link to in your content to build up some (mutually beneficial) relationships.

18. Search A Specific Location

loc:

The loc: operator (with a specific location) will help focus your results down to that area.

If you’re doing local SEO, this location-based Google search operator can be your new best friend for finding an
audience that’s in one geographic place.

19. Exclude Any Subdomains

site: [website.com] -inurl:www

This combo of two operators site: + -inurl: helps to narrow down results so you can go through a site’s subdomains.

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 Exclude any subdomains from showing in Google

This search command filters out the www subdomain. Anything that begins with www will be excluded from the
results, leaving you with the subdomains to check out.

20. Search for Specific Types Of Files

filetype:[extension]

The filetype: operator helps you find a target page with a particular file extension. Google will return only results of a
specific type of file that you define. It’s extremely useful when you want to find PDF or PPT files.

Search for specific filetypes (like PDFs) in Google

21. List Search Results That Comply With One Of The Conditions

keyword/condition1 OR keyword/condition2

The OR search operator allows you to search for search results that meet one of two conditions.

Simply write two search operators and put the OR command in capital letters between them. This tells Google to
show results that satisfy either the first or the second condition. You can also use the pipe symbol | instead of OR.

22. Add a “Fill in the Blank” Option

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keyword1 * keyword2

If you want to get more matches, you can use the asterisk * wildcard operator. Put the wildcard in a phrase, and
you’ll get all the variations of that phrase. It’s useful for finding quotes and phrases.

Example: digital * strategy

Add a ‘fill-in-the-blank- option with this search command

This will return results for various things surrounded by these two keywords, like digital marketing strategy, digital
media strategy, and the like.

23. Find Words near Each Other

keyword1 AROUND(X) keyword2

With this Google search operator, you can get results where your search terms are close to each other. The
AROUND(X) operator can be used to define the maximum distance between the two keywords. The X in the brackets
is how many words at most can separate the two keywords.

It may be useful for finding quotes and sentences you don’t exactly remember.

24. Search Between Specific Dates

daterange:[XXXXX-XXXXX]

The daterange: operator will show search results within a range of dates that you specify. It is a bit tricky because it
uses the Julian date format, so you need to put the year followed by the number of days since the beginning of the
year. Use an online converter to get the right date format!

Example:

daterange:2458881.34039-2459002.06315

25. Search Between Two Specific Years

[year1]..[year2]

There is an easier way to add date ranges than using the Julian date format. This Google search operator is typed as
two dots and allows you to apply a year range filter for your searches.

Put two dots between two years, and Google will only return search results published between those two years. It’s
easier, but it doesn’t let you search for specific days as daterange: does.

Example:

2014..2018

26. Find Relevant Forum and Community Discussion Topics

Site:website.com intitle:keyword

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Relevant forums, subreddits, online communities, and Q+A sites (like Quora) are great places for promoting content.

You can quickly find discussions and questions being asked in your niche, and then join in.

How to find a relevant forum and community discussion topics (based on a keyword of your choice)

Finding them is easy with Google search commands.

Try these:

Site:reddit.com intitle:keyword
Site:quora.com intitle:keyword
Site:niche-specific-forum.com intitle:keyword

27. Find PDF Downloads on .Gov Sites

[flu shot ext:pdf site:gov]

This is a good way to find documents to cite on any topic when doing online research.

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 How to find PDF downloads (on Government sites)

28. Find Non-HTTPS Indexed Pages

Site:[website.com] -inurl:https

Having a secure website is essential these days. With a couple of operators, you can find non-HTTPS pages on your
site that have been indexed.

How to Find Non-HTTPS Indexed Pages

Sometimes, when using this command, pages will be indexed without HTTPS. But when you go and visit the actual
page, you will land on the HTTPS version.

Don’t just assume that your pages are not secure just because they show up for this search operator. Double-check
them.

However, if your page is showing up as not secure, check your SSL certificate.

29. Find Pages That Mention a Word in the Text

[Jeff Bezos -intitle:Jeff -intitle:Bezos]

Sometimes we just need to find articles that mention a name or a concept without focusing on it.

How to find pages that mention a specific keyword within the text

30. Find An Organization’s Twitter Accounts

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[site:twitter.com @nytimes -inurl:status -inurl:hashtag -inurl:lists]

If you were wondering how this operator works:

-inurl:status -inurl:hashtag -inurl:lists tells Google to exclude any Twitter lists, hashtags, and status updates from
the search results.

This leaves only Twitter profiles containing your search term.

31. Search Multiple Sites at the Same Time

pizza site:tiktok.com OR site:vimeo.com OR site:youtube.com

Find yourself repeatedly searching the same sites?

This Google search operator lets you search them all in one shot.

32. Find Any Duplicate Content On Your Site

"[duplicate content you want to check]"

Duplicate content is bad for your site. Thankfully, it’s easy to check with this simple search operator.

Just wrap the text you want to check inside quotation marks, and Google will show you any pages matching it.

You never know. You may find people stealing and republishing your content without permission or attribution.

33. Find Any Unwanted Files or Pages on Your Website

filetype:pdf seo

It is easy to lose track and forget about pages and files like PDFs, Word docs, and slideshows you may have
uploaded to your site.

Using the filetype: search operator, you can specify a file type and then search your site (or the whole web) for a
keyword, and the results will show the files that match.

What File Types Do Google Search Operators Support?

I’m glad you asked. Here is a list of the supported formats:

Adobe Flash (.swf)

Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf)
Adobe PostScript (.ps)
Autodesk Design Web Format (.dwf)
Google Earth (.kml, .kmz)
GPS eXchange Format (.gpx)
Hancom Hanword (.hwp)
HTML (.htm, .html, other file extensions)
Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlsx)
Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx)
Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx)
OpenOffice presentation (.odp)
OpenOffice spreadsheet (.ods)
OpenOffice text (.odt)
Rich Text Format (.rtf)
Scalable Vector Graphics (.svg)
TeX/LaTeX (.tex)
Text (.txt, .text, other file extensions)
Basic source code (.bas)
C/C++ source code (.c, .cc, .cpp, .cxx, .h, .hpp)
C# source code (.cs)
Java source code (.java)
Perl source code (.pl)
Python source code (.py)
Wireless Markup Language (.wml, .wap)
XML (.xml)

34. Find Niche Relevant Resource Page Link Opportunities

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inurl:resources intitle:resources mountain bike

Resource pages are round-ups of the best resources on a specific topic.

They range from more structured pages like our Resource Center page):

Our WP resources page

To more simple (but still useful) pages like this:

An example of a resource page (related to mountain biking) found using this search operator

Resource pages can be great places to get listed on, providing you have a relevant and useful resource to contribute.

Have a play around with these search operators and see what you find:

[topic] intitle:resources | inurl: resources

Intitle:[topic] AND intitle:resources AND inurl:resources
Allintitle:[topic] 5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15 resources

Once you’ve found them, it’d a matter of finding the site admin’s email address and reach out asking for your link to
be included.

35. Find Sites to Pitch Your Feature Infographics To

[topic] intitle:infographic inurl:infographic

Infographics can be a great visual asset to create for your site. But creating them is only half the battle. You need to
distribute them too.

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Using this operator to find sites that may be interested in featuring your infographic.

Some sites to potentially submit your pizza-related infographics to

36. Find Social Profiles for Outreach

[name] site:twitter.com | site:facebook.com | site:linkedin.com

Want to reach out to a specific person on social media? Or maybe you want to do some digging and see if you can
find their contact details.

Use this search operator to find them. You’ll need to know their name obviously for this to work.

You can then contact them directly via social media and start building relationships.

37. Find Sites That Mention Your Competitors (But Not You)

intext:[competitor] OR intext:[competitor] -site:website.com -site:website.com

Using this combination of site: and intext: and OR, you can see sites that have mentioned competitors… but not
you.

Play around with the Google search operators to find pages that are talking about sites you are competing with, but
not your site.

Let’s say you find a page that mentions a competitor, but it doesn’t mention you. A quick action item would be to
reach out and ask to be included.

38. Find Opportunities for Sponsored Posts

[topic] intext:"this is a sponsored post by"

Sponsored posts are posts you pay to be featured in that promote your website, brand, product, or service. The
approach is pretty similar to finding guest post opportunities:

Quickly find sponsored post opportunities related to your niche

Here are a few ways to find sponsored post opportunities using Google search operators:

sponsored post results

[topic] intext:”this is a sponsored post by”

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 [topic] intext:”this post was sponsored by”
[topic] intitle:”sponsored post”
[topic] intitle:”sponsored post archives” inurl:”category/sponsored-post”
“sponsored” AROUND(3) “post”

39. Find How Often Competing Sites Are Publishing New Content

site:[website} (+ some filtering in Google)

Most blogs live inside either a subfolder or on a subdomain:

To see how often a website is publishing content:

1. Do a site: search for subfolder or subdomain where the content is

2. Go to Tools on Google
3. Select a date range.

Find how often your competitors are publishing content

You’ll now have a better picture of how regularly the target site publishes any new content (based on the indexed
results).

You can also combine this operator with a search query to see how much content a site has published on a specific
topic.

40. Find Sites That Are Linking to Your Competitors

link:[website.com]

The link: search operator allows you to see where your competitors are getting links. Combine this with this Google’s
time period filter, and you’ll be able to see places the site has been linked to recently.

Find sites that are linking to your competitors and WHEN

A quick note on this one: the link: Google operator was deprecated by Google in 2017, and it may show
inconsistent and unreliable results. However, it still brings back results that may be useful as a starting point for your
research.

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Summary
Being able to refine your Google searches with Google search operators is a handy research skill. This advanced yet
lesser-known functionality makes Google an extremely flexible online tool. Even just knowing a few basic commands
can give you an edge.

Now it’s your turn: What are the Google search operators you use the most? Also, do you think we missed any on our
list? Let us know in the comments!

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