Updated: March 5, 2024.

The full list of 50+ Google advanced search operators to help you search more effectively and find exactly what you are looking for.

Whether you are an SEO or not, the below Google search operators will make you a smarter and more efficient Google user in no time.  

I tested each operator from the list, took my own screenshots, and shared my insights and tips with you.

Google search operators

What are Google operators?

Google search operators (also called search commands or search parameters) are special characters that let you refine and narrow down your searches in Google. These special operators will help you filter search results to find specific information or search only one specific website.  

Here is how to use search operators in Google:

  • type the search operator or search operators into the Google search box,
  • add the term or keyword you want to research,
  • hit ENTER,
  • enjoy highly relevant and specific search results. 

Note that most search results returned with the use of search operators (except for the "" operator) are almost always organic results. 

Types of Google operators

The 3 most common types of search operators include: 

  • special character operators like "", -, or * 
  • Boolean operators like OR, AND, or NOT
  • advanced search commands like site:, inurl:, or filetype: 

You will come across the following symbols when studying this list: 

💡 will explain exactly what the search operator from the example will search for and return. 

☝️ is a special hint on how you can use a specific search operator. 

🤓 appears when I’m getting a bit nerdy and want to give you even more extra tips or hints relating to a specific search operator. 

⚡ If you are reading this guide, I bet you will be interested in learning about the search engines that don’t track (privacy search engines). I have a full list of them!

Part I: 10+ basic Google Search operators

Basic Google search operators let you modify and narrow down standard searchers. 

These basic operators are mostly Boolean operators that work with other search engines (like Bing or Yandex) or with other Google services (like Gmail or Drive).

“” [Quotation Marks]

"" will find the web pages containing the exact match to the term put in quotation marks.

""
Example: "free seo consulting"

Google search operators: The "" (quotation marks)

Check the search results for: “free seo consulting”

💡 The search command from the example above will return the results containing only the exact word matches to “free seo consulting”.

☝️ You can use this search operator to find the term in a specific form (either plural or singular only) or exclude synonym search. 

🤓 "" will come in very handy when combined with other search operators to narrow down your searches even further. 

| [Pipe] operator

| works as the Boolean OR operator and will find web pages that are related to either one or the other topic, or both. 

|
Example: marie haynes | john mueller

Google search operators: The | (pipe) search operator

Check the search results for: marie haynes | john mueller

💡 This search will return web pages related to either Marie Haynes or John Mueller, or both. 

☝️ You can use OR instead of | and get identical results. 

OR Boolean search operator

OR is a Google Boolean operator which can be replaced with |. OR will find web pages about either any or all of the search terms specified.

OR
Example: marie haynes OR john mueller OR gary illyes

Google search operators: The OR search operator

Check the search results for: marie haynes OR john mueller OR gary illyes 

💡 The example search operator will look for web pages relating to Marie Haynes, John Mueller, or Gary Illyes, or all of them. 

☝️ You can replace OR with |. When using OR remember to write it in capital letters, or Google will treat it as a stop word and ignore it. 

() [Parentheses] search operator

() is a Boolean search operator that will let you group other operators and control their order of execution in searches containing multiple search terms. 

()
Example: (technical OR content OR link) seo audit 

Google search operators: The () search parameter typed into the Google search box with example search terms.

Check the search results for: (technical OR content OR link) seo audit

💡 The search command from the example above will return the web pages that are about any or all of the 3 types of SEO audits (technical, content, link). 

☝️ The () search operator is extremely useful for grouping other operators and determining their order of precedence in more complex searches. 

⚡ Looking for some SEO audit resources? Check my SEO audit guide.

AND Boolean search operator

AND will find the web pages that are related to all the terms specified. Note that all regular searches are by default the AND searches so it doesn’t really make much difference whether you use AND or not in simple searches. 

AND
Example: marie haynes AND john mueller
Example: marie haynes john mueller 

Google search operators: The Boolean search operator AND

Check the search results for: marie haynes AND john mueller

💡 This search will return the results relating to both Marie Haynes and John Mueller. 

☝️ The AND search operator can be very useful in combination with other search operators to perform more advanced searches. 

– [Minus] Google search operator

- will exclude the web pages which contain a specific phrase or a set of phrases.

-
Example: google search -console 

Google search operators: The minus search operator typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: google search -console

💡 The search command from the example will find web pages relating to “google search” but will exclude the term “console”. Anyone typing this operator in the search box wants to learn about Google Search but is not interested in the results about Google Search Console. 

☝️ The - search operator is extremely useful in more advanced and complex searches in which you want to dig deep into a specific topic and narrow down the results as much as possible.

* [Asterisk] operator

* works as a wildcard and will return the results with the missing term or terms as specified in the query. To get relevant results you need to use it together with the "" search parameter. 

*
Example: "the most popular SEO * in the world"

Google search operators: The search operator * (asterisk)

Check the search results for: “the most popular SEO * in the world”

💡 This search will return the web pages which contain the phrase specified with any word in place of *

☝️ This search operator is very useful for looking for interesting stats and data on a given topic. 

$ [Dollar Sign] operator

$ will look for prices with the dollar sign next to them. It’s very useful if $ is your currency. 

$
Example: seo service $1000

Google search operators: The $ search operator

Check the search results for: seo service $1000

💡 This search will look for web pages about SEO services at a price of $1000. 

☝️ To find the exact prices, such as $99.99, you need to combine $ with .

€ [Euro Sign] operator

works the same as $ except that it looks for the prices in Euro. This one is a bit less handy as you don’t have the Euro sign in your keyboard. 


Example: seo service €1000

The search operator with the Euro sign typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: seo service €1000

💡 This search will find web pages relating to the keyword “seo service” and mentioning the €1000 price with the Euro sign. 

☝️ You can use this search operator if you are looking for a specific product or service offered in Euros at a specific price. 

#..# [Number Range] search operator

#..# will look for the numbers within the range specified. 

#..#
Example: google algorithm update 2018..2020

The #..# Google search operator typed into the search box with example search terms.

Check the search results for: google algorithm update 2018..2020

💡 This search operator will look for web pages about Google algorithm updates between 2018 and 2020. 

☝️ Note that sometimes the results returned are a bit mixed. In my experience, the number range search parameter provides the most relevant results with years.  

in / to [Conversion]

in / to will let you easily convert two equivalent units directly in the search box. The conversion result will be displayed in the form of a knowledge card directly above the results. 

in
to

Example: 10 usd in eur
Example: 10 usd to eur

The Google search operator "in" typed into the search box to convert USD to EUR.

Check the search results for: 10 usd in eur

💡 In the examples above Google will convert 10 US Dollars to Euros. 

☝️ This Google search command is very useful if you need to quickly convert units without using any external conversion calculator.

🤓 Google will convert the units measuring area, data transfer rate, digital storage, energy, frequency, fuel economy, length, mass, plane angle, pressure, speed, temperature, time, and volume. 

@

@ is supposed to let you search social media.

@
Example: seo "@twitter"

The search operator @ typed into the search box in Google.

Check the search results for: seo “@twitter”

💡 The search operator in the example will search Twitter for any SEO and SEO-related topics or people.  

☝️ I found this search operator in the Google Search Help in the article on how to refine web searches. The example shown there @twitter provides mixed results. To get relevant results for searching social media you need to put the @ and the social platform name in brackets to force the exact-match search as in seo "@twitter"

🤓 Google will return pretty much the same results if you type seo site:twitter.com.

# [Hashtag]

# was supposed to help hashtags. This operator is deprecated now, so you need to put any hashtag you are looking for into quotation marks to get relevant results. 

#
Example: "#seo"

The query "#seo" typed into the search box in Google.

Check the search results for: “#seo”

💡 The search operator in the example will search for websites containing the hashtag #seo in their content. 

☝️ I also came across this operator in the Google Search Help article (which seems outdated) but – just like with the @ command – the results are relevant only if you put the hashtag in quotation marks to force the exact-match search. Without quotation marks, Google will perform a regular search for SEO.

Part II: 20+ Advanced Google Search Operators 

These advanced search operators will allow you to manipulate and narrow down search results even further.

To perform some advanced and really complicated searches, you will often need to combine basic search operators with the advanced search commands I’m showing below. 

Remember to put colon : after these commands and don’t put a space after it. 

site: for searching sites

site: will return the results restricted to the website specified only. This is probably the most popular search operator among SEOs. 

site:
Example: site:seosly.com

Google search operators: The site: command typed in the Google search box.

Check the search results for: site:seosly.com

💡 This Google search command will return all the indexed web pages of my website. 

Example 2: seo site:seosly.com

The site: command in the search box with the example domain and search query.

Check the search results for: seo site:seosly.com

💡 The seo site:seosly.com search command will let me find out which web page of my website Google considers the most relevant to the query “seo”. 

Example 3: "seo audit" site:seosly.com

The site: command in the search box with the example domain and search query in quotation marks.

Check the search results for: “seo audit” site:seosly.com

💡 The "seo audit" site:seosly.com search command will look for the exact match of “seo audit” within the indexed pages on my website.  

☝️ The site: search command is very powerful in combination with other search operators, such as "", -, or filetype:. You will find more examples of their use uses in Part IV of this guide. 

🤓 If you typed your main keyword (without quotes) and your domain in site:, it’s usually good if Google returns your homepage as the first result. There are, however, exceptions to this rule. 

related: for searching related pages

related: will find web pages which Google thinks are related to the domain specified. 

related: 
Example: related:mariehaynes.com

Google search operators: The search operator related: typed into the search box in Google.

Check the search results for: related:mariehaynes.com

💡 The example search query shows the websites which – according to Google – are related to https://www.mariehaynes.com/.   

☝️ This is a quick way to check the main competitors of a given website. However, note that the results may not always be super relevant because Google may understand different websites differently depending on their usage of certain keywords, types of content, backlinks, and more.

🤓 A more reliable way to find out the main competitors of a given website is to use a tool, such as Ahrefs or Semrush

cache:

cache: will return the most recent cached version of the URL specified assuming that it’s in the Google index. 

cache:
Example: cache:mariehaynes.com

Google search operators:  The cache: search command typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: cache:mariehaynes.com

💡 The cache:mariehaynes.com command will let me view the cached version of mariehaynes.com.  

☝️ The website may look a bit different because this is the cached version. Google also displays the date of the snapshot in the cached version.  

define: search operator

define: will let you quickly look up the meaning of a given term. The result will be displayed in the form of a knowledge card. 

define:
Example: define:seo

The define:seo search command typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: define:seo

💡 The define:seo search command will return the definition of SEO in the form of a knowledge card on the right. 

Example: define:john mueller 

The define:john mueller search command typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: define:john mueller

💡 The define:john mueller search query will return the most relevant people named John Mueller according to Google. Surprisingly, it’s not John Mueller from Google that appears on top of the results or in the knowledge card. 

☝️ Many of these searches will return results from Wikipedia. 

filetype: 

filetype: will restrict the results to the file type specified. The supported file types include PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, TXT, PPT, PPTX, etc. 

filetype:
Example: seo audit filetype:pdf

The filetype: search operator typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: seo audit filetype:pdf

💡 The seo audit filetype:pdf will find PDF files related to the term “seo audit” (including synonyms). 

Example: "seo offer" filetype:pdf

The filetype: search operator with an example query in quotation marks typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: “seo offer” filetype:pdf

💡 The "seo offer" filetype:pdf will find PDF files with an exact word-match to “seo offer”. 

Example: site:moz.com filetype:pdf

Google search operators: The filetype: search operator typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: site:moz.com filetype:pdf

💡 The site:moz.com filetype:pdf will let me check what PDF files of this website are in the Google index. The results may sometimes be surprising!

☝️ This is an extremely useful search command that you should be using daily. 

ext:

ext: is the unofficial sibling of filetype: and works identically. 

ext:
Example: seo checklist ext:pdf 

The ext: advanced search operator typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: seo checklist ext:pdf

💡 The seo checklist ext:pdf will search for the PDF files relating to the term “seo checklist”. 

☝️ You can use ext: instead of filetype:

intitle: 

intitle: will find web pages containing a certain term or terms in the title. 

intitle:
Example: intitle:marie haynes

The intitle: advanced search command typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: intitle:marie haynes

💡 The search command intitle:marie heynes will find web pages with the phrase “marie haynes” in the title. My intent with this search is to find articles or interviews with Marie Haynes. 

☝️ Note that this command doesn’t force an exact-word match. What you put after intitle: works like a regular search where synonyms or related phrases may be searched for 

allintitle:

allintitle: will find web pages that contain all of the terms specified in the title tag. 

allintitle:
Example: allintitle:marie haynes interview

The allintitle: advanced search command typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: allintitle:marie haynes interview

💡 The allintitle:marie hyenas interview will return the web pages that contain all of the terms in the title tag. My intention with this search is to find interviews with Marie Haynes. 

☝️ The allintitle: search command is useful if you want all of the words specified to appear in the title. This is more precise than intitle:

🤓 Note that the “allin” operators will include all of the terms specified so using it together with "" (the exact word-match) will most likely not produce many relevant results. 

inurl: 

inurl: will find web pages with a certain term or terms in the URL. 

inurl:
Example: inurl:marie haynes

Google search operators: The inurl: search operator typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: inurl:marie haynes

💡 The search command inurl:marie haynes will find the web pages that have the phrase “marie haynes” in the URL. My intent when doing this search is to find articles about Marie Haynes or interviews with her. 

☝️ Analogically to intitle:, the inurl: search command does not force an exact word match but will provide the most relevant results (including synonyms or related topics if applicable).  

allinurl:

allinurl: goes one step further and will return web pages that contain all the words specified in the URL address. 

allinurl:
Example: allinurl:marie haynes interview

The allinurl: search operator typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: allinurl:marie haynes interview

💡 The allinurl:marie haynes interview search command will return only the web pages which have all of the three words in the URL. Here my search intent is very clear: I’m looking for interviews with Marie Haynes. 

☝️ This search command is very useful if you are looking for a very specific piece of content. If you combine it with allintitle: the results should be highly relevant. 

intext: 

intext: will return web pages that have the specified word or words in their content. 

intext:
Example: intext:marie haynes

The intext: advanced search operator typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: intext:marie haynes

💡 The intext:marie haynes will return web pages that mention Marie Haynes somewhere in their content. Note that this search doesn’t force an exact word match. 

☝️ This Google search operator is very useful if you want to make sure that a given word appears in the content as opposed to the title tag or the URL address of a page. 

🤓 If you want to look for web pages that mention Marie Haynes in the text but don’t mention her in the title just type intext:marie haynes -intitle:marie haynes

allintext: 

allintext: is similar to intext: but will return the web pages that contain all of the words specified. 

allintext:
Example: allintext:john mueller marie haynes

The allintext: advanced search operator typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: allintext:john mueller marie haynes

💡 The search command allintext:john mueller marie haynes will return the web pages which have all of the words specified somewhere in their content. My search intent with this command is to find web pages that talk both about Marie Haynes and John Mueller. 

☝️ This search operator is very useful for finding a specific type of content or article you are looking for. 

🤓 Feel free to combine this search operator with - to exclude the phrases and narrow down the results even more.  

AROUND(X)

AROUND(x) is simply the word proximity search. It lets you find web pages that contain two phrases or words within the specified word distance from each other. X stands for the maximum word distance between two terms or phrases. 

AROUND(X)
Example: marie haynes AROUND(4) eat

Google search operators: The AROUND(X) advanced search operator typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: marie haynes AROUND(4) eat

💡 The marie haynes AROUND(4) eat search command will return web pages that contain the term “eat” not more than 4 words apart from the term “marie haynes”. 

☝️ My intent in the above query is obviously to find some articles by Marie Haynes or interviews with her about EAT. 

weather:

weather: will let you use your favorite search engine to check the weather in a specified location in the world. The weather will be displayed in the form of a knowledge card displayed above the results. 

weather:
Example: weather:mountain view

The weather: search command typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: weather:mountain view

💡 This search command will show me the current weather in Mountain View.

 

The search results for the query weather: showing the current weather in Mountain View.

☝️ This search command works with cities and countries. In the case of countries, the weather information for its capital city is displayed. 

🤓 If you just type weather: Google will display the most relevant weather information based on your location. 

stocks:

stocks: will provide the stock information for the ticket specified. 

stocks:
Example: stocks:googl

The stocks: search command typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: stocks:googl

💡 The stocks:googl will show me the stock information for Alphabet Inc Class A. The results will be displayed in the form of a knowledge card just above other results. 

The info card displaying current stock information for GOOGL.

☝️ The result for this search is displayed in the form of a knowledge card above the organic listings. 

map:

map: will display the Google map results for the location specified. 

map:
Example: map:mountain view

The map: search command typed into the Google search bar.

Check the search results for: map:mountain view

💡 The map:mountain view search command will display the map of Mountain View (where the Googleplex is located). 

This is the map displayed by the map: search command.

☝️ It’s very useful if you want to quickly jump to Google Maps straight from the address bar without the need to switch between tabs or firing up Google Maps on your phone. 

movie:

movie: will look for information about a specific movie. If the movie is currently showing at cinemas nearby, Google will also display showtimes.

movie:
Example: movie:the internship

The movie: search command typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: movie:the internship

💡 The movie:the internship search command will display information about The Internship movie. My intent with this query is to watch trailers, get basic info about this movie, or check where I can watch it. And Google gives me that exactly. 

☝️ This is a very useful shortcut to display information about a given movie instead of looking it up at IMDB. 

source:

source: will look for news from a specific source in Google News. 

source: 
Example: seo source:cnn

The source: search command typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: seo source:cnn

💡 The seo source:cnn search command will show me all the SEO-related web pages from CNN. 

☝️ This search command is very useful if you often read the news and have your favorite news publishers you want to search in detail for certain topics. The results are satisfactory but not perfect. 

🤓 My searches showed that this command provides mixed results. In some search results, I see source:, which suggests Google is doing a regular search with this as if you typed seo source cnn.  

location: 

location: will look for news from a specific location in Google News. This search operator may sometimes return mixed results but most of the time they are relevant.  

location:
Example: seo location:mountain view

The location: search command typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for: seo location:mountain view

💡 The seo location:mountain view search command will display mostly news and job-related articles about SEO from Mountain View.  

☝️ It’s quite useful if you are interested in location-specific content about a given topic. 

Part III: other Google search operators

Below are some other Google search operators that aren’t very reliable because they either return inconsistent results or are deprecated. 

✔️ means the search operator still works and may provide some relevant results. 

❌ means the search command has either been officially deprecated or provides inconsistent results or both. 

I’m showing these operators for educational purposes. Testing all of them out was a lot of fun. 

+ [Plus]

+ was used for combining different terms in one search query. The + search operator has been deprecated since the launch of Google+ (which has been discontinued as well). 

✔️ It provides relevant results because + or AND is added to all regular searches by default.   

~

~ was used for including synonyms. It’s not very reliable now as synonyms are included by default in any regular search. 

❌ It’s not useful since synonyms are added to each regular search by default now. 

daterange:

daterange: was supposed to return websites in the specific date range. 

❌ It doesn’t return consistent results.

inanchor:

inanchor: was used for finding web pages that had inbound links with the specified anchor text. This seems to provide more or less relevant results if you use it with "” like in inanchor:"free seo audit"

❌ The results overall aren’t very consistent. 

allinanchor: 

allinanchor: is similar to inanchor: and is supposed to find web pages that have incoming links containing all of the words specified in the anchor text. 

❌ The results are not very consistent. 

link: operator

link: was supposed to find web pages that link to the domain specified. 

❌ This operator was deprecated in 2017. 

blogurl:

blogurl: was supposed to find the URLs of blogs within the domain specified. This search operator was part of the Google blog search. The blogurl: command is deprecated. 

✔️ The Google blog search has been discontinued but this operator still provides slightly relevant results. 

loc:

loc: was supposed to display search results for a specific location. 

❌ This search operator was not officially deprecated but it provides unreliable results. 

inpostauthor:

inpostauthor: was supposed to find blog posts that were written by a specific author. This search command worked only in the Google Blog search. 

❌ This doesn’t work anymore. 

allinpostauthor:

allinpostauthor: was similar to inpostauthor: except that it would look for both the name and surname of the author. 

❌ It doesn’t work anymore since the Google blog search was discontinued. 

inposttitle: 

inposttitle: was supposed to find blog posts that had a specific word or words in the title. This also worked in the Google blog search only. 

❌ It doesn’t work anymore. 

info: 

info: was supposed to display information about a specific website, such as its more recent cached version, related website, etc. 

✔️ The info: search command was deprecated in 2017. However, it still returns some useful and relevant information, so I’m giving it a green check.  

id: 

id: is identical to info: and provides identical results. 

✔️ It’s OK for finding some useful information like the indexed version of a URL.  

phonebook:

phonebook: was to help you find the phone number of the person specified back in the old days. 

❌ This search operator was deprecated in 2010. 

_ [Underscore]

_ was used for filling the missing words in the autocomplete feature. 

❌ It doesn’t return relevant results now. 

# [Hashtag]

# was supposed to search for hashtags. 

❌ This search operator has been deprecated. To look for hashtags you need to simply put them in quotes like "#seo". I showed you an example of how to search for hashtags in the first part of this guide. 

Part IV: 10 practical ways to use Google search operators

And here are few practical examples of how you can use Google search operators to perform specific tasks.

Find out if your content is plagiarized

You can use Google search operators to check if someone is plagiarizing your website. 

Here is the magic formula:

"[unique string of words from your website]" -site:[your domain]

Example: "tag from my SEO blog SEOSLY" -site:seosly.com

The phrase in quotation marks and site: operators typed into the search box in Google.

Check the search results for this command: “tag from my SEO blog SEOSLY” -site:seosly.com

💡 This is one of the few advanced searches which you want to provide no results. If there are no results, it means you are OK. 

You may want to use the intext: operator to perform an identical search provided that the phrase in quotes comes from the text of your website.  

Example: intext:"tag from my SEO blog" -site:seosly.com

The intext: and site: operators typed into the search box in Google.

Check the search results for this command: intext:”tag from my SEO blog” -site:seosly.com

💡 If you want to look for articles with the same title, just copy and paste the title of your web page and use the intitle: operator. 

Example: intitle:"the official launch of seosly" -site:seosly.com

The intitle: and site: commands used to check for plagiarized content.

Check the search results for this command: intitle:”the official launch of seosly” -site:seosly.com

Example: allintitle:the official launch of seosly -site:seosly.com

The allintitle: and -site: operators typed into the Google search box

Check the search results for this command: allintitle:the official launch of seosly -site:seosly.com

Check the indexed files of any website in Google Search

Some websites upload lots of different types of files without blocking them from indexing. 

Website owners are sometimes unaware that their files are publicly available and can be easily found with the help of one or two search operators. 

Here is the magic command formula:

[term] filetype:[file extension] site:[domain researched] 

Example: seo filetype:pdf site:moz.com

The filetype: and site: commands typed into the search box in Google.

Check the search results for this command: seo filetype:pdf site:moz.com 

💡 This command will look for any PDF files related to SEO hosted at moz.com. You can also force an exact word match and put the term in quotation marks like in "seo"

☝️ Analogically, if you want to look for PPT files, use the following command: seo filetype:ppt site:moz.com

You can also look for multiple file types in one query. 

Example: (filetype:pdf OR filetype:docx OR filetype:txt OR filetype:ppt) site:moz.com

The filetype: command with the Boolean operator OR and the site: command typed into the search bar in Google.

Check the search results for this command: (filetype:pdf OR filetype:docx OR filetype:txt OR filetype:ppt) site:moz.com

☝️ You can also do the same with the ext: operator. 

Check if there are non-HTTPS URLs indexed in Google

This tip is especially useful if your website or your client’s website has switched from HTTP to HTTPS. More often than not there are some problems with some URLs being not correctly redirected to HTTPS. 

You can quickly check if Google still has HTTP versions of your URLs in the index. 

Here is the magic search command formula:

site:[your domain] -inurl:https

Example: site:seosly.com -inurl:https

The site: and -inurl: commands typed into the Google search box.

Check the search results for this command: site:seosly.com -inurl:https

💡 This search operator will look for the web pages on my website with the exclusion of HTTP pages. 

This is another search command which you want to provide no results. No results? You are good! 

Check if there are non-WWW or WWW versions indexed in Google Search

You can also do the same with the WWW and non-WWW versions of URLs depending on which one your site defaults to. 

If the default version of your website is non-WWW, then you need to use the following to check if WWW versions are indexed:

Example: site:seosly.com inurl:www

The site: and inurl: search operators typed into the search box in Google to find WWW URLs versions.

Check the search results for this command: site:seosly.com inurl:www

💡 This command will check if there are any WWW URLs of my website in the Google index. 

If your website is WWW, then you want to check if there are non-WWW URL addresses indexed. 

Example: site:seosly.com -inurl.www

The site: and inurl: search operators typed into the search box in Google to look for non-WWW URLs versions.

Check the search results for this command: site:seosly.com -inurl.www

💡 The search command from the example will exclude non-WWW URLs from search results. 

☝️ This is a very quick and handy way to detect duplicates without using any external website scanning tools. 

Search for content on the specific TLDs only 

What if you’re doing university research and want to search only the “.edu” domains? Not a problem!

Just type [term] site:[TLD] where [term] is your search term and [TDL] stands for the top-level domain.

Example: seo site:edu

The site: search command typed into the Google search bar to find only .edu domains.

Check the search results for this command: seo site:edu

💡 This search command will look for .edu websites about SEO. Lots of interesting stuff there!

☝️ To check more TLDs, put the () and OR search operator into use.

Example: seo (site:gov OR site:edu)

The site: command looking for edu and gov domains typed into the Google search bar

Check the search results for this command: seo (site:gov OR site:edu)

💡 This will find web pages relating to the term “seo” in the .gov or .edu domains, or both.  

☝️ But wait. What if you want to check these .edu sites for PDF files about SEO? 

Try this: 

Example: seo site:edu filetype:pdf

Google search operators: The site: and filetype

Check the search results for this command: seo site:edu filetype:pdf

The results are quite interesting. I think I’ve just found a lot of valuable SEO resources. 

Search for other TLDs for a given brand 

It’s sometimes good to know if there are other websites with the same brand as yours at different TLDs. 

It’s very easy to detect them with the use of the site: search command.

Example: site:seosly.* -site:seosly.com 

The site: and -site: search command typed into the search box.

Check the search results for this command: site:seosly.* -site:seosly.com

💡 This will check if there are other websites with the SEOSLY brand. 

Find valuable resource pages on Google

Resource pages can be a real treasure if you want to dig deeper into a specific topic. They are also very helpful with link building.

Here is how to find valuable resource pages on any topic with the help of Google search operators.

Example: allintitle:seo resources 

The allintitle: search operator typed into the Google search box to find resource pages.

Check the search results for this command: allintitle:seo resources

💡 This search operator will find the web pages which contain both the word “seo” and “resources” in their title tag.

Example: seo intitle:resources

The intitle: search operator typed into the Google search box to find resource pages.

Check the search results for this command: seo intitle:resources

💡 This search command will look for web pages relating to the term “seo” which have the term “resources” in their title tag. 

Very simple, yet very powerful!

Find infographics about a given topic

Infographics can be very powerful! And there is a very simple and powerful way to search for them with the help of Google search commands. 

All you need to do is use the inurl:infographic and intitle:infographic in your search.

Example: seo intitle:infographic inurl:infographic

The intitle: and inurl: commands typed into the Google search box to find infographics.

Check the search results for this command: seo intitle:infographic inurl:infographic

💡 This search command will let me find infographics related to SEO. 

Find top/best lists of things/ways/mistakes relating to a given topic

The list of top things or ways is usually very a interesting piece of content. Here is how you can find such lists with the use of Google search operators. 

Example: intitle:"top 5..20 ways" "seo"

The intitle: search operator typed into the Google search box to find lists.

Check the search results for this command: intitle:”top 5..20 ways” “seo”

💡 This command will look for web pages that contain the words “top” and “way” in their titles and numbers within the range of 5-20. 

Example: intitle:"top mistakes" "seo"

The intitle: search operator typed into the Google search box to find lists.

Check the search results for this command: intitle:”top mistakes” “seo”

💡 This command will look for web pages that contain the exact word matches to “top mistakes” and “seo” in their title tag. 

Research a specific subdomain only

You can use the site: search operator to research only one subdomain. 

Example: site:courses.mariehaynes.com

The site: search operator typed into the Google search bar to research a specific subdomain.

Check the search results for this command: site:courses.mariehaynes.com

💡 This search operator will search for all the web pages within the subdomain courses.mariehaynes.com.

You can, of course, narrow down your subdomain search by adding or excluding terms.

Example: seo site:courses.mariehaynes.com

The site: search operator typed into the Google search bar to research a specific subdomain for a specific term.

Check the search results for this command: seo site:courses.mariehaynes.com

💡 This search command will look for any SEO-related topic on the subdomain specified. 

☝️ Note that this also works for researching a specific path in which case you need to type the following.

Example: seo site:moz.com/blog

Check the search results for this command: seo site:moz.com/blog

💡 This search command will find SEO-related web pages in the /blog catalog of the moz.com website.  

Google Operators & Google Search – FAQs

What are Google search operators?

Google search operators are symbols, characters, or commands that can be added to a search query on Google to refine and customize the search results. They allow users to specify certain criteria, such as specific words or phrases, file types, website domains, date ranges, and more, to obtain more relevant and targeted information.

Can you use boolean operators in Google to find your answer?

Yes, you can use boolean operators in Google. Boolean operators are words or symbols used to combine or exclude keywords in a search query. Google supports the use of boolean operators such as “AND,” “OR,” and “NOT” to create complex search queries. For example, searching for “cats AND dogs” will retrieve results that include both cats and dogs, while “cats OR dogs” will retrieve results that include either cats or dogs.

What file types do google search operators support?

Google search operators support various file types. Some common file types that can be specified using Google search operators include PDF (filetype:pdf), Microsoft Word documents (filetype:doc), Excel spreadsheets (filetype:xls), PowerPoint presentations (filetype:ppt), and more. By using the “filetype:” operator followed by the desired file extension, you can search specifically for files of that type.

What are boolean operators?

  1. Boolean operators are words or symbols used to combine or exclude keywords in a search query. They are used to create logical relationships between search terms and help refine search results. The three basic boolean operators are:
    • “AND” operator: Retrieves results that include both of the specified keywords.
    • “OR” operator: Retrieves results that include either of the specified keywords.
    • “NOT” or “-” operator: Excludes results that contain the specified keyword.

How can I use google search operators?

To use Google search operators, simply include them in your search query. Start by typing your desired keywords, and then add the appropriate operators to refine the search. For example, you can use the “site:” operator to search within a specific website (e.g., “site:wikipedia.org cats”), or the “intitle:” operator to search for keywords specifically in the title of web pages (e.g., “intitle:how to bake a cake”). Experiment with different operators to customize your search and obtain more precise results.

Make sure to check other lists of search operators:

Olga Zarr is an SEO consultant with 10+ years of experience. She has been doing SEO for both the biggest brands in the world and small businesses. She has done 200+ SEO audits so far. Olga has completed SEO courses and degrees at universities, such as UC Davis, University of Michigan, and Johns Hopkins University. She also completed Moz Academy! And, of course, has Google certifications. She keeps learning SEO and loves it. Olga is also a Google Product Expert specializing in areas, such as Google Search and Google Webmasters.
Show 3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Marc

    Hello Olga, thank you for your great content. Is there an Google search operator that can find website build in a specifix CMS ? I would like to find for example only website of plumbers build with WordPress.
    Thanks for your precious help.

    • Hi Marc! Thanks for stopping by 🙂 I am afraid there is no such operator, at least not the one I am aware of. But that would be useful!

  2. joachim

    There used to be a command where you wouldnt end up on the html files of a site but on the “index of” , wich was really nice, you can find anything to download that way, you ended up on mainly wordpress sites cause they have “index of” page.. too bad i don’t find the right operator anywhere

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