Google search operators, nowadays known as “advanced search operators” basically enable more specific and relevant text searches within search engines. They extend your exploring capabilities to more than a fair degree, improving your overall SEO, including, content research, site audit, finding a specific blog post etc.
When we are talking about how to use advance google search operators, they are broken down on three parts: “Basic”, “Advanced” & “Unreliable”.
Most of them are fairly easy to use and remember. Pretty short commands that will bring ease to your everyday SEO efforts and stick in the mind.
But using them effectively is a totally different story to tell. In this post we will try to explain some of the most common advanced search operators, to help you understand and master the art of SEO.
Here are the basic google advanced search operators you should know:
- Inurl: restricts search results to documents that contain the specific word in the URL
Example: amazon announcements inurl:2016
- Allinurl: this restricts the results to pages that contain all of the query terms you searched for in the URL
Example: allinurl: amazon field-keywords books
- Blogurl:limiting search results to URLs that contain “blog” including your query terms
Example: tesla announcements inurl:2016
- Intitle: this restricts web pages results that contain the specific keyword in the title
Example: intitle:”amazon vs ebay”
- Allintitle: restricting search results containing all the query terms you specified in the title
Example: allintitle: amazon vs ebay
- Site: restricts results to the site or domain you specify
Example: site:amazon.com
- Intext: searching a phrase or a word in the documents body
Example: intext:”amazon vs ebay vs alibaba”
- Related: returning sites related to the domain you target (works with large domains only)
Example: related:nytimes.com
- Filetype: matching a specific file type only. This includes PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT, and TXT.
Example: “amazon announcements” filetype:pdf
Advanced google search operators can be extremely powerful and useful.
The main point is to know how to be able to use them.
To build a puzzle you must have all the pieces. Every one of thi s operators is a piece which if combined properly will build a powerful research tool.
Many SEO experts are familiar with these commands and know the basic, but very few have mastered them.
With that being said, if you want to be on top of SEO game, using google advances search operators will be your daily routine. It’s up to you how much time and effort you will invest in upgrading your SEO & research skills.
