Custom Search


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Google Basic Search Techniques


Use the following basic search techniques to get better Google search results.


  • Use the plus sign (+) to force a search for an overly common word. Use the minus sign (-) to exclude a term from a search. No space follows these signs.

  • To search for a phrase, supply the phrase surrounded by double quotes (" ").

  • A period (.) serves as a single-character wildcard.

  • An asterisk (*) represents any word—not the completion of a word, as is traditionally used.


Google advanced operators help refine searches. Advanced operators use a syntax such as the following:

operator:search_term

Notice that there's no space between the operator, the colon, and the search term.


  • The site: operator instructs Google to restrict a search to a specific web site or domain. The web site to search must be supplied after the colon.

  • The filetype: operator instructs Google to search only within the text of a particular type of file. The file type to search must be supplied after the colon. Don't include a period before the file extension.

  • The link: operator instructs Google to search within hyperlinks for a search term.

  • The cache: operator displays the version of a web page as it appeared when Google crawled the site. The URL of the site must be supplied after the colon.

  • The intitle: operator instructs Google to search for a term within the title of a document.

  • The inurl: operator instructs Google to search only within the URL (web address) of a document. The search term must follow the colon.