Search engine optimization (SEO) is more than simply learning the best search terms for Google or Bing. You also need tools that can help you find backlinks and on-page optimization opportunities and tools for supporting SEO audits. Advanced Google search operators can also be useful in finding relevant resources.
Using search operators, you can find sources for blog posts and audit points on your site that you may not have identified otherwise, and, if you want to see your site’s cache, perform searches using Google search operators.
In this article, let’s check over the main advanced Google Search operators and commands and examples.
Table of Contents
What do you mean by Google Search Operators?
Google search operators are special characters and commands that allow you to fine-tune your searches. For example, you can use search operators to find technical SEO issues on a website.
How to use Search Operators
You can use Google search operators to target a specific site with your query by including the operator within quotation marks and adding it to your search term like this: “google search operators” site:ahbivdigitalagency.com.
Except in special cases like the “in” operator, Google will return standard organic results.
Google Search Operators
All the major search operators are divided into three categories: Basic, Advanced, and Unreliable. Let’s check the basic search operators as they are used to modify standard text searches.
Basic Operators
“Search Term “:
You can use this option to refine your search results.
For Example: “SEO document”
OR:
To search for results that contain either of two words, place an OR between them.
For Example: food OR movie
() Operator:
To group commands, put a search term between parentheses.
For Example: (Vizag OR Hyderabad)
– Operator:
To exclude any of your search queries, you need to use a Hyphen (-) which looks like a minus sign.
For Example: Coimbatore-Chennai
* Operator:
The asterisk is a wildcard that searches for any word or phrase you enter.
For Example: Ahbiv*donation
#..# Operator:
It is used to match any integer that is given in the range of numbers given on either side:
For Example: Apple phone release:2020..2023
$ / € Operator:
Use this operator to search your products by price range.
For Example: iPhone 250$
Advanced Search Operators
Advanced search operators modify searches, often with additional parameters. They are typically used to narrow searches and drill deeper into results.
define:
Displays the meaning of a given word in the SERP results.
For Example: define: marketing
cache:
This operator returns a web page recent cached version showing the indexed pages.
For Example: cache:bakery.com
Filetype:
When you search for files, restrict your results to one type of file at a time. like PDF, TXT, PPT etc;
For Example: document filetype:pdf
site:
Search for specific information within a website or domain.
For Example: site:ahbivdigital.com
related:
Discover websites with similar content to a certain website.
For Example: related:ahbivdigitalagency.com
intitle:
Search a page title for a word or phrase to find pages that contain it.
For Example: intitle: bakery.
Allintitle:
It will return the results of all specific words in the title tag.
For Example: allintitle: bakery products.
Inposttitle:
Search for a term within the title of a blog post.
For Example: inposttitle:bakeryitems
inurl:
This operator is used to find a certain word or phrase in the document URL.
For Example: inurl: bakery
allinurl:
Searches the string specified in the parameter for all instances of the words in the URL.
For Example: allinurl: bakery products.
intext:
Search a webpage for words in the body text.
For Example: intext: bakery icing.
AROUND(X):
Search for terms within a certain proximity of one another.
For Example: Baking AROUND(10) Items
Conclusion
Google advanced search operators can be incredibly useful for SEO purposes. The site: intitle: intext: and inurl: operators are especially helpful. However, other operators, such as AROUND(X), allintitle: and many more obscure ones, should probably be avoided.
Operators can be powerful and useful, but they are often most effective when used in combination. For more information about operators and how to use them, contact Ahbiv Digital Agency.
