Google Advanced Search Operators Cheat Sheet [Infographic]

Embarking on a quest for information? You’re not alone; your query is likely among the 2 trillion searches Google encounters annually. Ever pondered a more efficient way to locate answers? Look no further than Google’s Advanced Search, a treasure trove of functionalities often overlooked by users.

Integrating a specific operator before your search term in Google can lead to swift and precise answers, sparing you the hassle of sifting through irrelevant results. Here’s a comprehensive guide to the operators available in Google’s Advanced Search. [Image: Infographic of Google Advanced Search Operators](https://www.webfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/infographic-google-final-fixed-1.png)

Sam Selders delves into advanced Google search operators, elucidating their functions and importance.

Quotes

Enclose your search query in quotes to receive results that precisely match the exact word or phrase.

This feature is ideal for seeking highly specific results, when a term could be easily misconstrued, or when previous search results have been unsatisfactory.

Example: “1 year old neutered bobtail cat” yields results containing only this exact phrase.

OR

The “OR” operator, or the pipe symbol (|), enables the search for two distinct yet equally relevant queries.

Utilize this when seeking results for one term, its counterpart, or similar terms, indicating your satisfaction with results from either term or phrase.

Example: bananas OR plantains returns results for both terms.

– (minus sign)

The minus sign filters out a specific term from your search results.

This is helpful for refining results to exclude unwanted terms, potentially halving your search time when targeting specific sources or keywords.

Example: SEO-Forbes would show SEO-related content excluding Forbes.com.

City city

This operator allows you to view flight schedules between two cities.

Enter two city names side by side in Google Search to receive a chart of upcoming flights, saving time by avoiding the need to search for airports, offered flights, and times.

Example: San Antonio San Francisco will show all flights from San Antonio, Texas to San Francisco, California.

Link:

This function reveals pages that link to a specific URL.

Use this to track which pages on the internet are referencing the URL you’re interested in.

Example: link:auntieannes.com displays pages linking to auntieannes.com. Notably, combining this with the –site: function allows you to see pages linking to your URL but not on the site itself.

..

This operator is used to indicate a range of numbers in search results.

It’s beneficial for narrowing down search results to include only numbers within a specified range.

Example: running shoes $25..$75 presents results for shoes in this price range.

*

The asterisk serves as a wildcard in a phrase, aiding in the discovery of articles, keywords, dates, and more.

Example: “* is the key to success”

In

The “in” function converts units of measurement.

Utilize this by placing one unit before “in” and concluding with another unit to perform a conversion.

Example: yards in a mile calculates the number of yards in a mile.

Site:

This operator searches for your query within a particular site.

Use it to locate specific information within a designated website.

Example: site:starbucks.com lattes yields results from pages within Starbucks.com that mention lattes.

Allintitle:

This operator returns results where your query is present in the title tag of the site.

It’s particularly useful for finding content with specific titles, such as blog posts or articles.

Example: allintitle:the cow jumped over the moon returns only blog posts or articles with this title.

Intitle:

This operator searches for a single term in the title of a page.

It’s ideal when you’re looking for titles with a specific word and another word in the content.

Example: intitle:spaghetti sauce returns results with “spaghetti” in the title and “sauce” in the body content.

Inblogtitle:

Similar to “allintitle:”, this operator searches for titles of blogs.

It ensures you receive results that are exclusively blog posts with a certain word in the title.

Example: inblogtitle: “dog grooming 101” schedule presents blog posts with this title.

Inposttitle:

Like “intitle:”, this function can include results from blog posts, videos, and web pages related to blog posts.

Use it when seeking blog titles with a specific word and another word within the blog.

Example: inposttitle:yoga poses returns pages with “yoga” in the title and “poses” in the text.

Allintext:

This operator displays content with your search terms anywhere in its content.

It’s useful for finding detailed results with a specific phrase or set of words.

Example: allintext:recipes for a weeknight returns results with the specified phrase in the content body.

Allinanchor:

The allinanchor function shows sites that use your search term in link text.

This helps locate sites with certain anchor text in different links.

Example: allinanchor:swimming returns sites that use the word “swimming” in linking to another page.

Allinurl:

This function returns search results that have your entire search query in their URLs.

It’s helpful when seeking a specific URL known to include one of your terms.

Example: allinurl:burger joint returns results with the entire query “burger joint” in the URL.

Inurl:

This function shows results with your specified word in the URL.

It differs from “allinurl:” as it searches for a single word in the URL rather than the entire query.

Example: inurl:cupcake baking returns URLs containing “cupcake” and “baking” in the content.

Allinpostauthor:

This function returns results that have content written by a specified author.

It’s particularly useful when you recall the author but not the blog title.

Example: allinpostauthor:Nicholas Sparks returns results with content by Nicholas Sparks.

Related:

One of the most general and useful functions, related: displays results similar to the URL you search.

It’s excellent for finding sites related to your query.

Example: related:NYTimes.com shows results from similar news sites.

Info:

This function provides information about your searched domain.

It includes the site’s cache, similar pages, linked pages, same-domain pages, and pages containing the domain text.

Example: info: ae.com gives information on American Eagle’s website.

Define:

This common function in Google Advanced Search shows dictionary definitions of a word or phrase.

It saves time by eliminating the need to visit dictionary.com.

Example: define:emacity provides a dictionary definition of the word.

Source:

This function searches for mentions of a query in a specific news source.

It allows you to refine your search to a specific topic from a particular publication.

Example: Anderson Cooper source:New York Times shows mentions of Anderson Cooper in articles by the New York Times.

Location:

This function shows results based on a specific location.

Use it if you want to find news and general information about a particular area.

Example: location:North Dakota gives results based around the term “North Dakota”.

Filetype:

This function allows you to search your results based on file extension.

For instance, searching for an image could be done by adding the term and the file extension.

Example: jellyfish filetype:jpg shows .jpg images of jellyfish.

Movie:

The movie function is ideal for finding what’s playing at theaters.

Enter the function followed by the movie and city to see theater and showtimes.

Example: movie: Finding Dory Harrisburg shows Harrisburg movie theaters screening Finding Dory.

Weather:

This function displays the weather in a certain location.

Use it to check the forecast for the coming days.

Example: weather: New York City, provides the weather in New York City, New York.

Stocks:

This function shows the stock prices of a specific company.

It’s a quick way to view stock numbers.

Example: stocks: Starbucks displays the daily stock prices of the Starbucks Company.

Cache:

This function shows the most recent cache of a specified webpage.

It’s helpful because it shows what Google sees when it scans your website, including the date and time of the last scan.

Example: cache:abc.com shows the last cached version of the website.

Map:

This function provides map results for a specific location.

It’s perfect when you want directions without unnecessary results about a place.

Example: maps: Burlington, VT shows a map of the location.

Equation

Input an equation into Google, and you’ll automatically receive the answer.

Use the appropriate functions for multiplication (*), division (/), subtraction (–), and addition (+) for calculations.

Example: 8*72 shows the result as 576.

Tip calculator

Not sure how much to tip? Enter “tip calculator” into Google, fill in the number fields, and you’ll know exactly how much to pay your server!

Example: bill price:x, tip percent:x

# Minute timer

When you need a timer, search for a duration followed by “minute timer” in Google, and a timer will start and ring after the specified time.

Example: 30-minute timer will sound after half an hour.

Stopwatch

Like the timer function, typing “stopwatch” into Google enables you to start and stop as