It is really amazing to know that “We could command Google.” Awesome, right? Yes…it is. Google has its own operators through which we could command Google to do certain searches. Wow…the Google search operators!!
Searching in Google without any idea or any hint does not work out, since it is all about finding a nail/pin in the ocean. Definitely this type of search goes in vain. There are certain advanced operators available in Google which help a lot in finding backlinks, to do optimization and to support SEO in the booming arena of digital marketing. Here are a few Google search operators and their usages along with an example.
Cache
This operator is used to find the most recent cache of a specified
webpage, and also used to identify when a page was last crawled.
Example: cache:websitename.com
Allintext
This operator helps us to find whether all the terms that we look for
show up in the text of that page. It won’t give accurate results because it
won’t look for text that appears close together on the page.
Example:allintext:content social links
Intext
This operator is used to find terms showing up on the webpage, such as
the title, the page itself, or the URL.
Example:word one intext: other
term
Inposttitle
This operator is used to find blogs with certain search terms in the
blog title.
Example:inposttitle:weight loss
goals
Allintitle
This operator is used to find blogs that match the content you are
writing about. It is used to research what others are doing for the particular
title. We could compare to make sure that our content has a higher quality.
Example:allintitle:how to write
content for SEO
Intitle
This operator helps us to find more targeted results for specific search
phrases.
Example: intitle:drawing with
micron pens
Allinurl
This operator allows finding pages with your requested search terms
within the URL on internal search pages.
Example: allinurl:amazon drawing
tablet
The above command/operator will bring up all the internal URLs on
Amazon.com that have the terms “drawing tablet.”
Inurl
This is useful to find sites with strong on-page optimization for the
topics you are researching.
It is used to find pages on a site that has your targeted search term in
the URL and a second term in content on a website.
Example:inurl:drawing portraits
Allinanchor
This is used to perform research on pages that have all terms after “inanchor:”
in anchor text linking back to the page.
Example:allinanchor: “how to draw
anime”
Inanchor
It is used for identifying pages with inbound links which contain specified
anchor text in them. Only data is sampled and it doesn’t provide accurate
global results.
Example:inanchor: “digital
painting”
Filetype
This operator is used to find images that only fall under a specific
file type. To narrow research on infographics or to see some images, this could
be used.
Example:site:domainname.com
filetype:txt – inurl:robots.txt
This will help to find files on your site that were indexed by Google
but will exclude robots.txt from appearing in the search results.
Around()
This
operator is used to narrow the search result and provides a great way for
finding search results where two or more terms appear on the page mentioned as
a number within parentheses.
Example
use:digital drawing AROUND(2) tools
Quotes (“word”)
This will
help to find results that are exact match results, rather than the broad
results you will get with standard search.
Example
use:“search term 1”
Site:
This is
used to find specific results from a single website.
Example: “site:searchenginejournal.com 404 errors”
Related:
If you’re
in a situation where you need results that have more than one website with
similar content to a site you are familiar with, then use the following:
“related:domainname.com”
Info:
This is
used to find information related to the domain that you are searching for. It
is also used to find domain text on-page, similar on-site pages, and a website’s
cache.
Example:“info:domainname.com”
@ / #
This @ symbol
is used to restrict your search to social media. And # symbol is used to search
hashtag text on Google.
Example: mangoes@facebook
Or
This
operator helps you search for pages that have one word or the other.
Example: digital drawing OR digital painting
Exclude Words: (-)
The minus
sign is used to exclude certain words in search results and also called an
exclusion symbol.
Example:“content marketing –businessinsider.com”
Add words: (+)
A plus
sign is used to add words that you want to be included in the search results.
Example: “content marketing + SEO”
Wildcard: (*)
Use an
asterisk symbol as a wildcard to represent a space that could be filled by
anything.
Example: “Top * ranking factors”
Many of the above Google search operators can help to perform targeted, useful research on content. If it’s a specific search, then these search operators will be your friend when it comes to finding content ideas.