It’s an understatement to state the Google search engine has by far the most influence over today’s web behaviors. Google claims to receive over 1 billion searches each day. Also, 15% of those 1 billion searches each day, they’ve never seen before. This means that web search is ever-evolving- and being El Presidente of internet search- Google’s developed “advanced search operators” to help searchers cut through the clutter.
For this installment of the JT Creative blog, we thought it’d be fun to speak on some little known, advanced commands that help online marketers complete complex research…or… empower the casual searcher with a tool belt to impress their peers. Maybe it’s not “hacker-status,” but using these search commands will put you in the 99th percentile of efficient Google-searchers, easy.
Diving right in – Below we’ve listed an assortment of Google Search Operators to help you upgrade your search game. Keep in mind, we’ve limited our list to operators that only work when conducting a web search (as opposed to image, news, or directory searches…etc)
1. allintext:
Using the operator allintext:term will restrict the results that Google lists to only webpages that contain the terms you’ve listed. For example, searching “allintext:jacob tyler creative group” will show you pages where the term(s) “Jacob Tyler Creative Group” are found. Pretty basic, yeah? Let’s continue.
2. filetype:
When searching with the operator filetype:suffix Google will only result listings that are the desired file type of your choosing. Replacing “suffix” with the filetype you wish to find. PDF, DOC, PAGES, XLSX…etc. Example: Entering a search of “web design san diego filetype:pdf” will list Adobe Acrobat pdf files that contain the terms “web,” “design,” “san,” and “diego.” To include more than one filetype, combine this search with the OR operator command. Example: “web design san diego filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc OR filetype:pages” Now you’re catching on.
3. related:
A search including the operator related:URL will list only websites related to the URL you determine. An example, you say? …I thought you’d never ask. Well, let’s say you enter the query, “related:jacobtyler.com” Google would present only listings that are similar to the characteristics of Jacob Tyler. Note: using URLs without the “www.” prefix will work just as well (ex: related:jacobtyler.com)
4. define:
I bet you can’t guess what the operator define:term does? Define things? Damn. Good guess. Certainly a valuable shortcut, if you’re like me. I use this operator to see multiple definitions of a word or even explanations of popular phrases. Obligatory example – Using the search “define:murphys law” will land you a concise definition of something I’m sure we all run into quite regularly. But let’s hope not.
As far as Search Operators in existence, we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. But hey- Now that we’ve shed a little light unto some of them, it’ll be easier to do your own research and find the rest, right?
Happy Googling everyone.