Retrieving information on Google through keywords is pretty quick and simple. However, this is true for basic keyword searching. If you want a more accurate and precise search, typing keywords alone won’t be enough.

For that, you need to use some special commands or operators along with the keywords. These commands are called Google Advanced Search Operators. They allow for a more focused search and retrieve more specific results, in a quick time.

Though as a newbie on Google search engine you may find these commands to be a bit complicated in the beginning, with practice you will find them very easy to apply in specific search requirements.

What are the different types of Google Search Operators?

There are broadly two types of Google Search Operators that can help you to narrow down your search results as per the search command. You can use these operators for many purposes. For instance, if you want information about either or both keywords, you can use the operator “OR” for the purpose.

There are many different highly useful operators for the technical and analytical purposes that can help to research other sites and in interpreting websites data etc.

We can classify them into two broad categories.

• Google Basic Search Operators
  • Punctuation Mark
  • Boolean Command
• Google Advanced Search Operators
  • Word Command

What are the Basic Search Operators?

Basic Search Operators are necessary for all search engine users. They are either in the form of a punctuation mark or Boolean Commands. Some of the commonly used Basic Search Operators include:

OR (Boolean Command)

Google uses the Boolean function “AND” as the default command. “OR” command is used when you want to search for either or both of the two searched keywords.

* (Asterisk Mark)

It is the wild-card command used to match any word or phrase.

– (Minus Sign)

You can use this command in front of the word or term that you wish to exclude from the search results.

( ) (Small Parenthesis)

Useful when you want to group several operators. Besides, it also gives the command for the order of execution. 

#..# 

Here # represents a number. The command is used to search a number in a particular series.

Advanced Search Operators

Google Advanced Search Operators are the commands used to narrow down the search results to suit specific criteria. The following are some of the highly useful operators.

daterange:

Show results in a specific Julian date range using Julian calendar.

related:

Command to search for similar websites having similar domains.

define:

This command returns the card response from the search engine showing the dictionary definition of a word or phrase.

site:

It is one of the most commonly used search operators used to limit the search to a specific domain

intitle:

Shows results where the searched words are appearing in the title. 

allintitle: 

Only search results that include all the words in the search query.

AROUND(X)

The command is typed between two words or phrases. ‘X’ depicts the number of words desired between the two words or phrases. 

intext: 

Displays pages in which the searched keyword or phrase is in the text of the page.

allintext:

Display pages having all the words in the search query. 

map:

This advanced operator shows Google map for the search location.

filetype:

Search for the specified file type like DOCX, PPT, PDF, and XLSX, etc.

movie:

Provide information about the searched movie. It may include information about the show timings for the running movies.

Conclusion

Google Advanced Search Operators are extremely useful for searching for more specific results in a quick time. You might be using many of them right now while some of them may be useful for you later or during some specific search requirement. We hope that the information provided here is helpful to you in utilizing Google Search to its fullest.