Google Basic Search Technique

Basic Search Techniques

Since the Google web interface is so easy to use, I won't describe the basic functionality of the http://www.google.com web page. Instead, I'll focus on the various operators available:

• Use the plus sign (+) to force a search for an overly common word. Use the minus sign (-) to exclude a term from a search. No space follows these signs.

• To search for a phrase, supply the phrase surrounded by double quotes (" ").

• A period (.) serves as a single-character wildcard.

• An asterisk (*) represents any word—not the completion of a word, as is traditionally used.

Google advanced operators help refine searches. Advanced operators use a syntax such as the following:

operator:search_term

Notice that there's no space between the operator, the colon, and the search term.

• The site: operator instructs Google to restrict a search to a specific web site or domain. The web site to search must be supplied after the colon.

• The filetype: operator instructs Google to search only within the text of a particular type of file. The file type to search must be supplied after the colon. Don't include a period before the file extension.

• The link: operator instructs Google to search within hyperlinks for a search term.

• The cache: operator displays the version of a web page as it appeared when Google crawled the site. The URL of the site must be supplied after the colon.

• The intitle: operator instructs Google to search for a term within the title of a document.

• The inurl: operator instructs Google to search only within the URL (web address) of a document. The search term must follow the colon.