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Google Commands

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Google Commands

What are Google search operators?

Google search operators are special commands that allow users to refine their search queries and get more accurate results. These operators can help you find specific information on the internet quickly and efficiently. 

Here are some of the most common search operators:

  • site: Use this operator to search for information on a specific website. For example, if you want to find information about Catherine the Great on Wikipedia, you would type “site:wikipedia.org catherine the great” into the search bar.
  • filetype: Use this operator to search for specific types of files, such as PDFs or Word documents. For example, if you are looking for a research paper in PDF format, you would type “filetype:pdf research paper” into the search bar.
  • intitle: Use this operator to search for keywords in the title of a webpage. For example, if you are looking for articles about sustainable living, you would type “intitle:sustainable living” into the search bar.
  • inurl: Use this operator to search for keywords in the URL of a webpage. For example, if you are looking for websites about travel in Russia, you would type “inurl:russia travel” into the search bar.
  • related: This command will allow you to pull up related pages, giving you insight into potential competitors that you can monitor if you are comparing pages to your own.

When using Google commands to research information that is relevant to your website, Google can post a warning which states: 

In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the ## already displayed.

If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.

If this comes up, you know that there is duplicate content on Google that is hurting your search results and you need to rectify the problem.

Knowing how your site stands is very valuable. Google’s advanced search operators site commands can be very useful to help you start collecting information, and taking action based upon the acquired insights.

Related: Competitive Analysis