SearchOperators

ThefollowingtableliststhesearchoperatorsthatworkwitheachGooglesearchservice.Clickonanoperatortojumpto
itsdescriptionor,toreadaboutalloftheoperators,simplyscrolldownandreadallofthispage.
Search

SearchOperators

Service
WebSearch

allinanchor:,allintext:,allintitle:,allinurl:,cache:,define:,filetype:,id:,inanchor:,
info:,intext:,intitle:,inurl:,link:,related:,site:

ImageSearch allintitle:,allinurl:,filetype:,inurl:,intitle:,site:
Groups
Directory
News
Product
Search

allintext:,allintitle:,author:,group:,insubject:,intext:,intitle:
allintext:,allintitle:,allinurl:,ext:,filetype:,intext:,intitle:,inurl:
allintext:,allintitle:,allinurl:,intext:,intitle:,inurl:,location:,source:
allintext:,allintitle:

Thefollowingisanalphabeticallistofthesearchoperators.Thislistincludesoperatorsthatarenotofficiallysupported
byGoogleandnotlistedinGooglesonlinehelp.
Note:Googlemaychangehowundocumentedoperatorsworkormayeliminatethemcompletely.
Eachentrytypicallyincludesthesyntax,thecapabilities,andanexample.Someofthesearchoperatorswontworkas
intendedifyouputaspacebetweenthecolon(:)andthesubsequentqueryword.Ifyoudontcaretocheckwhich
searchoperatorsrequirenospaceafterthecolon,alwaysplacethekeywordimmediatelynexttothecolon.Many
searchoperatorscanappearanywhereinyourquery.Inourexamples,weplacethesearchoperatorasfartotheright
aspossible.WedothisbecausetheAdvancedSearchformwritesqueriesinthisway.Also,suchaconventionmakesit
clearerastowhichoperatorsareassociatedwithwhichterms.
allinanchor:
Ifyoustartyourquerywithallinanchor:,Googlerestrictsresultstopagescontainingallquerytermsyou
specifyintheanchortextonlinkstothepage.Forexample,[allinanchor:bestmuseumssydney]willreturn
onlypagesinwhichtheanchortextonlinkstothepagescontainthewordsbest,museums,andsydney.
Anchortextisthetextonapagethatislinkedtoanotherwebpageoradifferentplaceonthecurrentpage.
Whenyouclickonanchortext,youwillbetakentothepageorplaceonthepagetowhichitislinked.When
usingallinanchor:inyourquery,donotincludeanyothersearchoperators.Thefunctionalityofallinanchor:
isalsoavailablethroughtheAdvancedWebSearchpage,underOccurrences.
allintext:

Ifyoustartyourquerywithallintext:,Googlerestrictsresultstothosecontainingallthequerytermsyou
specifyinthetextofthepage.Forexample,[allintext:travelpackinglist]willreturnonlypagesinwhichthe
wordstravel,packing,andlistappearinthetextofthepage.Thisfunctionalitycanalsobeobtainedthrough
theAdvancedWebSearchpage,underOccurrences.
allintitle:
Ifyoustartyourquerywithallintitle:,Googlerestrictsresultstothosecontainingallthequerytermsyou
specifyinthetitle.Forexample,[allintitle:detectplagiarism]willreturnonlydocumentsthatcontainthewords
detectandplagiarisminthetitle.ThisfunctionalitycanalsobeobtainedthroughtheAdvancedWebSearch
page,underOccurrences.
ThetitleofawebpageisusuallydisplayedatthetopofthebrowserwindowandinthefirstlineofGoogles
searchresultsforapage.TheauthorofawebsitespecifiesthetitleofapagewiththeHTMLTITLEelement.
Theresonlyonetitleinawebpage.Whenusingallintitle:inyourquery,donotincludeanyothersearch
operators.Thefunctionalityofallintitle:isalsoavailablethroughtheAdvancedWebSearchpage,under
Occurrences.
InImageSearch,theoperatorallintitle:willreturnimagesinfileswhosenamescontainthetermsthatyou
specify.
InGoogleNews,theoperatorallintitle:willreturnarticleswhosetitlesincludethetermsyouspecify.
allinurl:
Ifyoustartyourquerywithallinurl:,Googlerestrictsresultstothosecontainingallthequerytermsyou
specifyintheURL.Forexample,[allinurl:googlefaq]willreturnonlydocumentsthatcontainthewords
googleandfaqintheURL,suchaswww.google.com/help/faq.html.Thisfunctionalitycanalsobeobtained
throughtheAdvancedWebSearchpage,underOccurrences.
InURLs,wordsareoftenruntogether.Theyneednotberuntogetherwhenyoureusingallinurl:.
InGoogleNews,theoperatorallinurl:willreturnarticleswhosetitlesincludethetermsyouspecify.
TheUniformResourceLocator,morecommonlyknownasURL,istheaddressthatspecifiesthelocationofafile
ontheInternet.Whenusingallinurl:inyourquery,donotincludeanyothersearchoperators.The
functionalityofallinurl:isalsoavailablethroughtheAdvancedWebSearchpage,underOccurrences.
author:
Ifyouincludeauthor:inyourquery,GooglewillrestrictyourGoogleGroupsresultstoincludenewsgrouparticles
bytheauthoryouspecify.Theauthorcanbeafullorpartialnameoremailaddress.Forexample,[children
author:johnauthor:doe]or[childrenauthor:doe@someaddress.com]returnarticlesthatcontaintheword
childrenwrittenbyJohnDoeordoe@someaddress.com.
Googlewillsearchforexactlywhatyouspecify.Ifyourquerycontains[author:JohnDoe](withquotes),
GooglewontfindarticleswheretheauthorisspecifiedasDoe,John.
cache:
Thequerycache:urlwilldisplayGooglescachedversionofawebpage,insteadofthecurrentversionofthe
page.Forexample,[cache:www.eff.org]willshowGooglescachedversionoftheElectronicFrontierFoundation
homepage.

Note:Donotputaspacebetweencache:andtheURL(webaddress).
Onthecachedversionofapage,Googlewillhighlighttermsinyourquerythatappearafterthecache:search
operator.Forexample,[cache:www.pandemonia.com/flying/flydiary]willshowGooglescachedversionof
FlightDiaryinwhichHamishReidsdocumentswhatsinvolvedinlearninghowtoflywiththetermsflyand
diaryhighlighted.
define:
Ifyoustartyourquerywithdefine:,Googleshowsdefinitionsfrompagesonthewebforthetermthatfollows.
Thisadvancedsearchoperatorisusefulforfindingdefinitionsofwords,phrases,andacronyms.Forexample,
[define:blog]willshowdefinitionsforBlog(weBLOG).
ext:
Thisisanundocumentedaliasforfiletype:.
filetype:
Ifyouincludefiletype:suffixinyourquery,Googlewillrestricttheresultstopageswhosenamesendin
suffix.Forexample,[webpageevaluationchecklistfiletype:pdf]willreturnAdobeAcrobatpdffilesthatmatch
thetermsweb,page,evaluation,andchecklist.Youcanrestricttheresultstopageswhosenamesend
withpdfanddocbyusingtheORoperator,e.g.[emailsecurityfiletype:pdfORfiletype:doc].
WhenyoudontspecifyaFileFormatintheAdvancedSearchFormorthefiletype:operator,Googlesearchesa
varietyoffileformatsseethetableinFileTypeConversion.
group:
Ifyouincludegroup:inyourquery,GooglewillrestrictyourGoogleGroupsresultstonewsgrouparticlesfrom
certaingroupsorsubareas.Forexample,[sleepgroup:misc.kids.moderated]willreturnarticlesinthegroup
misc.kids.moderatedthatcontainthewordsleepand[sleepgroup:misc.kids]willreturnarticlesinthesubarea
misc.kidsthatcontainthewordsleep.
id:
Thisisanundocumentedaliasforinfo:.
inanchor:
Ifyouincludeinanchor:inyourquery,Googlewillrestricttheresultstopagescontainingthequerytermsyou
specifyintheanchortextorlinkstothepage.Forexample,[restaurantsinanchor:gourmet]willreturnpagesin
whichtheanchortextonlinkstothepagescontainthewordgourmetandthepagecontainstheword
restaurants.
info:
Thequeryinfo:URLwillpresentsomeinformationaboutthecorrespondingwebpage.Forinstance,
[info:gothotel.com]willshowinformationaboutthenationalhoteldirectoryGotHotel.comhomepage.
Note:Theremustbenospacebetweentheinfo:andthewebpageURL.
ThisfunctionalitycanalsobeobtainedbytypingthewebpageURLdirectlyintoaGooglesearchbox.

insubject:
Ifyouincludeinsubject:inyourquery,GooglewillrestrictarticlesinGoogleGroupstothosethatcontainthe
termsyouspecifyinthesubject.Forexample,[insubject:fallingasleep]willreturnGoogleGrouparticlesthat
containthephrasefallingasleepinthesubject.
Equivalenttointitle:.
intext:
Thequeryintext:termrestrictsresultstodocumentscontainingterminthetext.Forinstance,[HamishReid
intext:pandemonia]willreturndocumentsthatmentionthewordpandemoniainthetext,andmentionthe
namesHamishandReidanywhereinthedocument(textornot).
Note:Theremustbenospacebetweentheintext:andthefollowingword.
Puttingintext:infrontofeverywordinyourqueryisequivalenttoputtingallintext:atthefrontofyour
query,e.g.,[intext:handsomeintext:poets]isthesameas[allintext:handsomepoets].
intitle:
Thequeryintitle:termrestrictsresultstodocumentscontainingterminthetitle.Forinstance,[flushot
intitle:help]willreturndocumentsthatmentionthewordhelpintheirtitles,andmentionthewordsfluand
shotanywhereinthedocument(titleornot).
Note:Theremustbenospacebetweentheintitle:andthefollowingword.
Puttingintitle:infrontofeverywordinyourqueryisequivalenttoputtingallintitle:atthefrontofyour
query,e.g.,[intitle:googleintitle:search]isthesameas[allintitle:googlesearch].
inurl:
Ifyouincludeinurl:inyourquery,Googlewillrestricttheresultstodocumentscontainingthatwordinthe
URL.Forinstance,[inurl:printsite:www.googleguide.com]searchesforpagesonGoogleGuideinwhichtheURL
containsthewordprint.ItfindspdffilesthatareinthedirectoryorfoldernamedprintontheGoogleGuide
website.Thequery[inurl:healthyeating]willreturndocumentsthatmentionthewordshealthyintheirURL,
andmentionthewordeatinganywhereinthedocument.
Note:Theremustbenospacebetweentheinurl:andthefollowingword.
Puttinginurl:infrontofeverywordinyourqueryisequivalenttoputtingallinurl:atthefrontofyourquery,
e.g.,[inurl:healthyinurl:eating]isthesameas[allinurl:healthyeating].
InURLs,wordsareoftenruntogether.Theyneednotberuntogetherwhenyoureusinginurl:.
link:
Thequerylink:URLshowspagesthatpointtothatURL.Forexample,tofindpagesthatpointtoGoogleGuides
homepage,enter:
[link:www.googleguide.com]
Note:AccordingtoGooglesdocumentation,youcannotcombinealink:searchwitharegular
keywordsearch.

Alsonotethatwhenyoucombinelink:withanotheradvancedoperator,Googlemaynotreturnall
thepagesthatmatch.Thefollowingqueriesshouldreturnlotsofresults,asyoucanseeifyou
removethesite:termineachofthesequeries.
FindlinkstotheGooglehomepagenotonGooglesownsite.
[link:www.google.comsite:google.com]
FindlinkstotheUKOwnersDirecthomepagenotonitsownsite.
[link:www.www.ownersdirect.co.uksite:ownersdirect.co.uk]
location:
Ifyouincludelocation:inyourqueryonGoogleNews,onlyarticlesfromthelocationyouspecifywillbe
returned.Forexample,[queenlocation:canada]willshowarticlesthatmatchthetermqueenfromsitesin
Canada.Manyothercountrynamesworktrythemandsee.
TwoletterUSstateabbreviationsmatchindividualUSstates,andtwoletterCanadianprovinceabbreviations
(likeNSforNovaScotia)alsoworkalthoughsomeprovincesdonthavemanynewspapersonline,soyoumay
notgetmanyresults.SomeothertwoletterabbreviationssuchasUKfortheUnitedKingdomarealso
available.
movie:
Ifyouincludemovie:inyourquery,Googlewillfindmovierelatedinformation.Forexamples,seeGooglesBlog.
related:
Thequeryrelated:URLwilllistwebpagesthataresimilartothewebpageyouspecify.Forinstance,
[related:www.consumerreports.org]willlistwebpagesthataresimilartotheConsumerReportshomepage.
Note:Dontincludeaspacebetweentherelated:andthewebpageurl.
YoucanalsofindsimilarpagesfromtheSimilarpageslinkonGooglesmainresultspage,andfromthesimilar
selectorinthePageSpecificSearchareaoftheAdvancedSearchpage.Ifyouexpecttosearchfrequentlyfor
similarpages,considerinstallingaGoogleScoutbrowserbutton,whichscoutsforsimilarpages.
site:
Ifyouincludesite:inyourquery,Googlewillrestrictyoursearchresultstothesiteordomainyouspecify.For
example,[admissionssite:www.lse.ac.uk]willshowadmissionsinformationfromLondonSchoolofEconomics
siteand[peacesite:gov]willfindpagesaboutpeacewithinthe.govdomain.Youcanspecifyadomainwithor
withoutaperiod,e.g.,eitheras.govorgov.
Note:Donotincludeaspacebetweenthesite:andthedomain.
Youcanusemanyofthesearchoperatorsinconjunctionwiththebasicsearchoperators+,,OR,and"".For
example,tofindinformationonWindowssecurityfromallsitesexceptmicrosoft.com,enter:
[windowssecuritysite:microsoft.com]
YoucanalsorestrictyourresultstoasiteordomainthroughthedomainsselectorontheAdvancedSearchpage.
source:

Ifyouincludesource:inyourquery,GoogleNewswillrestrictyoursearchtoarticlesfromthenewssourcewith
theIDyouspecify.Forexample,[electionsource:new_york_times]willreturnarticleswiththewordelection
thatappearintheNewYorkTimes.
TofindanewssourceID,enteraquerythatincludesatermandthenameofthepublicationyoureseeking.You
canalsospecifythepublicationnameinthenewssourcefieldintheAdvancedNewsSearchform.Youllfind
thenewssourceIDinthequerybox,followingthesource:searchoperator.Forexample,letssayyouenterthe
publicationnameHaaretzintheNewsSourcebox,thenyouclickthe GoogleSearch button.Theresultspage
appears,anditssearchboxcontains[peacesource:ha_aretz__subscription_].Thismeansthatthenewssource
IDisha_aretz__subscription_.ThisquerywillonlyreturnarticlesthatincludethewordpeacefromtheIsraeli
newspaperHaaretz.
weather
Ifyouenteraquerywiththewordweatherandacityorlocationname,ifGooglerecognizesthelocation,the
forecastwillappearatthetopoftheresultspage.Otherwise,yourresultswillusuallyincludelinkstositeswith
theweatherconditionsandforecastforthatlocation.
Sinceweatherisnotanadvancedoperator,thereisnoneedtoincludeacolonaftertheword.Forexample,
[weatherSunnyvaleCA]willreturntheweatherforSunnyvale,Californiaand[weather94041]willreturnthe
weatherforthecitycontainingthezipcode(USpostalcode)94041,whichisMountainView,California.
TheGoogleGuideAdvancedOperatorQuickReference(www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference.html)
providesanicesummaryofthesearchoperatorsgroupedbytype.Itincludessearchoperatorsnotyetdocumentedby
Google,e.g.,allinanchor:,allintext:,author:,ext:,group:,id:,insubject:,intext:,intitle:,location:,and
source:.
Note:Googlemaychangehowundocumentedoperatorsworkoreliminatethemcompletely.Ifyounotice
problemsorchangesinGooglesundocumentedoperators,pleaseletusknow.

Exercises
Thisproblemsetisdesignedtogiveyouexperienceswithsearchoperatorsandpracticewithspecifyingmoreprecisely
whatyoureseekingbyusingtheAdvancedSearchform.Forhintsandanswerstoselectedproblems,seetheSolutions
page.
1. Usethesite:operatortosearchforarmchairsonIKEAssite,www.ikea.com.
2. UsetheAdvancedSearchformtofindthepagewhosetitleisSomeWaystoDetectPlagiarism.Whenthetitle
isenteredinlowercaseletters,thequeryboxontheresultspagecontains[allintitle:waystodetect
plagiarism].
3. Findallpagesongoogle.combutnotonanswers.google.comnorondirectory.google.comwhosetitlesincludethe
wordsFAQorhelp.
4. Usethelink:operatortoseewholinkstogoogleguide.com,yourcompanyswebsite,oryourfavoritewebsite.
5. FindpageswhosetitlesincludesurfingthatarenotaboutsurfingtheWorldWideWeb.
6. FindoutwheretheupcominginternationalconferenceonAIDSisbeingheld.
7. Howcanyousearchfor[googlehelp]onGoogleGuide,www.googleguide.com,andontheUCBerkeleylibrary
website,www.lib.berkeley.edu?
tags(keywords):advancedsearch,operators,queries,searchoperators
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon:SundayFebruary26,2012

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