While almost everyone has heard of Google, not everyone knows that its algorithm enables the use of specific functions or operators to return more useful results. This can come in handy for many purposes, such as the process of search engine optimization, SEO, where finding information about a page, such as the number of backlinks a specific page has, can help you market and grow a business more effectively.
In this article, we’ll cover some of the basic types of google advanced search operators, and how you can use them to improve and enhance the way you interact with information on the web.
Quintessential Queries
When you go about using Google or other search engines, the data you enter and tell it to search for is called a “query”. For many people, this is far enough for them, as these search engine algorithms have gotten remarkably good at providing relevant and useful results. However, let’s say you want to take your use of Google to the next level and start working on enhancing the SEO for a page you run.
To begin working towards achieving this, you can use some of the following advanced search operators, replacing “website.com” or “query” with your site, another site you are researching, or the specific search queries you are looking for:
- Site:website.com
This operator allows you to only receive results from a specific website.
- Cache:website.com
This operator allows you to see the last version of the site accessed or saved by Google.
- Allintext:query/Intext: query
This operator will only return results if all the search query words are present in the text on a certain page, allowing you to narrow down your results. Use “intext” instead of “allintext” for less specific results.
- Allintitle:query/Intitle: query
Similar to the allintext operator, this will only return results if all the search query words are present in the title of the page results. Like intext, remove “all” and use “intitle” for less specific results
- Allinurl:query/Inurl: query
These operators will return results only if they are in the URL of relevant pages.
- Filetype: query
This operator will return only results of a specific file type, such as .PDF.
- Related:website.com
This operator is useful for finding related or competitor sites to a specific URL, to help understand how Google ranks and categorizes them better.
These advanced search operators can help you take your understanding and practice of SEO to the next level. Start using them today, or contact an SEO professional who can, and watch your business rise in the ranks and experience exponential growth.