Basic Google Search Operators Checklist

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Basic Google Search Operators Checklist

Google Search Operators are special commands that expand the capabilities of a regular text search.

Refine web searches using search operators. These operator keys are punctuation that would normally be ignored by Google and seen as “noise” in any search results.

There are more “advanced search operators” that can be used to get even more specific results.

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Basic Google Search Operators Checklist

OR

Combine searches by putting OR between two search terms like A OR B returns results related to A or B, or both.

Example checklist OR to do list

The pipe (|) is a replacement for “OR” as it does identical search.

site:

Get search results for specific website.

Example site:checkify.com

related:

include related: front of a website domain name you already know.

Example related:checkify.com

” “

Force Google for exact-match results the “search term.”

Put any word or phrase in quotes to force exact results.

Example “The Checklist Manifesto

( )

Control the order in which they execute the search by grouping multiple terms or searches.

Example (checklist OR to do list) prevent mistakes

Minus (-) excludes the term in the search results by placing in front of any term to be removed from the results.

Example Checklist -to do list

*

Asterisk (*) like is like a wild-card search as it will match any word or phrase.

example Checklist *Happiness

..

The two dots (..) with numbers on either side match to numbers in that range.

Example 2018..2020

AND

Search for A AND B will give you only results related to both A and B.

Google generally defaults to “AND” on searches.

Example checklist AND to do list

in

Convert measurements and units use “in” between two units.

Example kilos in stone

$ or €

Price search is looking for a specific price.

This can be combined with a (.) for exact price match.

Example €19.99 or €19.99.

@

Search for social media results like twitter / facebook

#

Hashtags identify a certain term

cache:

See Google’s cached version of a website.

define:

Use like a dictionary and it will display the meaning of a word like in search engine results pages SERPs.

Example: define:checklist

map:

Get Google to display map results for a locational search.

Example: map:London

source:

Locate news from a certain source.

Example checklist source:inc.com

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