Search Operators


Search operators are special words and symbols, sometimes followed by a colon, which when accompanying search terms, instruct the Google search engine how to focus the search.

In most cases, Google search operators, like Google search terms, are not case sensitive. In other words, the search term pumpernickel and PuMperNickEl return the same results. There are a few exceptions, and this chapter notes when search operators are case sensitive.

When terms are absolutely required in the search results you can precede the search term with the plus sign +. It is important be certain that there is a space before the + sign. For example, if you set a search term of blue +moon, the term moon must be in the results.

Tip 

When used with numbers, the + sign is used in addition calculations.

Create powerful search phrases by combining search terms with operators. Operators are special words or symbols used to create search phrases by combining search terms, or instructing Google how to act on them.

  • AND: Queries where the terms contain an AND return results that contain all the terms. The AND operator is not required because Google automatically looks for all terms in the query. For example, Blue Moon is the same as Blue AND Moon.

  • OR: When you use the OR operator between two words or phrases either term or phrase may be included. Say you are searching on planets, and you don’t need all the planet names to appear on a single page. You can search on Mercury OR Earth OR Saturn OR Venus OR Jupiter OR Pluto OR Mars OR Uranus OR Neptune. The OR here is capitalized for emphasis; this operator is not case sensitive. You can further limit this search by using the AND operator and including the term planet.

  • “”: To create a search phrase, enclose the entire phrase in double quotes: “search term”. You must use double quotes; single quotes do not work to create a phrase. A good example of when phrasing is useful is searching on names. Searching the name Jane Smith, for example, returns results where a page contains both the name Jane and the name Smith, but not necessarily the same person. Jane Jones and Tommy Smith on the same page are valid results. Therefore, enclosing “Jane Smith” in quotes ensures that you only receive results where the name Jane Smith is included on the page.

  • -: The minus sign tells the search engine that the keyword that follows it must not be included in the results. This is useful in cases where you know which words or phrases will best limit your search by being excluded. For example, if you are searching on the name Mickey and you want all results with the word Mouse excluded, you can precede the word Mouse with a minus sign like this: -Mouse.

  • ~: A seldom-used but very powerful operator is the tilde symbol. This operator causes the Google search engine to return synonyms (words that have the same meaning). For example, a search on end of the ~earth returns pages with end of the world and end of the universe in addition to pages containing the phrase end of the earth.

Got Info?

Google includes the ability to recognize special kinds of information and performs a search returning very specific information. Google can distinguish when the information entered as a search is an address or a vehicle ID number or a phone number. When one of these types of information is encountered, special handling of that information gives you more than simply Web page results.

Special Number Searches

Instead of remembering hundreds of different Web page resources for looking up important numbers, such as finding telephone number area codes or to track shipping of packages, you can simply type those numbers into the Google search and the first result is normally the Web page containing the result you are looking for.

Track Packages

One of the most common reasons to visit the Web page of shipping companies or the U.S. Postal Service is track packages that you send or that others send to you. A shortcut, particularly if you have the Google search box installed in your Web browser, is to type the tracking number. Google is smart enough to figure out what type of number it is, find the right shipping Web site, perform the query, and post the result. Currently, Google finds tracking numbers from the following shippers:

  • United Parcel Service (UPS)

  • Federal Express (FedEx)

  • U.S. Postal Service (USPS)

Information about your car

Typing a vehicle identification number (VIN) into a Google search returns a CARFAX record search result. Clicking the link causes you to navigate to the CARFAX Web site where you can see the following information:

  • VIN

  • Year/Make/Model

  • Body style

  • Engine type

  • Manufacturer’s location

  • Number of CARFAX search results

CARFAX is a commercial service that returns information about a vehicle that has become part of the public record. This information includes the odometer readings, accident records, theft records, salvage, and more. CARFAX charges a fee to retrieve this additional information.

Q&A

When you are tired of reading through hundreds of Web pages to find the answer to a straightforward question you can use the Google Q&A. Using this feature is almost transparent when doing a Google search. The results you receive depend largely on how you form your question. Type capital of Hawaii into the Google search text box.

The first result displays the name of the capital, in this case Honolulu, and on the following line (as shown in Figure 2.1) displays the source that Google used to find the information.

image from book
Figure 2.1: Q&A presents simple answers to direct questions.

Definitions

There are many online dictionaries and encyclopedias. Google offers something just a little different and a little more powerful. Using the Google operator define: gives much more than your average dictionary, including related phrases you can search on by clicking the link, definitions, and their sources, as shown in Figure 2.2.

image from book
Figure 2.2: Get more than a dictionary definition with the define: operator.

Define

The keyword define, placed before a word or phrase, returns a definition but does not return the level of information returned by using the define: operator. Google returns a definition, the source of the definition, and then lists results that include the definition of the word you are trying to define. Try define with and without a colon to see which one provides you the result you want.

What is

When you want to ask a specific question such as the population of a specific state or country you can precede your query with the phrase what is. For example, “What is the population of Idaho”.

This query returns a result based on the type of question you ask. This example first returns books that include the requested information. The second result is a Google Q&A result. These are followed by normal Google Web page results.

Range of Numbers

One of the best ways to focus searches that involve numbers is to use the pound sign (#) operator. Enclose your range of numbers between two pound signs (#) and separate the numbers in the range by using two periods (..). This type of search is best used in addition to keywords. You can search on a wide variety of number ranges. Here is an example of a useful search: digital camera #$100..$500#.

This example query results in Web pages that list digital cameras between the price of $100 and $500. You can use this number range to find other things such as hours of operation, real estate within a certain price range, or equipment within a range of specifications.

Look for Books

Preceding your query with the word books causes your first Google result to be a link to a new page that contains a list of books that contain your query terms. Using a colon after the word books does not change your query. The result appears as a link that reads Book results for book search term. Clicking this link lists your book search results, usually preceded by an icon of the books’ cover art.

Tip 

When searching for author names it is best to enclose them in quotes. This improves the focus your query.

Navigating to the detail about the book often allows you to preview the book. Occasionally, the content of the book is restricted, which prevents you from reviewing sample content. You can also:

  • Learn more about the book

  • Read the table of contents

  • View the title page

  • Peruse the index

  • See the copyright information

Google also lists places you can buy the book.

Cross-Ref 

For more details on using Google to find books, see Chapter 6.

Site Searching

The site: operator allows you to limit searches to a particular Web site (domain). To search within a specific site, type the name of the Web site in the Google search text box with the site: operator like this: site:www.cnn.com.

You can also eliminate certain Web sites from your search. This is useful when a particular Web site clutters your search results. An example of this would be to eliminate all responses from the Open Source encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Eliminate those results from your search by typing -site:www.wikipedia.org panda bears.

This results in a search of all Web sites containing the words panda and bears but eliminates any pages from Wikipedia.org.

Using the site: operator followed by a single word finds all occurrences of that word in the site’s URL. For example, when searching for ATA Airlines you can type this: site:ata.

This search returns ata.com as well as ata.org and any other URL containing ata. This is not a normal use of this operator. Consider using the inurl: operator discussed later in this chapter.

Limit Search File Types

Most of the search results Google returns are HTML and PDF documents. For other types of documents, such as Microsoft Word or Excel files available over the Web, consider limiting your results with the filetypes: operator. Using this operator makes it possible to limit your results to particular file types. The supported file types include:

  • PDF

  • PS

  • DOC

  • XLS

  • PPT

  • RTF

To create a search that limits the files that are returned to a particular file type, type the following along with your search terms: search terms filetype:type.

You are limited to specifying a single file type. You cannot include an additional filetype: operator in your query. You cannot add additional file types to this operator, either. To find different file types, run a new query specifying the different file type along with the filetype: operator.

Find Links to a Page

It is possible to find Web pages that are related to a particular Web page by following backward all the people who have linked to a particular Web page from their own Web page. This is a great way to find related or similar pages.

When you are the author of the Web page, using the link: operator is also a very useful way to find out how many people have provided a link to your site and who they are. Use the link: operator to create queries that include only pages that have linked to the Web page you specify with the operator like this: link:webpageURL.

For example, to find all web pages linked to www.whitehouse.gov, type link:www.whitehouse.gov in the Google query text box.

Tip 

You can include search terms other than the Web page URL. Google returns results focused with your additional search terms.

To see an interesting graphic version of this type of reverse link finding, visit www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html.

This Web site, by TouchGraph LLC, displays a graphic diagram of all links to a page in its GoogleBrowser software. You must enable Java in your Web browser to view this page.

Let your fingers do the walking

There are many phone directories on the Internet. None of them provides the services offered by Google, which makes finding phone numbers and address information simple, particularly if you have the Google toolbar installed in your Web browser. The simplest way to find telephone directory information is to type a person’s name and any identifying location information such as city and state into the Google search text box. If Google has this entry in its phone directory, a special result appears with a small phone icon next to it.

In addition to typing a phone number and hoping that Google recognizes it as such you can let Google know that your search is specifically for a phone number by using one of the phone book operators:

  • phonebook: Searches residential and business listings

  • rphonebook: Searches only residential listings

  • bphonebook: Searches only business listings

Use of the phonebook: operator may result in the display of fewer results. When a combination of business and residential listings both contain your search term, a fewer number of results appears for each, business or residential, with a link to see more results in each category.

Tip 

The phonebook: operator is case sensitive. Typing Phonebook: will not work properly.

You can further focus your Google PhoneBook search by using either the bphonebook: operator to search only for business listings or the rphonebook: operator to search only through the residential listings.

Movie guide

Looking for information about a movie? Precede the name of the movie with the Google operator movie:, and if the movie is playing in theaters you will see the rating (displayed in number of stars), the length of the movie in minutes, the MPAA rating and a description of the movie genre. You will also see a listing of online reviews. If you are in the U.S., you are also prompted to type your ZIP Code to see the places and times you can view the movie in your area. Google remembers your ZIP Code for future searches.

When the movie is no longer playing in theaters you can still read all of the movie reviews. Each review has the number of stars displayed next to it to making a quick glance at how the movie was rated simple.

Financial information

A quick and easy way to retrieve important financial information about publicly traded stock is to use Google. Use the Stocks: operator followed by a valid stock symbol to retrieve a summary of stock information, as seen in Figure 2.3.

image from book
Figure 2.3: Stock summary information is retrieved using the Stocks: operator.

Figure 2.4 shows that there are links to additional financial information from several other online resources such as Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, MSN Money, MarketWatch, CNN Money and Reuters. Displayed with this information you will find the current stock quotes along with the day’s trading graph.

image from book
Figure 2.4: See the five-day weather forecast using Google.

Weather, whether you like it or not

Weather forecasts for any place in the United States can be viewed directly in your Google search results using the weather operator. Simply type weather followed by a place name to see the weather for that location. Large cities, like Los Angeles, do not require a state, but many states have cities with the same name. In those cases you need to include the state. Figure 2.4 shows the five-day forecast for Hilo, Hawaii. As an aside, this is the five-day forecast for Hilo, no matter what time of year you search.

Tip 

Using the word weather with a colon (weather:) works identically to using weather without the colon.

Special queries

Special Google operators allow you to gain special access to Web information, such as old versions of Web pages stored by Google in its cache, or Web site descriptions. Use the cache:, info:, and related: operators to view this special Google information.

View past versions of Web pages

Occasionally, the information you are searching for no longer appears on the Internet. This can happen for any number of reasons. For example, the Web site may no longer exist, or the author has changed the contents of the Web page. When your search displays information that no longer appears in the page pointed to by the link you can view the version of the Web page last indexed by Google and saved in its cache by using the cache: operator. Precede the URL of a Web site with the cache: operator (for example, type cache: www.oldwebpage.com) and you are automatically shown the cached version of the page, even if a newer version exists on the Web.

Using the cache: operator is the same as using the cache link often displayed in the Google search results. There are times when no version of the page exists in cache. In this event, using the cache: operator has no effect; no results are returned.

Find similar pages

In the event that finding pages containing search terms does not locate the information you’re looking for, you can use the related: operator to find Web pages similar to another may meet your need. Find the Web page that has information similar to the type you are looking for and type that into your Google search text box preceded with the related: operator like this: related:www.science.org.

This lists all the Web pages and their descriptions that contain similar content to the one you typed. Google uses keywords in the text to determine similarity.

Tip 

Make sure you type the URL of a valid Web page or Google thinks that the word related is a search term and finds Web pages containing the word related and the address or search terms you typed.

Once you find a Web page that contains the type of information you are searching for, try running the related query again with the address of that page. It may give you more of the results for which you are looking.

Google Web page information

Find all the information Google has about a Web page all in one place. Precede the Web site URL with the info: operator to view the following:

  • A Web site description and link to the site

  • A link to the Google cached version

  • Web pages that are similar to the one you entered

  • Web pages that link to the one you entered

  • Web pages that are linked from the one you entered

  • Web pages that contain the URL or name of the Web site you entered

This information is available using individual operators. This is a great shortcut to all the information about a Web page. This also keeps you from needing to remember all the individual operator names for finding this information. Info: is easy to remember.

Locate search words in certain places

It may not be enough to have your search terms appear somewhere in a Web page. For example, if you know part of a URL but do not remember the entire Web site address, you can search for it within the address only. There may be other times where you want to search for a term in only the title of the page. These terms look for search terms in only the places specified by the operator. A complete list of the Google search location operators appears in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Search Location Operators
Open table as spreadsheet

Operator

Description

allinanchor:

The anchor is the text you click when you click on a hyperlink. This is the descriptive text, not the URL. The allinanchor: operator finds all the search terms you typed within the anchor text.

inanchor:

Use the inanchor: operator when you want to include a search on a single term within the anchor text as part of a larger search. This is normally used along with search terms that search the entire Web site contents.

allintext:

The allintext: operator finds all your search terms in the text of the Web page. It ignores the search terms in any other part of the page such as the title, anchor text, or URL.

intext:

Search the text of a Web page for a single term as part of a larger search that includes search terms that may appear elsewhere within the page.

allintitle:

The allintitle: operator allows you to find Web pages where all of your search terms must appear in the title of the Web page. The title of the Web page is the title text created by the Web page developer and normally appears in the top border of your Web browser.

intitle:

Use the intitle: operator when a single term must appear in the title, while your other search terms can appear elsewhere in the Web page.

allinurl:

When you want your results to include only Web pages where your search terms all appear in the URL (Web page address) use the allinurl: operator. This is a very restrictive search. Be careful with the number of search terms you include.

inurl:

Use the inurl: operator to find Web pages that have a single search term in the URL while all other search terms can appear in other places within the Web page.

Special Google searches

There are Google services such as News, Froogle, and Google Groups that contain a great deal of specialized information. You can perform special searches just through these services. Some of these searches require you to visit the specific Google service, all of which are discussed in greater detail throughout the rest of this book.

Search Google News

News.google.com is a great resource for world and local news. You can search Google News using two special operators, location: and source:.

Cross-Ref 

Chapter 14 provides detailed information about using Google News.

  • location: Include this operator in a query and Google automatically searches Google News for items from the location you specify. For example, location:Los Angeles finds news articles that mention this city.

  • source: Use this operator to specify the news source you want articles from: for example, hurricanes source:cnn.

You can use these operators in a Google search text box, and Google knows to search Google News only. If you are already viewing the Google News site, you can use them in a query within the news site.

Search for the best prices using Froogle

Froogle is an online shopping guide discussed in more detail in Chapter 8. You can use the store: operator to specify in what store you want to search for prices. Unlike the location: operator that directs searches to Google News, the store: operator does not redirect the search to Froogle. You must be searching the Froogle site to use this operator (froogle.google.com).

Here is an example of how to use the store: operator. Specify the name of the store you want to search for product information. This must be a store that Froogle searches. For example, a query on televisions might look like this: television source:Sears. Television source:Best Buy will not return Froogle results. Vendors must request that Google include their product information within Froogle. When your favorite retailer does not appear in the Froogle results, contact them and request that they add themselves to the Froogle index.

Searching Google Groups

Google Groups provides access to the Internet Usenet news groups. Unlike Google News, Usenet news is an e-mail archived messaging service and does not really provide news. Instead, Usenet has messages organized into tens of thousands of topics. The author:, group:, and insubject: operators allow you to search Usenet messages through Google Groups. You must be on the Google Groups site to use these search operators (groups.google.com). Use these operators like this:

  • author: Finds messages authored by the name you specify. It is best to enclose full names in quotes. Example: author:smith. This finds posts by anyone with the name Smith.

  • group: Specifies a particular Usenet newsgroup name to focus your search within a single group. Example: group:alt.sci.geography. This finds posts in the alt.sci.geography group.

  • insubject: Locates messages with a particular keyword in the subject line using this operator. Example: insubject:rhesus. This finds posts where the word rhesus is found within the subject line of the post.

Cross-Ref 

See Chapter 22 for more information about Google Groups.

You can use any combination of these operators and search terms to focus your search. For example, use the author: operator with the group: operator to locate messages posted by a specific person within a particular group.



Google Power Tools Bible
Google Power Tools Bible
ISBN: 0470097124
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 353

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