Using the Advanced Search Page

Not comfortable learning all those complicated search operators, but still want to fine-tune your search beyond the basic keyword query? Then you want to use Google's Advanced Search page, which performs most of these same advanced search functions, via a series of simple pull-down menus and checkboxes.

You can access the Advanced Search page, shown in Figure 2.32, by clicking the Advanced Search link on Google's home page. The Advanced Search page contains a number of options you can use to fine-tune your searches, without having to learn all those advanced operators. All you have to to is make the appropriate selections on the page and Google will do all the fine-tuning for you.

Figure 2.32. Google's Advanced Search page.

What options are available on the Advanced Search page? Table 2.1 provides the details:

Table 2.1. Options on Google's Advanced Search Page

Option	Description	Same As This Operator
Results(list)	Selects how many listings are displayed on the search results page	N/A
Find results with all of the words	Google's default search mode	N/A
Find results with the exact phrase	Searches for the exact phrase entered	""
Find results with at least one of the words	Searches for either one word or another	OR
Find results without the words	Excludes pages that contain the specified word(s)	-
Language	Searches for pages written in a specific language	N/A
File Format	Limits search to specific file types	filetype: and -filetype:
Date	Limits search to web pages created/updated in the past 3, 6, or 12 months	date:
Occurrences	Restricts the query to specified parts of the web page: title, text, URL, links, or anywhere	intitle: and allintitle: intext: and allintext: inurl: and allinurl: inanchor: and allinanchor:
Domain	Restricts the search to the specified website or domain	site:
Usage Rights	For media files, returns pages/files that are not filtered by a license; free to use or share; free to use or share, even commercially; free to use, share, or modify; or free to use, share, or modify, even commercially	N/A
SafeSearch	Activates SafeSearch content filter for this particular search	safesearch:
Similar	Finds pages similar to the specified web page	related:
Links	Lists all pages that link to the specified web page	link:

For many users, it's easier to use the Advanced Search page than it is to learn and enter Google's advanced operators into a standard search query. When you need to fine-tune the occasional search, this is the page to use!