Google search operators and tips

It’s time to improve your Google search techniques! The simplest tip is to start by using as few words as possible, because each word focuses the search further and thus limits the results. Then, add more words to narrow your results. You can also use the following search operators:

Search single word exactly as is (""): Put double quotes around a single word to get only results that include that exact word, precisely as you typed it. You can do this for multiple words.

Phrase search (""): Put double quotes around a set of words to get only results that include those exact words in that exact order. You can do this for multiple phrases.

Exclude words (-):Puta minus sign immediately before a word to exclude any results that contain that word. You can do this for multiple words.

The OR operator: Google's default behavior is to consider all the words in a search. If you want to specifically allow either one of several words, you can use the OR operator (in ALL CAPS). For example, [ San Francisco Giants 2010 OR 2011 ] will give you results about either one of these years, whereas [ San Francisco Giants 2010 2011 ] will show pages that include both years on the same page.

Search within a specific website (site:): Put [site:] immediately in front of a web address to get search results only from that website. For example, the search [ iraq site:nytimes.com ] will return pages about Iraq but only from nytimes.com.

Define:  Put [define:] before a word or phrase to get a definition. The definition will be for the exact phrase entered (all the words in the exact order you typed them).

To use many of these operators without memorizing them, try Google Advanced Search.

Google Advanced Search

Google search resources

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