SEO companies have been using SEO tools and direct submissions to acquire links.
However, these tactics and tools no longer produce useful results. If you want to improve your SEO efforts, you need to be knowledgeable about advanced search operators.
These operators enable you to filter your search results, making it more effective. Below, we have highlighted some of the search operators you can use for link building opportunities. There is also an infographic that summarizes what the operators do.
Google Advanced Search Operators
1. Link:
Finding the sites that link to your website pages is simple. Type “link:” in the search bar, followed by your site’s address. For example, “link: yourwebsite.com.” You’ll see all the pages linking to your website.
2. Site:
Knowing all your webpages indexed by Google is crucial. To get this information, type “site: yourwebsite.com.”
3. “”
If you want Google to give you relevant results, include quotes in your search phrase. For example, if you’re searching for guest blogging opportunities, type “guest blogging” in the search bar.
4. Cache:
Google may fail to index all the data on your website. In this case, type “cache: yourwebsite.com” to know what Google found out during its last visit.
5. Info:
To see detailed information about your website, type “info: yourwebsite.com.” The search results will give you data about your domain, cached version, and other different aspects of your site.
These are some of the few operators you can use. However, other advanced search operators can give you accurate results. I have included them in this infographic. Check them out to understand how they work.
Extensive Guide on How to Use Google Search Operators
Search operators can help you find what you are looking for quickly. Here are some FAQs to help you understand them better.
How Do I Use Google to Search a Phrase?
Use your smartphone or computer to open your chrome browser. Type the phrase you want to search in the address bar and then press enter.
How Do I Conduct a Specific Google Search?
If you are looking for a phrase on a specific page, click on the three dots at that page’s top right and then click find. Type the phrase in the search bar to find what you want. You can also press CTRL+F or use Google search operators.
What Are Search Operators?
These are special commands used on the search engines to inform Google about the search results you want to see.
How Do I Use Google Advanced Search Operators?
You can combine the operators to get the results you want. However, it would help if you used the right combination.
Here are the SEO tactics you can use.
Aim for Specific Results
Operators are meant to help you get relevant results. It is advisable to use multiple combinations to achieve your desired results.
Exclude the Terms You Don’t Want to See on the Results
Type this operator (-) before the word you don’t want to appear on the search results.
Combine the Exclusions with the Exact Terms You Don’t Want to See
Combining (-) with (“”) allows you to exclude the phrases you don’t want to see on the results. For example, type -“lorem” if you don’t want to see the phrase included in the results.
Find Out How Google Indexes Your Site
If you want to know how Google indexes your website, type (site:) before your url address. For instance: site:loremipsum.com.
Get Rid of Subdomains
To remove subdomains and staging websites, type (-inurl:) in the search bar.
Find Duplicate Content
You can combine (site) and (“”) to find duplicate content on your website. Use (site:) to index your domain and (“”) to find duplicate words. For instance, site:loremipsum.com “dolor.”
Which Search Operators Does Google Enable by Default?
There are three Google default operators, including (AND), (OR), and (~). You can use (AND) between your search terms. However, Google ignores the first two operators because they are the search defaults.
Google also ignores non-valuable words, single digits, and articles. The last operator is unreliable since Google’s default is looking for its synonyms.
How Do I Search Without a Word?
Since Google may not know the results you want, use (-) to let Google know you don’t want specific terms included in your searches.
For example, if you search for the divergent definition and you don’t want Google to give you the results about Divergent movie, type Divergent -movie -film in the search bar.
Wrap Up
Search operators allow you to find relevant results quickly. The operators discussed above will help refine your searches.
