The following article explains the use of common search operators that work with Google’s search engine.
allinanchor:
Anchor text is text on a web page that serves as the actual link text for another web page. For example, the search “allinanchor: android developer” will return web pages that have links on their own page which include the words android or developer. Do not include any other search operators when using allinanchor:.
allintext:
Starting your search with allintext: will restrict Google results to those which contain your search term in the text of the web page. It is similar to allinanchor:, but doesn’t restrict the results to only web pages with links that match the search terms.
allintitle:
The title of a web page is the text that is displayed at the top of the browser or is the text that populates a certain tab of a browser. Using this search operator will return web pages that contain the search phrase in the title of the web page.
allinurl:
Using the search operator allinurl: will provide results with the words you specify only in the URL of the returned web results. For example, if you query “allinurl: android seo”, you may see the following web page in your results: http://www.promoteseo.com/android.php. URLs frequently use run-together words, but you don’t need to worry about this when using allinurl: because Google will look for your search characters throughout the whole url.
author:
If you include this search operator, Google will restrict Google Groups results to include articles by the author you specify. The author can be a full or partial name or even email address. For example, “android author:john author:doe” will return articles that contain the word “android” with the author John Doe. As another example, “android author:[email protected]” will return articles containing “android” by [email protected]. Google will only search exactly what you specify meaning “author: “John Doe”” (with quotes) will not return articles by Doe, John.
cache:
The search operator cache: allows you to view a Google-cached copy of a given website as opposed to the current version. NOTE: do not include a space between the operator and URL. Google will highlight any terms on the cached site if you include them after the URL. If you search for “cache:www.promoteseo.com/android assault alarm”, you will be taken to the cached version of the site with “assault” and “alarm” highlighted.
define:
Starting your query with “define:” will return definitions from pages on the web for the word that follows. For example, “define: android” returns “(in science fiction) A robot with a human appearance.”
ext:
This is an undocumented alias for filetype:.
filetype:
Including filetype:suffix in your query will restrict results to pages whose names end in suffix. For example, (android developer checklist filetype:pdf) will return Adobe pdf files that match the terms “android,” “developer,” and “checklist.” You can broaden your search by using the OR operator (android developer checklist filetype:pdf OR filetype:doc).
group:
Including group: in your search will restrict Google Groups results to newsgroup articles from certain groups. For example, (nexus group:android.developer.bugs) will return results for “nexus” in the group android.developer.bugs. The query (nexus group:android.developer) will return “nexus” results from the group android.developer.
id:
This is an undocumented alias for info:
inanchor:
Including inanchor: in your query will restrict Google results to pages containing the terms that you specify in the links or anchor text of the page. For example, (android inanchor:development) will return pages with links that include “development” and whose page text contains “android.”
info:
The query info:URL will return some information about the particular webpage that you specify. There must be no space between the operator and the URL.
insubject:
Including this operator will restrict articles in Google Groups to those that contain the terms you specify in the subject. For example, (insubject:”android development”) will return articles that contain the phrase “android development” in the subject. It is equivalent to intitle:.
intext:
The query intext:term restricts results to documents containing term in the text of the document. For example, (developer intext:”android”) will return documents that mention the word “android” in the text and “developer” anywhere in the document (text or otherwise).
intitle:
The query intext:term restricts results to documents containing term in the title. For example, developer intitle:android will return documents that mention the word “android” in their title and mention developer in their text.
inurl:
If you include inurl: in your query, Google restricts results to documents containing that word in the URL of the website. For example, (inurl:android site:www.droidforums.com) will return pages on Droidforums.com which contain the term “android” in their URL. If you want to search multiple terms in the URL, just use allinurl:.
link:
The search link:URL shows pages that link to that URL. For example, to find pages that link to Astral Web’s home page, type in (link:www.promoteseo.com). To find links to Astral Web’s home page not on Astral Web’s own site, type (link:www.promoteseo.com -site:www.promoteseo.com).
location:
Including location: in your search on Google News, only articles from the location specified will be returned. For example, (android location:canada) will return articles that match the term “android” from sites in Canada. Two-letter US state abbreviations match individual US states, and two-letter Canadian province abbreviations (like NS for Nova Scotia) also work – although some provinces don’t have many newspapers online, so you may not get many results. Some other two-letter abbreviations – such as UK for the United Kingdom – are also available.
movie:
If you include move: in your query, Google will find move-related information. The possibilities are great for the movie: operator. Examples include searching for a movie from which a quote originates, finding the movie in which “Tom Hanks talks to a volleyball” (movie: Tom Hanks talks to a volleyball), and more.
phonebook:
If you start the query with phonebook:, Google shows all public U.S. residence telephone listings (name, address, phone number) for the person you specify. For example, searching (phonebook: John Doe Los Angeles CA) will return phonebook listings for all named John Doe in Los Angeles, CA.
related:
The query related:URL will list web pages that are similar to the web page you specify. For example, related:www.promoteseo.com will return other websites that deal with search engine optimization (SEO) and other internet services. Don’t include a space between the operator and the term.
site:
If you include this operator, it will restrict Google results to the site or domain you specify. For example, (android site:www.promoteseo.com) will provide all results of “android” on the site specified. You can also specify the domain (android site:gov) which will return all results of “android” on .gov sites. Additionally, you can specify to look everywhere but a specific site (android -site:google.com).
source:
If you include the source: operator, Google News will restrict results to articles from the news source with the ID that you specify. For example, (android source: new york times) will return articles mentioning “android” from the source New York Times.
weather
If you enter a query of the word weather with a city or location name, if Google recognizes the location, it will show forecast for that location. Weather is not an advanced operator like the others that are mentioned here.
