What’s easier and faster than entering a word or phrase into Google’s search engine and getting a whole list of websites to choose between milliseconds later? The answer is: Including search operators when searching for information on Google.
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What Are Search Operators?
Search operators are common keyboard symbols that you enter into the Google search engine box in addition to your words. In addition to symbols like quotation marks, there are also a few words you can use to make Google results more refined. Think of it this way – Google search operators are used by academic researchers, experienced journalists and savvy sports fans. Yes – sports fans. Imagine you’re a huge fan of the Miami Heat, the sports team. You don’t want to get a bunch of results about Miami’s hot weather. How to be sure you’re getting what you want? Google search operators.
Why should you, a business owner, care? Well your customers may know these shortcuts, and you want to make sure that your’e appearing first for those who do. People spend more time looking for exactly what you want on Google than you may realize. We like to think that when we enter a search term on Google, we will find what we want right away. You also may want to teach your employees these shortcuts, so that they use work hours more productively. In one study, researchers found that:
- Working professionals conduct up to 8 searches in a hunt to find the right information
- Employees spend 9 hours per week hunting for work-related information online
- One work day per week is spent searching for information on how to do one’s job effectively
- 60% of employers feel their employees don’t know how to research online effectively
We can teach you and your employees these shortcuts to make your work more productive.
Why Should You Use Search Operators?
To make online research more effective, you should enter easy Google symbols into the search box along with your keywords. Why spend 5 minutes looking for something that you could instead find in 5 seconds? These shortcuts can help you find websites that can grow your business. For example, using these keyboard symbols and commands can help you find specific third-party vendors, like us at SEO Design Chicago for your digital marketing needs, within your budget. You can also research your competition more strategically. Finally, you can use these shortcuts to keep up-to-date with best practices and trends in social media.
What Are Google Search Booleans?
Search engine algorithms can understand queries that include symbols in addition to words. These symbols, also called booleans, can help you use Google more accurately and effectively. These are some of our favorites.
Or
Including a pike sign (|) between two words means “or.” So it tells Google to find x or y. When combined with and, it can help businesses narrow down results even more.
And
Including the word AND will tell the algorithm, look for these two words in all pages.
Let’s combine the two examples here. Searching for cats for adoption | dogs for adoption and Chicago will narrow down results for cats or dogs available in Chicago for adoption.
Exact Match
When you use quotation marks around your search term, Google only shows results that have that exact term (or match) on their website.
So, if you search for “siamese cat in chicago for adoption” (with the quotations around the words), you’ll be directed to any results that include these words.
Range of Numbers
Inserting two periods (..) between two words means that you are looking for numbers (it must always be numbers) between x and y. It can be helpful for looking up things related to prices or dates. For example, Miami Heats stats 2020..2023, returns all sorts of statistics for Miami Heat related games and players.
Hashtag
The at symbol, or @, can be used in front of a word to search social media for posts with that hashtag. For example, @miamiheat nets results of the Twitter account for the team and posts from Twitter users who have created posts about the team. Hashtags, or #, sometimes work to find social media posts too. For example, if you search for #seodesign and you are in Chicago, you will see our website first and our Instagram page second. For help making sure you have the right hashtags and tags on your social media, give us a call. Social media content creation and analytics monitoring is one of our areas of specialty.
File Type (filetype:docx/pdf/csv/ppt)
Looking for a specific file type, like an Excel spreadsheet (XLS) or a Powerpoint (PPT)? Sometimes, people do this if they quickly need to prepare for a meeting or a training session. Why create your own files if there are ones available online ready to go? Using the command above, along with the type of file you want after the colon will get you what you need fast.
Wild Card
You probably think an asterisk (*) means a footnote or an exception to something that’s written. In computer code, however, the asterisk symbol means “wildcard.” The asterisk, or wildcard, is a symbol that can be replaced by any word or phrase. This can be really helpful if you’ve forgotten parts of a word or phrase, or a company name. The asterisk is located above the 8 on the keyboard.
Let’s say you forgot part of the name of our company, SEO Design Chicago. If you search SEO * Chicago, you’ll see us, SEO Design Chicago, up near the top.
Previous Versions of a Website
You can delete or modify webpages, but Google always stores earlier versions. This can be helpful to business owners if you want to see what previous versions of your website looked like but don’t feel like finding previous designs you’ve saved somewhere in your email, on your computer, or haven’t saved at all. Just enter cache:example.com/your/page.html. You can also use the Way Back Machine to find previous versions of websites. This can be useful if you’re trying to investigate something that someone has changed or deleted online, or if you want to remember what previous versions of a website that’s been redesigned looked like. The Way Back Machine doesn’t work for every site, but it works for over 800 million. We just used it on our site – it looks way better now than it did in 2017!
Search for Related Sites
If you put “related:” in front of a website you know, you’ll find sites with similar content. This is a great way to search for your competition. You may already know who they are, but how familiar are you with their website content and design? This easy Google command will answer your questions.
For example, if you have a floral delivery company, you’d want to know about the companies that do the same things as you. You’ll want to make sure the design of your site, your photos and your word choice looks dramatically different. This is key for businesses that are fiercely competitive, like law firms. When you use this search boolean, you’ll see how companies that use custom photography stand out. We offer custom photography shoots.
Definition of Words
If you write “define:” followed by a colon and a term you want to know about, you’ll get solid, concise definitions of the word right away. Think of it as the best research tool. For example, at SEO Design Chicago, we offer Joomla websites.
If you don’t know what that means, you can enter “define: joomla” into Google and you’ll get factual, quick-hit results. (By the way, Joomla is a free website content management system).
Specific URL Search (inurl:)
Searching with “inurl:” followed by your keyword will return only web pages with your keyword in the URL. This operator is very strong when paired with the “site:” operator to find specific URLs within a domain. For example, if you use site: www.mypage.com InURL: “my search term”
You’ll find all of the pages on your site that contain a specific word in the URL.
If you want us to offer you a consultation about our services, which range from all-things-online training to web development, just reach out. It takes a lot of time to manage a digital strategy. You only have so much time on your hands. You’ll likely find that paying us for our expertise pays off. Use some of the symbols above to show how our services stand apart from other digital marketing agencies.
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