If you have never heard of Google search operators, you’re not alone. Not many people have heard of them.

However, those who are familiar with them take advantage of their effectiveness and simplicity. In this article, we’ll show you the top Google operators you want to know about. 

What Are Search Operators?

According to Google, search operators are “symbols or words in your search to make your search results more precise.”

In short, search operators are there to help you get better results and find what you were looking for sooner. With search operators, you can eliminate weeding through many unwanted and irrelevant results.

The catch is you have to learn which ones to use right away. Once you master them, you will save yourself a lot of time.

But how to correctly use them? Simple, in your Google search bar type the operator and :

For instance: site: 

Use symbols such as quotes: “search term” to get an exact match of your query. 

1. Related

The Related function is easily my most used operator since I am constantly looking up competitors. This will return sites related to the requested domain.

Example: related:clickleads.com would turn up…. nothing…. we are too awesome and unique!!!

2. Cache

The cache operator is useful when you want to find out the recent cache or a certain webpage. 

Most use cache when they want to search which pages were recently crawled.

You can type it on the Google search bar using the code, cache:mywebsite.com

3. | and OR

| symbol is called a pipe, but has the same effect as OR which allows you to check on multiple search terms.

4. Allintext

Allintext lets you find if all the terms you’re looking for in a specific page. Allintext is not always as accurate since it doesn’t look for text on the page. 

Use allintext in the following form: allintext: content promotional links

5. – (minus)

This symbol operator excludes a phrase or term.

For instance: NHL -Gretzky would return pages related to the NHL but not about the Great One. 

6. Guest post opportunities

If you want to narrow your search results, you can use intitle to do so. Intitle will track specific search phrases. Let’s say you want to to find a place to post about health. 

Use intitle in the following form: health intitle:”write for us” inurl:”write-for-us” or just get downright crazy, but targeted! health (“contribute to” | inurl:”guest-post”| inurl:”write for us”)

7. Site

Want to quickly assess a social profile before you reach out? If you know the name of the part you would like to reach please dial it now… Herb Gleeson (site:facebook.com | site:twitter.com | site:pinterest.com) 

8. Inurl

Inurl is helpful when you need to find pages within a URL. All you have to do is add a second term in the content of a website. For example, inurl: “black curtains”

Learn These Key Google Search Operators

Now that you know about all these different Google operators, it’s time to perform faster and smarter searches in less time. 

Now you can save time searching by using site: related: :# – cache: and many others.

Do you need help getting leads to your site? If so, let Click Leads help you. Contact us for more information.