Google search basics: More search help

The Basic search help article covers all the most common issues, but sometimes you need a
little bit more power. This document will highlight the more advanced features of Google Web
Search. Have in mind though that even very advanced searchers, such as the members of
the search group at Google, use these features less than 5 of the time. Basic simple
search is often enough. !s always, we use s"uare brac#ets $ % to denote "ueries, so $ to be
or not to be % is an e&ample of a "uery' $ to be % or $ not to be % are two e&amples of "ueries.
Phrase search ("")
By putting double "uotes around a set of words, you are telling Google to consider the e&act
words in that e&act order without any change. Google already uses the order and the fact
that the words are together as a very strong signal and will stray from it only for a good
reason, so "uotes are usually unnecessary. By insisting on phrase search you might be
missing good results accidentally. (or e&ample, a search for $ )!le&ander Bell) % *with "uotes+
will miss the pages that refer to !le&ander G. Bell.
Search within a specific website (site:)
Google allows you to specify that your search results must come from a given website. (or
e&ample, the "uery $ ira" site,nytimes.com % will return pages about -ra" but only from
nytimes.com. The simpler "ueries $ ira" nytimes.com % or $ ira" .ew /or# Times % will usually
be 0ust as good, though they might return results from other sites that mention the .ew /or#
Times. /ou can also specify a whole class of sites, for e&ample $ ira" site,.gov % will return
results only from a .gov domain and $ ira" site,.i" % will return results only from -ra"i sites.
Terms you want to exclude ()
!ttaching a minus sign immediately before a word indicates that you do not want pages that
contain this word to appear in your results. The minus sign should appear immediately
before the word and should be preceded with a space. (or e&ample, in the "uery $ anti1virus
software %, the minus sign is used as a hyphen and will not be interpreted as an e&clusion
symbol' whereas the "uery $ anti1virus 1software % will search for the words 2anti1virus2 but
e&clude references to software. /ou can e&clude as many words as you want by using the
sign in front of all of them, for e&ample $ 0aguar 1cars 1football 1os %. The sign can be used to
e&clude more than 0ust words. (or e&ample, place a hyphen before the 2site,2 operator
*without a space+ to e&clude a specific site from your search results.
!ill in the blan"s (#)
The #, or wildcard, is a little1#nown feature that can be very powerful. -f you include # within a
"uery, it tells Google to try to treat the star as a placeholder for any un#nown term*s+ and
then find the best matches. (or e&ample, the search $ Google 3 % will give you results about
many of Google2s products *go to ne&t page and ne&t page 11 we have many products+. The
"uery $ 4bama voted 3 on the 3 bill % will give you stories about different votes on different
bills. .ote that the 3 operator wor#s only on whole words, not parts of words.
Search exactly as is ($)
Google employs synonyms automatically, so that it finds pages that mention, for e&ample,
childcare for the "uery $ child care % *with a space+, or 5alifornia history for the "uery $ ca
history %. But sometimes Google helps out a little too much and gives you a synonym when
you don2t really want it. By attaching a $ immediately before a word *remember, don2t add a
space after the 6+, you are telling Google to match that word precisely as you typed it.
7utting double "uotes around a single word will do the same thing.
The %& operator
Google2s default behavior is to consider all the words in a search. -f you want to specifically
allow either one of several words, you can use the 48 operator *note that you have to type
2482 in !99 5!7S+. (or e&ample, $ San (rancisco Giants :;;< 48 :;;5 % will give you
results about either one of these years, whereas $ San (rancisco Giants :;;< :;;5 % *without
the 48+ will show pages that include both years on the same page. The symbol ' can be
substituted for 48. *The !.= operator, by the way, is the default, so it is not needed.+
(xceptions
Search is rarely absolute. Search engines use a variety of techni"ues to imitate how people
thin# and to appro&imate their behavior. !s a result, most rules have e&ceptions. (or
e&ample, the "uery $ for better or for worse % will not be interpreted by Google as an 48
"uery, but as a phrase that matches a *very popular+ comic strip. Google will show calculator
results for the "uery $ >< 3 ?@ % rather than use the 2(ill in the blan#s2 operator. Both cases
follow the obvious intent of the "uery. Here is a list of e&ceptions to some of the rules and
guidelines that were mentioned in this and the Basic Search Help article,
A&ceptions to 2Avery word matters2
Words that are commonly used, li#e 2the,2 2a,2 and 2for,2 are usually ignored *these are called
stop words+. But there are even e&ceptions to this e&ception. The search $ the who % li#ely
refers to the band' the "uery $ who % probably refers to the World Health 4rganiBation 11
Google will not ignore the word 2the2 in the first "uery.
Synonyms might replace some words in your original "uery. *!dding $ before a word
disables synonyms.+
! particular word might not appear on a page in your results if there is sufficient other
evidence that the page is relevant. The evidence might come from language analysis that
Google has done or many other sources. (or e&ample, the "uery $ overhead view of the
bellagio pool % will give you nice overhead pictures from pages that do not include the word
2overhead.2
7unctuation that is not ignored
7unctuation in popular terms that have particular meanings, li#e $ 566 % or $ 5C % *both are
names of programming languages+, are not ignored.
The dollar sign *D+ is used to indicate prices. $ ni#on <;; % and $ ni#on D<;; % will give
different results.
The hyphen is sometimes used as a signal that the two words around it are very strongly
connected. *Enless there is no space after the 1 and a space before it, in which case it is a
negative sign.+
The underscore symbol ) is not ignored when it connects two words, e.g. $ "uic#Fsort %.