Have you started using Google advanced search yet? Or you don’t even know what it means?

There is more to using Google Search than the conventional method. It is not a secret. You just might not have learned about it yet.

Many people are accustomed to checking multiple pages on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP) before finding the perfect match for their search term.

However, do you know if it is possible to get a specific result from your searches?

For example, searching for ”cats” and seeing only cats-based results and not related animals.

Yes, you can achieve that easily using Google Advanced Search.

What Is Google Advanced Search?

Google Advanced Search is a way of customizing your Google Search by using a set of instructions known as Commands and Operators.

These instructions help you filter your search and make it more specific.

With Google Advanced Search, you don’t have to scout the entire Internet before finding a perfect match for your search term.

There are commands that tell Google what to do with your search query.

There are over 20 of them, and they cannot be easily guessed.

However, they are usually short and easy to remember, especially when you regularly use them.

Webmasters use the Google Advanced Search to source for guest post sites and find:

• ‘Keyword in title’ posts
• duplicate content
• interlink opportunities, and more.

Today we will be sharing some of the Google Advanced Search tips to help you use Google search more efficiently.

Google Advanced Search Tips – Search Operators & How to Use them

We will be describing some search operators and how to use them effectively below. So, let’s dive in.

Exact Search

This is one of the most basic search operators. You can use them to find pages that contain your exact search phrase. It is easy to use and remember.

For instance, finding a full page using its excerpt. You can also use it to find duplicate text online.

Put double quotation marks around your search term before hitting the search button. Something like the search term below:

“Top SEO companies”

This search term will bring pages with the exact phrase. Ensure that you include the quotation marks.

Exclusion Search

This operator helps you exclude a term from your search result.

It’s like telling your kids that “you are allowed to eat all the fruits in the fridge except apples.”

You can use this operator when your search term has more than one meaning, then exclude a phrase to get a more specific result.

Type your ‘’main search term + space + dash + excluded word (no space).  It is similar to the search term below:

eCommerce stores -Shopify

This search term tells Google to bring a list of an E-commerce store that excludes Shopify.

OR Search

This operator works like the Exact Search, but there is a difference in the number of search terms.

The Exact Search narrows the result to a single search term, while the OR Search allows you to combine multiple search terms.

This operator comes in handy when you find it challenging to know the correct search phrase. You just combine your guesses and search.

Separate your search terms with ‘OR,’ but ensure they are in capital letters. See a sample below:

SEO OR social media

This sample search term will bring SEO and Social Media results only.

Filetype Search

Files come in various formats. They may be .mp3, .mp4, .jpg, .png, .docx, .pdf, to name just a few. This search operator helps filter file formats on Google.

For instance, when searching for images online, you can use this operator to get them in your preferred format. You can also use it to find a PowerPoint presentation of a phrase’s topic.

Add filetype:’format’ at the end of your search phrase. See an example below:

How to Cook filetype:ppt

The above search term will bring a PowerPoint presentation on ‘how to cook’ because the operator requested PPT files.

Site Search

This is the operator many webmasters use to confirm if their website or webpage is indexed on Google.

It also helps you search inside a specific website instead of searching the web.

With the operator, I can search ‘SEO’ articles on the Search Engine Journal website only.

Type site:website URL + search term. For clarity, see the sample below:

site:searchenginejournal.com search engine optimization

The above search term will extract all the indexed posts by Search Engine Journal talking about ‘search engine optimization.

All in Title, All in URL, & All in Text

These three search operators work in the same way. They help you track down the exact match for your search term on the web.

All in Title finds the search term in the Title, All in URL finds it in the URL, and All in Text finds it in the Text.

Some webmasters use All in Title to see if a keyword is dominated by their competitors.

Type allintitle:”keyword” for All in Title. You can then replace allintitle with allintext and allinurl for All in Text and All in URL, respectively. See an example below:

allintitle: car battery

The search term will come up with posts with ‘car battery‘ in their title.

Related Search

This operator helps you find related websites to any website of your choice. It is also a help operator used to scoop out the competition.

Type related:website. See the sample below:

related:semrush.com

The search term above will show websites related to amazon.

Conclusion

Using Google advanced search enables you to cut through all the clutter and more easily find what you are searching for on the web.