Advanced Search Tips for Effective Web Search

More andvanced search functionalities can save you lots of time and effort in making Internet searches, as well as giving you rich experience and joy.

Function	Operator	Example
Domain search	site:	[admission site:stanford.edu] - This will search admission information on the Stanford University.
Numrange search	.. (two dots) separating the desired numerical range	[DVD player $50..$100] - This will search DVD players that cost in the range of $50 to $100.
Fill in the blanks '*' search	* (asterisk)	[the parachute was invented by *] - This will search who invented the parachute.
Cached pages search	cache:	[cache:www.google.com web] will show the cached content with the word "web" highlighted.
Link back search	link:	[link:www.google.com] will list webpages that have links pointing to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the "link:" and the web page url.
Related or similar pages	related:	[related:www.google.com] will list web pages that are similar to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the "related:" and the web page url.
Page information search	info:	[info:www.google.com] will show information about the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the "info:" and the web page url.
Word definition search	define:	The query [define:] will provide a definition of the words you enter after it, gathered from various online sources. The definition will be for the entire phrase entered (i.e., it will include all the words in the exact order you typed them).
Stock information search	stocks:	[stocks: intc yhoo] will show information about Intel and Yahoo. (Note you must type the ticker symbols, not the company name.)
Document title search (multiple words)	allintitle:	[allintitle: google search] will return only documents that have both "google" and "search" in the title.
Document title search (single word)	intitle:	If you include [intitle:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the title. For instance, [intitle:google search] will return documents that mention the word "google" in their title, and mention the word "search" anywhere in the document (title or no). Note there can be no space between the "intitle:" and the following word. Putting [intitle:] in front of every word in your query is equivalent to putting [allintitle:] at the front of your query: [intitle:google intitle:search] is the same as [allintitle: google search].
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or Web address search (multiple words)	allinurl:	If you start a query with [allinurl:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the url. For instance, [allinurl: google search] will return only documents that have both "google" and "search" in the url. Note that [allinurl:] works on words, not url components. In particular, it ignores punctuation. Thus, [allinurl: foo/bar] will restrict the results to page with the words "foo" and "bar" in the url, but won't require that they be separated by a slash within that url, that they be adjacent, or that they be in that particular word order. There is currently no way to enforce these constraints
URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or Web address search (single word)	inurl:	If you include [inurl:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the url. For instance, [inurl:google search] will return documents that mention the word "google" in their url, and mention the word "search" anywhere in the document (url or no). Note there can be no space between the "inurl:" and the following word. Putting "inurl:" in front of every word in your query is equivalent to putting "allinurl:" at the front of your query: [inurl:google inurl:search] is the same as [allinurl: google search].