![\"User](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/advanced-search-operators-800.jpg\")
\nWhen you search on Google or Bing, do you find exactly what you\u2019re looking for the first time? Probably not.<\/p>\n
\nWhen you search on Google or Bing, do you find exactly what you\u2019re looking for the first time? Probably not.<\/p>\n
Enter advanced search operators. These commands help you extract everything the search engine knows about a specific subject \u2013 and efficiently.<\/p>\n
These tricks of the trade can definitely save you time, especially if you\u2019re doing any kind of competitor analysis or SEO research.<\/p>\n
Soon you\u2019ll be searching like a pro as you learn:<\/p>\n
Search operators<\/strong> are commands that use special characters along with a query to make the search engine results more specific. Essentially, they work like filters that you can customize as needed.<\/p>\n To use a search operator, add the command into the search box and search as you normally would. The results are entirely different from the average search.<\/p>\n SEOs routinely use search operators to filter results from a search engine. These advanced search skills let you easily:<\/p>\n When you get comfortable with a few of these commands, you can find what you\u2019re looking for much faster. Enter search operators in the search bar along with your regular query, but with some modifications.<\/p>\n A search operator typically has:<\/p>\n For example, you can use the cache:<\/strong> prefix in front of the query, or you can use the OR<\/strong> command in between two words in a query.<\/p>\n In many instances \u2013 but not all \u2013 you want to ensure you do not put a space between the search operator character and the query.<\/p>\n So if you were using the site:<\/strong> command you would want it to look like this:<\/p>\n site:bruceclay.com page experience update<\/p>\n And not like this:<\/p>\n site: bruceclay.com page experience update<\/p>\n OK, all this information is helpful … but how about some examples?<\/p>\n Quotation marks (\u201c) help you to match an exact phrase. So searching for \u201cadvanced search tips\u201d as an example (with the quotes) finds only pages that contain those words used as a phrase.<\/p>\n The site: command filters your search results to just one website. In other words: You are searching only one domain for the information you need.<\/p>\n Start with the command, which is site: then add the domain name you want to search and finally the topic you want to search the domain for.<\/p>\n In the example below, site: tells the search engine you want to browse a particular domain\u2013bruceclay.com\u2013and siloing is the topic you are interested in finding.<\/p>\n Your results would look something like the screenshot below. Google found 362 pages about siloing on BruceClay.com:<\/p>\n You can combine search operators to refine results even further. For example, you can combine site search with quotation marks to search for a longer phrase within a particular website.<\/p>\n This search found 157 pages. Without the quotation marks, the query would return way too many results. For instance, the search engine would find pages about \u201cvoice\u201d or \u201csearch\u201d \u2014 so nearly all the pages on our site. Each search engine has its own set of advanced search operators. Here\u2019s the official documentation from the two major search engines for your reference:<\/p>\n Here are seven ways to use the search commands for SEO research:<\/p>\n In the examples below, the search query is in bold.<\/p>\n related:bruceclay.com<\/strong> allintitle:seo blog<\/strong> Similarly, the commands allinurl:<\/strong> and inurl:<\/strong> let you identify competitors that use keywords in URLs. (Note that as of this writing, the intitle: command works in both Google and Bing searches, but allintitle:, allinurl: and inurl: work only in Google.)<\/p>\n cache:https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/seo\/<\/strong> info:competitorsite.com<\/strong> site:yourdomain.com<\/strong> site:yourdomain.com\/blog\/*<\/strong> site:yourdomain.com contains:pdf<\/strong> cats -musical<\/strong> intitle:keyword -site:yourdomain.com<\/strong> john doe (site:linkedin | site:twitter)<\/strong> site:bruceclay.com\/blog -site:bruceclay.com\/seo\/siloing\/ intext: \u201csiloing\u201d<\/strong> This advanced search is useful to find potential linking opportunities within a website. The example above combines the site:<\/strong> command with intext:<\/strong>, the minus sign (-) and exact match quotations (\u201c).<\/p>\n What this particular search would do is find any webpages on the blog that mention siloing so that we could link to the main siloing page on the site. It uses the minus sign to exclude the page we want to link to from other pages. In the table below, you\u2019ll find the search engine operators that we routinely use in SEO research. (This is not an all-inclusive list.)Why Should I Use a Search Operator?<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/a><\/p>\nHow Do I Use Advanced Search Operators?<\/h2>\n
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Example 1: Quotation Marks<\/h3>\n
Example 2: Site Search<\/h3>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/BC-site-search-siloing.png\")
<\/p>\nExample 3: Combining Search Operators<\/h3>\n
![\"Google](\"https:\/\/www.bruceclay.com\/wp-content\/themes\/bruceclay\/assets\/images\/site-search-animation.gif\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\nBing and Google Search Operator Documentation<\/h2>\n
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Search Operators Used in SEO Research<\/h2>\n
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1. Analyze the Competition<\/h3>\n
\nThe related:<\/strong> operator gives you a glimpse of competitor content. You\u2019ll see a small selection of what Google considers to be similar. Then you can analyze their SEO metrics \u2014 including word count, keyword use, meta data and inbound links \u2014 so that you can make your page equal to and then better than the competition.<\/p>\n
\nThis query brings up webpages that have both \u201cSEO\u201d and \u201cblog\u201d in their metadata title. We could use this to find competing blogs to our own. The search operators allintitle:<\/strong> and intitle:<\/strong> let you find pages using your keywords in title tags.<\/p>\n
\nThe cache:<\/strong> command shows you a search engine\u2019s cached version of a page. It\u2019s a way to check how the search engine actually sees your page. Cache shows what page content the search engine considers relevant to retrieve, making this Google search operator a valuable SEO diagnostic tool.<\/p>\n2. Find Information About a Specific Page or Site<\/h3>\n
\nUsing the info:<\/strong> command in Bing gives you results that seem like a collection of these advanced search operators. It\u2019s a one-stop shop to access a variety of onsite and offsite results about a website. Note: Google deprecated the info: operator in 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n3. Discover Indexing Problems<\/h3>\n
\nA site:<\/strong> command shows how many pages the search engine has indexed. Though the total number of results is only an approximation, it is a quick way to find out if you have an indexing problem \u2014 either too few or too many pages in the index.<\/p>\n
\nSpecify a particular subfolder of your site to see how many pages it contains. For instance, adding the wildcard * finds all pages under the \/blog\/.<\/p>\n4. Help with Site Maintenance<\/h3>\n
\nThe contains:<\/strong> Bing search operator gives you a powerful tool to find links within a site that point to a particular type of file. For example, the query above lets you locate every page on your site that has a link to a PDF file.<\/p>\n5. Further Refine Results<\/h3>\n
\nA minus sign (-) before a keyword removes any results with that word. Again, it\u2019s a way to help filter results when a query might be ambiguous. If you\u2019re looking for info about cats the animal, but there\u2019s a showing of Cats the musical in your town, you can search cats -musical to remove results about the theater production.<\/p>\n
\nYou can use the minus sign (-) before a search command, too. The above example finds webpages that have your keyword in the title tag, excluding those on your own site. This reduces the clutter when doing competitor research.<\/p>\n6. Find Social Profiles<\/h3>\n
\nIf you want to get in touch with someone via their social profiles, you can use the site:<\/strong> for social media profiles along with the person\u2019s name (and company name if you have it). This will search any of the social media channels you want to look up for that person. The example above would show LinkedIn and Twitter.<\/p>\n7. Find Potential Internal Links<\/h3>\n
\nIf you\u2019ve followed me for any amount of time, you know that I recommend siloing<\/a> as an SEO strategy. A key part of siloing is internal linking<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\nList of Advanced Search Operators for SEO (Cheat Sheet)<\/h2>\n
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\nOpen this operators cheat sheet as a PDF<\/a> and save or print it for your reference!<\/em>—><\/p>\n