You do a lot of searching on Google every day and Google shows you what you are looking for as well as unnecessary search results. But what if I tell you that you can remove unnecessary search results in google. Today in this article, you will learn how to refine Google search results and use Google properly.
Google's Search Operators :
Google search operators are special characters and commands (sometimes called “advanced operators”) that extend the capabilities of regular text searches. Search operators can be useful for everything from content research to technical SEO audits. (moz.com)
You can enhance your searches using special keywords, symbols or operators in google. Today, you will learn what an operator can do in google search. So let's begin.
Quotes ( " " ) - Force Exact Match :
Use quotes to force an exact-match search. You can force google to show exact matching results using quotes in your search term but the search term will be matched in the meta description of the search results.
Example: "what is javascript"
AND Operator - Search Related Both Terms :
AND operator will return only results related to both terms. AND operator workers like and, and helps the browser to understand that you want only results relates to this and this.
Example: html AND css
OR Operator - Search for One of the Search Term :
You can use the OR operator to get the results related to one of the search terms. Use OR operator to show results from any two queries.
Example: (javascript OR python) free course
( - ) Minus Operator - Exclude Term or Phrase :
- operator will exclude results that contain a term or phrase. Minus ( - ) operator will exclude results that contain a term or phrase. Useful when blocking offensive words.
Example: javascript -css
( * ) Wildcard Operator - Replace By Any Word or Phrase :
You can use the ( * ) wildcards as placeholders, which will be replaced by any word or phrase.
Example: "how to start * in 6 months"
site: Operator - Search In Specific Website :
site: operator in google search helps you to search in specific website.
Example: site:freecodecamp.org
filetype: Operator - Search For Specific File Type :
You can also use a very useful feature that helps to find a specific file type. You can search for a specific filetype in google using the filetype operator.
Example: filetype:pdf learn css
Range Operator - Search Betweeb Specific Range :
Range Operator helps you to search for a range of numbers.
Example: ecmascript 2016..2018
before Operator - Search Before Specific Date :
Use the "before" operator to return only results before a given date. You must provide year-month-day dates or only a year.
Example: javascript before:2020
after Operator - Search After Specific Date :
Use the "after" operator to return only results after a given date. You must provide year-month-day dates or only a year.
Example: web development after:2020
imagesize Operator - Search for an exact image size :
Right after the word you're looking for, add the text imagesize:widthxheight. Make sure to add the dimensions in pixels.
Example: galaxy imagesize:500x400
@ Operator - Search in Social Media :
Put @ in front of a word to search social media.
Example: Muhammad Muzammil @facebook
$ Operator - Seach for Price Range :
Put $ in front of a number or price to search for a specific item at a specified price.
Example: camera $400
# Operator - Search for HashTag :
Put hash ( # ) before a search term to search for a specific hashtag.
Example: #coronavirus
related Operator - Search for Related Sites :
Put "related:" in front of a web address you already know.
Example: related:youtube.com
Bonus Hack!
You can view the cached version of any website on google. Put "cache:" in front of the site address. Use this operator to see Google’s cached version of a site.
Final Words:
In the last, I want to say that you can use these search operator in google to optimize your search results and save you time.