Google Guide
Basic Examples
| This Search | Finds Pages Containing |
|---|---|
| biking Italy | The words biking and Italy. |
| recycle steel OR iron | Information on recycling steel or recycling iron. |
| “I have a dream” | The exact phrase I have a dream. |
| salsa –dance | The word salsa but NOT the word dance. |
| Louis “I” Franc | Information about Louis the First (I), weeding out other kings of France. |
| castle ~glossary | Glossaries about castles, as well as dictonaries, lists of terms, terminology, etc. |
| fortune-telling | All forms of the term, whether spelled as a single word, a phrase, or hyphenated. |
| define:imbroglio | Definitions of the word imbroglio from the Web. |
Calculator
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search (& Results) |
|---|---|---|
| + – * / | basic arithmetic | 12 + 34 - 56 * 7 / 8 |
| % of | percentage of | 45% of 39 |
| ^ or ** | raise to a power | 2^5 or 2**5 |
| old units in new units | convert units | 300 Euros in USD, 130 lbs in kg, or 31 in hex. |
Restrict Search
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| city1 city2 | Book flights. | sfo bos | Book flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Boston (BOS). |
| site: | Search only one website or domain. | Halloween site:www.census.gov | Search for info on Halloween gathered by the US Census Bureau. |
| [#]..[#] | Search within a range of numbers. | Dave Barry pirate 2002..2006 | Search for Dave Barry articles mentioning pirates written in these years. |
| filetype: | Find documents of a filetype. | Form 1098-T IRS filetype:pdf | Find the US tax form 1098-T in PDF format. |
| ext: | Find documents of a filetype. | Form 1098-T IRS ext:pdf | Find the US tax form 1098-T in PDF format. |
| link: | Find linked pages, show pages that point to URL. | link:warriorlibrarian.com | Find pages that link to Warrior Librarian’s website. |
Specialized Information Queries
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| book (or books) | Search full-text of books. | book Ender’s Game | Show book-related information. No colon needed after book. |
| define, what is, what are | Show a definition for a word or phrase. | define monopsony, what is podcast | Definition for monopsony and podcast. No colon after them. |
| define: | Provide definitions for words, phrases, and acronyms. | define:kerning | Find definitions for kerning. |
| movie: | Find reviews and showtimes. | movie: traffic | Search for information about this movie, including reviews, showtimes, etc. |
| stocks: | Given ticker symbols, show stock information. | stocks: goog | ind Google’s current stock price. |
| weather | Given a location (US zip code or city) | weather Seattle WA, weather 81612 | Show the current weather and forecast. No colon after weather. |
Alternative Query Types
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| cache: | Display Google’s cached version of a web page. | cache:www.irs.gov | Show cached version of the US IRS home page. |
| info: | Find info about a page. | info:www.theonion.com | Find information about The Onion website. |
| id: | Find info about a page. | id:www.theonion.com | Find information about The Onion website. |
| related: | List web pages that are similar or related. | related:www.healthfinder.gov | Websites related to the Healthfinder website. |
Search for Sites where Query Words Appear
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| allinanchor: | All query words must appear in anchor text of links to the page. | allinanchor:useful parenting sites | Pages that are called useful parenting sites by others. |
| inanchor: | Terms must appear in anchor text of links to the page. | restaurants Portland inanchor:kid-friendly | Portland restaurants where links to the page say “kid friendly.” |
| allintext: | All query words must appear in the text of the page. | allintext:ingredients cilantro chicken lime | Search for recipes with these three ingredients. |
| intext: | The terms must appear in the text of the page. | Dan Shugar intext:Powerlight | Pages mentioning Dan Shugar and his company Powerlight is included in the text. |
| allintitle: | All query words must appear the text of the page. | allintitle: Google Advanced Operators | Pages with titles containing “Google,” “Advanced,”, and “Operators”. |
| intitle: | The terms must appear in the title of the page. | movies comedy intitle:top ten | Pages with the words movie and comedy that includes top ten in the title. |
| allinurl: | All query words must appear in the URL. | allinurl:pez faq | Search for pages containing the words pez & faq in the URL. |
| inurl: | The terms must appear in the URL of the page. | pharmaceutical inurl:investor | Search for pages in which the URL contains the word investor. |
Restrict Search to Google Groups
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| author: | Find Groups messages from the specified author. | flying author:Hamish author:Reid | Search for Hamish Reid’s articles on flying. |
| group: | Find Groups messages from the specified newsgroup. | ivan doig group:rec.arts.books | Postings about Ivan Doig in the group ec.arts.books. |
| insubject: | Find Groups messages containing crazy quilts in the subject. | nsubject:“crazy quilts” | Articles containing crazy quilts in the subject line. |
Restrict Search to Google News
| Operators | Meaning | Type Into Search | Results |
|---|---|---|---|
| location: | Find News articles from sources located in the specified location. | queen location:uk | Find British news articles on the Queen. |
| source: | Find News articles from specified sources. | peace source:ha_aretz | Show articles on peace from the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. |
About This Cheat Sheet: For more tips, tricks, & examples, visit GoogleGuide.com. By Nancy Blachman & Jerry Peek who don’t work for Google & Tasha Bergson-Michelson.