SEO glossary · S

Search Operator

What is a Search Operator?

A search operator is a special command or symbol you type into a search engine to narrow down the results, such as limiting them to one website or requiring an exact phrase.

Useful Google search operators

  • "exact phrase": results containing exactly those words, in that order
  • -word: leaves out results containing that word
  • site:example.com: results from one website only
  • filetype:pdf: only files of that type
  • intitle:word: pages with that word in the title
  • inurl:word: pages with that word in the URL
  • OR: results matching either term, such as SEO OR SEM
  • before:2025-01-01 and after:2025-01-01: results from before or after a date

How SEOs use search operators

  • Get a rough idea of which pages Google has indexed with site:yourdomain.com.
  • Find copies of your content by searching an exact sentence from your page in quotes.
  • Find sites that mention your brand without linking to you.
  • Research competitors’ content on a topic with site: plus a keyword.

Search operators give approximate results. For accurate indexing data, use Google Search Console.

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