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" France 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 Box (& 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 Box (& 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 information 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:
(or ext:) Find documents of the
specified type. Form 1098-T IRS filetype:pdf
(Find the US tax form 1098-T in PDF format.)
link: Find linked pages, i.e., show
pages that point to the URL. link:warriorlibrarian.com
(Find pages that link to Warrior Librarian's website.)
Specialized Information Queries
Operators Meaning Type Into Search Box (& Results)
book
(or books) Search full-text of books.
book Ender's Game
(Show book-related information.
Note: No colon needed after book.)
define, what
is, what are Show a definition for a word or phrase.
define monopsony, what is podcast
(Show a definition for the words monopsony and podcast.
Note: No colon after define, what is, or what are.)
define: Provide definitions for words, phrases,
and acronyms from the Web. define:kerning
(Find definitions for kerning from the Web.)
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
(Find Google's current stock price.)
weather Given a location (US zip code or city),
show the weather
weather Seattle WA, weather 81612
(Show the current weather and forecast.
Note: No colon after weather.)
Alternative Query Types
Operators Meaning Type Into Search Box (& Results)
cache:www.irs.gov
cache: Display Google's cached
version of a web page.
(Show Google's cached version of the US Internal Revenue Service home page.)
info:
(or id:) Find info about a page. info:www.theonion.com
(Find information about The Onion website.)
related:
List web pages that are
similar or related to the
URL.
related:www.healthfinder.gov
(Find websites related to the Healthfinder website.)
Restrict Search to Sites where Query Words Appear
Operators Meaning Type Into Search Box (& Results)
allinanchor:
All query words must appear
in anchor text of links to the
page.
allinanchor:useful parenting sites
(Search for 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
(Search for pages on Portland restaurants for which links to the page say
they are "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
(Find pages mentioning Dan Shugar where his company, Powerlight, is
included in the text of the page, i.e., less likely to be from the corporate
website.)
allintitle: All query words must appear
in the title of the page.
allintitle: Google Advanced Operators
(Search for pages with titles containing "Google," "Advanced,", and
"Operators".)
intitle: The terms must appear in the
title of the page.
movies comedy intitle:top ten
(Search for pages with the words movie and comedy that include top
ten in the title of the page.)
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 Box (& 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
(Search for postings about Ivan Doig in the group
rec.arts.books.)
insubject: Find Groups messages containing crazy quilts in
the subject.
insubject:"crazy quilts"
(Find articles containing crazy quilts in the subject
line.)
Restrict Search to Google News
Operators Meaning Type Into Search Box (& 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 www.GoogleGuide.com.
By Nancy Blachman & Jerry Peek who don't work for Google & Tasha Bergson-Michelson.
Thank you Matt Vance for the idea of creating a Google Guide cheat sheet.
This page was last modified on Sunday February 26, 2012
