Google search operators and SEO

Do you know you can use Google search operators to gather useful information for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Google search operators allows you to pull out specific data from google search engine. In this article you can find most useful google search operators with examples and explanations for SEO.

What are google search operators?

Google search operators also called advanced operators are query words that have special meaning to Google. Google search operators allows advanced functionality of Google’s Advanced Search Form in a regular search box query. Some of google search operators are site: inanchor:, inurl:, intext:, intitle: ...

Discover pages on the site indexed by Google

site: operator

site: operator in your query will restrict your search results to the site you specify.

Example:

• site:interestingwebs.blogspot.com
  

  returns all web pages indexed by Google on interestingwebs.blogspot.com



• site:interestingwebs.blogspot.com tips
  

  return all web pages indexed by Google on interestingwebs.blogspot.com with keyword "tips"

SEO usage: with site: operator you can find which web pages on the selected site are indexed by google. Not indexed web pages does not appear in search result page.

Results by anchor text

allinanchor: operator

allinanchor: operator return results containing query terms specified in the anchor text on links to the page. Anchor text is clickable text part of a hyperlink.

Example:

• allinanchor:interesting webs
  

  returns all web pages which have terms "interesting" and "web" in anchor text. Result Selina's Wing Blog have one anchor text "interesting webs" and it is a reason why it is in resutls

SEO usage: number of returned results with allinanchor: operator is used by some SEO experts. Number of returned results with allinanchor: operator can be compared to number of google searches for chosen search terms. To find number of google searches use Google adwords: Keyword tool. Smaller number of returned results with allinanchor:, less competition for chosen keywords and better chance to succeed (but don't forget to include number of google searches in formula).

Search title only

intitle: operator

intitle: operator returns all web pages which have query term in title

Example:

• intitle:SEO
  

  return all web pages with keyword "SEO" inside tag title



• expert intitle:SEO
  

  return all web pages with "SEO" in title and keyword "expert" anywhere in the document

SEO usage: The title tag is a very important part of SEO. With this operator you can estimate the approximate number of competitors for specific keyword.

Search URL

allinurl: operator

allinurl: operator search tells Google to return web pages that have query terms inside URL. The searched term can be in the domain name or in the filename.

Example:

• allinurl:SEO expert
  

  return web pages containig keywords "SEO" and "expert" inside URL

SEO usage:text inside URL are very influential in SEO, so it is imperative to find more information about competition.

Further information and resources:

List of all google operators
8 Google Advanced Search Operators for SEO