Google is the most popular search engine in the world, handling over 3.5 billion searches per day. With so many people relying on Google to find information, there are some useful search hacks and operators you can use to get more out of Google and find what you’re looking for faster. In this blog post, I’ll share some of the top Google search hacks and tricks that everyone should know. From advanced operators to search filters, these hacks will help you take your Google search game to the next level.
Read our informational guide on How to Identify and Fix Keyword Cannibalization Issues.
Top Google Search Hacks You Should Know
1. Exact Match Search
One of the most useful Google search hacks is to enclose your search query in quotes. For example, searching for “learning search engine optimization” will return results that contain that exact phrase instead of pages that might have those words scattered throughout. This is great when you want to find a specific phrase, title, or sentence on the web.
2. Site Search Filter
The site operator allows you to restrict search results to a specific website or domain. Simply type the search term followed by the site: and the website URL. For example, [SEO tips site:moz.com] will only show results from the Moz website that match the search term “SEO tips.” This makes it easy to quickly search site content without having to go directly to the site.
3. Exclude Words from Search
If there is a word you want to avoid showing up in the search results, use the minus sign (-). For example, [apple pie -recipe] would exclude results about recipes and just show web pages talking about apple pie in other contexts. This helps filter out unwanted content.
4. Search Within a Range of Numbers
Searching with numeric range operators lets you find stats and figures within a certain range. The search [population of London between 8 million and 10 million] would show results stating London’s population is an estimated 8.9 million, falling within that range.
5. Advanced Search Filters
Under the settings menu in Google is an option for Advanced Search that gives you more specific filters. You can narrow results by language, file type, usage rights, date, and more. If you were researching PDF reports on agriculture from .edu domains in the past year, those advanced search filters would help limit results to that specific criteria.
6. Find Comprehensive Data
Typing define: followed by a term will provide a detailed definition from Google’s Knowledge Graph database. This works for definitions of concepts, people, places, technical terminology, and more. For a broader understanding of topics, try the related: or intitle: “index of” command.
7. View Google Cached Pages
Sometimes websites go down temporarily. You can still view a cached snapshot of the page through Google. Simply search for the page and click the green arrow by the title that says “Cached.” This will open the latest backed-up version from Google’s systems, instead of fetching the live website.
8. Unknown Operator Commands
There are dozens of advanced operators few people know about it. Here are some examples:
- Filetype: pdf finds only PDF documents
- Intitle: Searches for text in title tags
- allintitle: returns results where query words are all in the title
- * wildcard symbol can replace unknown words
- ~ symbol allows searching for synonyms and related terms
- .. between numbers gives number range
- link: lists web pages linking to a URL
- cache: shows cached version instead of live website
As you can see there are all kinds of tricks to try that make searching more efficient depending on what you are looking for.
9. Google News Timeline Search
Want to find coverage of a news event over time? Use Google News to search historical archives with custom date ranges. The search “Olympics 2020 before:2021-01-01 after:2020-01-01” would filter Olympics news coverage to 2020 specifically. This works great to analyze news cycles and progressions of long-running stories.
10. Weather Search
Don’t open a weather app just to check the forecast. Type “weather” and your city or zip code directly into Google search. It will display the current conditions, a 5-day forecast, maps showing precipitation heat maps, wind speed, humidity levels, and more.
11. Track Flight Prices
Simply search for “flights from [city] to [destination]” and Google will automatically populate a flight module interface for tracking prices and booking travel directly on google.com. This works for hotels and rental cars as well. No need to go elsewhere to research prices and check dates.
12. Google as a Calculator
Need to run some math equations? Google can handle everything from basic arithmetic to complex algebra, geometry, unit conversions, time zone calculations, and more. Simply type what you want to calculate directly into the search bar and Google will provide the solution along with the search results.
13. Search Tools Window
Most people don’t realize nearly every search operator and command can also be accessed visually from Google’s Search Tools interface. Click the gear icon at the top of search results to pop open a toolbox granting easy access to all major search filters without needing to memorize commands and syntax.
These are just a few of the many search hacks available for getting more out of Google. Whether trying to narrow results by file types, exclude words, search news archives, or use Google tools for weather, flights, and math, the search engine has come a long way from simple query lookups. Master these insider tips and tricks to search like an expert.
Conclusion
Google is much more versatile than people realize at first glance. What many consider a basic search box is an incredibly powerful search engine capable of specialized results tailored to your specific needs. These hacks, from targeting exact phrases and number ranges to displaying visual tool interfaces, allow practically anyone to search like a pro. Next time you need to find information online, keep some of these Google search operator commands, filters, and features in mind to get exactly what you want out of the search engine quickly. Hire MacroHype today to boost your Google search ranking game!