1 Site: Limit your search to a specific site Do you want to quickly and easily find a specific topic on a website, for example? Then use this operator. For example: site:smartranking.nl “SEO migration” You will now only see the pages that contain the words “SEO migration.” You can also use this to see which pages appear in search results. To do that, simply use “site:smartranking.nl.” This will display all URLs that are visible to Google.
2 Related: Find similar websites This operator helps you quickly find similar websites. For example: related:smartranking.nl You will now only see websites related to the one you entered. Please note: Google has significantly limited this operator. The results aren’t always reliable, but it can still be useful for getting a general idea.
3 Inurl: Find words that appear in the URL Do you want to easily find pages that contain certain search terms? Then use this operator. This is an operator I often use to find specific URLs or URL paths. For example: inurl:job opening This operator is often used in combination with other operators. For example, to find specific pages on a website. It might look something like this: site:smartranking.nl inurl:seo-agency
4 Intitle: Find search terms in the page title With “intitle:”, you can easily find pages that contain a specific search term in the title. For example: intitle:SEO audit
5 Intext: Find specific text Looking for a page that mentions a specific piece of text? With “intext,” you can find it easily—especially when used with the “site:” operator. For example: site:smartranking.nl intext:GEO
6 Inanchor: Find links with specific anchor text Do you want to know where certain links are located on a website, based on the anchor text? You can do that using this operator. For example: site:smartranking.nl inanchor:E-commerce SEO
7 Define: Use the search engine as a dictionary Want to quickly find out what a term means? Then use this operator. For example: define:canonical
8 File Type: Find File Types Do you want to find a specific file type, such as a PDF or a presentation? That’s also possible with Google. This operator is also often used to find documents on a specific website. For example: site:smartraking.nl filetype:pdf SEO audit
9 Before: and after: searching within a time period Do you want to see only recent results, or results from before a certain date? In that case, “before:” and “after:” are indispensable. For example: “Google core update” after:2024-01-01 Or: “Google Panda” before:2013-01-01 This is especially useful if you’re looking for sources from a specific period or want to see how a topic has evolved over time.
10 * as a wildcard for when you don't know a word You can use the asterisk symbol to replace a missing word in your search query. Google will then fill in the * with the most relevant variations. For example: “best SEO * for e-commerce”
11 "Exact phrase": Find exact word combinations Do you know exactly what title or phrase you’re looking for? Enclose your search term in quotation marks. For example: “A high ranking without traffic is usually pointless.” In that case, you’ll only get pages where the exact phrase (or exact word) appears within quotation marks. This is also ideal for finding duplicate content or for checking whether content has been indexed properly.
12 -[search term]: excludes search terms Are you looking for information or web pages, but want to exclude certain results? If so, you can use this operator to exclude specific search terms, words, or phrases. For example: “Organic search” – “SEO”
13 OR: Find results for 2 different search terms Do you want to see results for two search queries at the same time? With “OR,” Google will show you results for both terms. For example: “GEO” OR “SEO”