Advanced Google search operators: How to use them for SEO
Advanced Google search operators: How to use them for SEO
What are Google search operators and how to exploit the
syntax and search symbols in on-site and off-site SEO strategies
The Google Search operators are simply symbols and words that allow you to refine your searches on the web by changing the
query in the search bar.
These operators, therefore, are
useful to anyone who wants to learn "tricks" to refine their research
as much as possible, but they are of particular importance for the
"experts" who deal with SEO
strategies
on and off site.
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In this article we will see which
are the most widespread search
operators and those which, alone or combined with each other, can be
used to start advanced searches useful for the realization of an SEO plan (both
as regards the study of keywords
and research of sites that provide
guest posts , both in terms
of competitor analysis ).
What are the basic Google search operators?
If you thought that search operators
were tools for professionals only, you will soon change your mind. Try to think
of operators as baits that allow you to
find, in the shortest possible time, exactly the information you were looking
for . In an immense container of information such as Google, it is
almost impossible not to find the object of our research, proposed in all its
variants; however, due to the infinite amount of material, sometimes finding
the information you are looking for can become complicated and time-consuming.
Here are some basic operators who come to your aid:
- Quotes
double “... " : by placing quotes around
the word or phrase you're looking for on Google, the SERP will show, among
the results only pages that include exactly that expression.
Example : "room for rent in Milan" - Subtraction
symbol (-):
placed before a term in your search, or a phrase, it allows you to exclude
from the results the pages that contain this term or phrase.
Example : room for rent in milan -zara - Define: is an operator that allows you
to immediately view the definition of the term you are looking for.
Example : define: web marketing - Ext: and filetype: are equivalent and their purpose is to show only
documents in the desired format in the SERP. The most used formats are
.pdf (Adobe Portable Document Format), .pptx (Microsoft Power Point),
.docx (Microsoft Word), .html (Hypertext Markup Language), etc.
Example : web marketing guide ext: pdf or web marketing guide filetype: pdf
Operators for the SEO analysis of a site and for web
marketing
There are other search operators
that allow you to conduct searches even
more specific and restricted to a specific field of investigation,
whether it is a specific page, a domain or a simple keyword.
These advanced search tools are
useful for anyone who conducts SEO and web marketing analysis but, even in this case, knowing that they exist
and knowing their potential is an advantage for anyone. The most common and
used to analyze the status and content
of a page or domain are:
Site:
It allows you to restrict the search
to pages of a single domain, a subdomain or a specific URL. You can also
combine this operator with quotes, so as to search for a limited term or phrase
within the URL / domain / subdomain analyzed. Used on its own, it can help you
spot problems with your domain's indexed pages (for example, you may notice
that your domain's number of indexed pages is much less than it actually
contains).
Example: site:
optimizedgroup.it but also "search operators" site:
optimizedgroup.it
It might be useful to combine this
operator with the subtraction sign, as in the example:
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Payback -site: payback.it
In this way, the SERP will show the
pages that mention your brand and you can find useful sites for link building.
Cache:
It allows you to view the page you
are looking for as it was viewed by the Google spider during the last visit to
the site. In addition to the full version of the site, as it appears to normal
visitors, the text-only version and the display of the source code will also be
visible.
Example: cache:
optimizedgroup.it
Operator *
This operator allows you to complete the query at the point you want,
before or after a word or phrase, or between two or more words. In this way,
Google will suggest the most searched terms combined with those proposed
directly in the search bar. Be careful, however, to insert the asterisk only
after typing the query; for example, type "SEO analysis" and, only
later, type the asterisk before the query to get the following result:
This function can be useful in the search for keywords to identify
the so-called “long tail keywords
", i.e. those keywords of three or more words that allow you to intercept
more specific targets.
In text :
It allows you to find the word (or
words) of your search wherever it is in the body of the page, regardless of the
Meta information. Thus, the pages in which the query terms occur most in the
content will appear in the SERP. In addition to the study of keywords, this
operator is also useful for identifying sites similar to your brand on which to guest post.
Example: in text: SEO consulting
TITLE: and ALLINTITLE:
They are operators that allow you to
obtain results relating to pages who Title presents the query being analyzed.
Specifically, the nullable operator: identifies titles that have one of
the terms typed within them, while allintitle: contains them all.
Example: titolo: seo and sem
à the results containing the keyword seo , the keyword sem , or
both will appear in the SERP ;
Example 2 : allintitle: SEO
and sem à the results containing both keywords in the Title will appear in
the SERP.
inurl: and allinurl :
As you can guess, they present
results that contain one or more words of the query in the URL. Similarly to titolo:
and allintitle: (also functional to the analysis of competitors), in the
first case they show the results that include one or more terms of the query
indistinctly, while in the second case they propose only those that include
them all .
Example:
inurl: SEO and sem or allinurl: SEO and sem
As you have seen, there are many
tools to refine your searches on Google. Which of these operators did you not
know yet? Are there any operators you use frequently that we haven't mentioned?
Let us know in the comments!
