Google is the biggest and best search engine on the block today, but do you really know how to use it to its fullest potential?

Most do not and for the most part simply typing in what you are looking for will get you where you need to be. But here at Nix Web that is not enough. Here are some advanced search operators to really help you dig into the depths of googles search capabilities.

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
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.)
phonebook:		Show all phonebook listings.		phonebook: Disney CA (Search for Disney's phone numbers in California - CA.)
rphonebook:		Show residential phonebook listings.		rphonebook: bill jones NY (Search for the phone number of every Bill Jones in New York State - NY.)
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:		Display Google's cached version of a web page.		cache:www.irs.gov (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 the in 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.)