Google Search

Common Search Operators

Dr. Peter J. posted a blog that gave good examples of using different search terms to help you find the information you are looking for. Below are a few that I think work well in an educational context.

Exact Match

Use quotation marks around the words in a phrase so that it looks for the entire phrase.

Example: "bull run".

Exclude a Word or Phrase

If you keep getting information that is irrelevant to your search, consider putting a minus sign in front of one of the words or phrases that keep appearing that are irrelevant.

Example: "President Johnson" -LBJ - lyndon

Either Or

If you are looking for something that might be known as two different words or phrases, include both in your search with an OR between them.

Example: TCEA OR Texas Computer Education Association.

Wildcard

Where you are looking for information that uses a phrase that might be written differently, you can include the asterisk between the words to indicated that it could be written in a variety of ways.

Example: Eagles rock*roll

AROUND

You might narrow your search if you are looking for a relationship between two words or phrases if you use the AROUND search term which helps identify sites that contain these two words or phrases in close proximity.

Example: The numbers in the parentheses indicate within how many words you want the phrase "Bull Run" to the Union General, McDowell or the Confederate General, Beauregard. Bull Run AROUND(3) McDowell Rull Run AROUND(5) Beauregard

Site

You can tell Google to search for your term within specific sites.

Example: "bull run" site:pbs.org

You can search within specific domains as well.

Example: "bull run" site:edu

InTitle

You might want to search for websites or articles that include specific words in the title.

Example: intitle: "top google Calendar

AllinText

It might help you narrow down the number of results if you specify what you want specifically in the text of the article.

Example: allintext: amafit vs apple watch This search seemed to return more results that actually compare the two different types of watches rather than descriptions of one or the other.