Internet & Search Engines: Google

FEATURE

EXAMPLE

DESCRIPTION

Maximum number of search words 

four score seven years ago fathers brought forth continent new

10 words maximum allowed*

" "

"computer science"
"to be or not to be"

Put quotes around phrases
(can sometimes thwart stopwords)

Stopwords

Google ignores commonly used words in the search: and in as the on our this (etc.)

Boolean default 

databases library

databases AND library

Default AND

|
OR

myanmar|burma
Myanmar OR burma

Use | for OR

-

 -minutes -records

Use - for NOT

site:

site:indstate.edu

site:loc.gov

site:.edu

Finds word within a site or top level domain; does not search subdirectories

filetype:
ext:

filetype:pdf

filetype:ppt

filetype:doc

Finds specific file type; known to work for pdf, ps, dwf, kml, kmz, xls, ppt, doc, rtf, swf

*

"short letter * * * * long one"

Replace a word with *

~

~help microsoft Office

~guide apa style

Find synonyms with ~

intext:

intext:yahoo.com

Finds the word in the body text; ignores titles, URL, link text

allintext:

allintext:  minutes

Finds the word in the body text; ignores titles, URL, link text*

intitle:

intitle:"Indiana state university"

Finds the word/phrase in the title of the Web page

allintitle:

allintitle: health report

Finds all the words in the title of the Web page*

..

10..99 lb
$50..$100
2014..2019

To search a range, put 2 periods between numbers and add a unit of measure

inanchor:

inanchor:"ISU library"

Finds  word/phrase in the anchor text

allinanchor:

allinanchor: library help

All words are in the anchor text

inurl:

inurl:help

Finds the words in the URL

allinurl:

allinurl: library help

Finds all the words in the URL

cache:

cache:indstate.edu

Searches Google cache for webpage

info:

info:indstate.edu/

Finds indexed version of a URL

define:

define:sedulous

Defines a word using Lexico.com (Oxford University Press & Dictionary.com)