Google Help Sheet

The following charts illustrate how to use special syntaxes and search features available in Google. Use these strategies to build a better and more specific search! Click here for a printable copy (.doc file).

For more information, go to Google's Advanced Search Made Easy.

Google Search Strategies

Boolean Searching	Default AND to narrow	Example: physician assisted suicide
	OR to combine synonymous terms	Example: bipolar OR manic depressive
	- to eliminate terms	Example: dolphins -football
Nesting	( ) to nest synonymous terms when the search statement also contains the default AND Boolean Operator.	Example: hate crimes (gays OR homosexuals)
Phrase Searching	" "	Example: "physician assisted suicide"
Truncation	Stemming Technology	Automatic
Wildcard	* Use in place of common words in long search statements to work around limit of 10 search terms/syntaxes.	Example: "* * nothing * * * blood toil tears * sweat" Churchill "world war"
Stop words	Use + to force common words if important for the search.	Example: "+to +be +or +not +to +be"
Field Searching	Field Searching is one of the most effective ways to narrow and customize a search in Google. Special syntaxes are used to designate various types of field searches.	See below, Useful Special Syntaxes and Mixing Syntaxes
Synonymous Terms	~ immediately before a key term will search for synonyms.	Example: ~homosexuals

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Google Special Syntaxes

intitle:	This syntax restricts a search to titles of Web sites; it can be effectively combined with other syntaxes to customize a search. An alternative syntax, allintitle: looks for all the words in the title of a Web site; allintitle: does not mix well with other syntaxes.	Example: intitle:"bob marley" "popular music"
inurl:	This syntax restricts a search to the URLs of Web sites. It can be an effective way to find sites from within a domain, directory or path; it can also be effectively combined with other syntaxes to customize a search. See site: below.	Example: intitle:"civil liberties" terrorism inurl:cnn Example: intitle:turkey intitle:carve inurl:help Example: inurl:butterflygardening
site:	This syntax allows you to limit a search to a site or a top level domain. It is similar to inurl: but will not search for a site within a subdirectory (i.e., anything beyond the /). Some advantages to using inurl: over site: are: You can use inurl: by itself without using any other search terms or syntaxes. You can use inurl: to search subdirectories.	Example: intitle:"hate crimes" site:gov Example: intitle:"hate crimes" OR "gay bashing" site:org Example: intitle:"binge drinking" site:edu
intext:	This syntax searches for words in only the text of a Web site. It ignores link text, URLs and titles which makes it a useful syntax for finding search words that are commonly used in URLs or links. It can be effectively combined with other syntaxes to customize a search.	Example: intext:html site:edu Example: intext:google.com inurl:help
inanchor:	This syntax searches for text in a Web site's link anchors (i.e., the text you click on get to a Web site). Since the anchor text for a link is usually descriptive of the page it links to, the inanchor: syntax can be a useful way to limit a search to relevant sites. It can be effectively combined with other syntaxes to customize a search.	Example: inanchor:"Google Help" Example: inanchor:AIDS inanchor:grants site:gov For a fun experiment, try typing your name as a phrase with the inanchor: syntax!
link:	This syntax returns a list of Web sites linking to a specific URL. The link: syntax can not be combined with another syntax.	Example: link:www.linccweb.org
daterange:	This syntax allows you to limit a search to a specific date or range of dates that a site was indexed by Google (this is not the same as the date the site was created.) The only drawback to this syntax is that it works with the Julian Calendar, not the Gregorian Calendar (the one we use). To use daterange: first go to the Julian Date Converter at the U.S. Naval Observatory.	Example: intitle:"george bush" daterange:2452389-2452389 (this would search for April 24, 2002)
filetype:	T his syntax searches for specific filename extensions. Google searches for PowerPoint (.ppt), Excel (.xls), and Word (.doc) documents as well as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), Adobe Postscript (.ps) and Rich Text Format (.rtf).	Example: intitle:"hate crimes" filetype:pdf Example: intitle:google filetype: doc Example: intitle:"date rape" site:edu filetype:ppt
related:	This syntax searches for Web sites related or similar to a specified URL. This is a good way to retrieve categories or types of Web sites.	Example: related:google.com Example: related:www.linccweb.org
info:	This syntax provides a page of links to more information about a specified URL including a link to the page's cache, a list of Web sites that link to the specified URL, a list of Web sites related to the specified URL and Web sites that contain the specified URL.	Example: info:cnn.com

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Sample Search on Date Rape

Google Search Statement	Results (February 2006)	Search Strategies
date rape	24,400,000	Default Boolean AND search.
"date rape"	4,920,000	Phrase search.
intitle:"date rape"	66,600	The phrase must be in the title.
intitle:"date rape" inurl:cnn	11	Site must be from CNN.
intitle:"date rape" site:edu	357	Site must be from an educational institution.
intitle:"date rape" alcohol site:edu	161	The word alcohol is added to the previous search.
intitle:"date rape" inanchor:statistics	892	The word statistics must be an anchor (clickable) in the site.
"date rape" site:edu filetype:ppt	106	Site must be a PowerPoint presentation from an educational institution.

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Sample Search on the Role of Women in Ancient Greece

Google Search Statement	Results (February2006)	Search Strategies
women ancient greece	24,300,000	Default Boolean AND search.
women "ancient greece"	4,710,000	Default Boolean AND and phrase search.
(women OR woman) "ancient greece"	5,170,000	Boolean OR, default Boolean AND and phrase search.
~women "ancient greece"	4,800,000	Synonymous terms for women and phrase search
"role +of women" "ancient greece"	299,000	Two phrases with forced stop word and Boolean AND search.
intitle:women "ancient greece"	60,100	Women must be in the title, Boolean AND and phrase search..
women "ancient greece" inurl:pbs	124	Site must be from PBS.
women "ancient greece" site:edu	204,000	Site must be from an educational institution.
"role +of women" "ancient greece" site:org	703	Site must be from an organization.
women "ancient greece" site:edu filetype:ppt	87	Site must be a PowerPoint presentation from an education institution.

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