Google Search Operators: Top 5 Tips
Operators can use Google search more efficiently - provided you use it correctly. The five best tips on how to optimize Google search queries can be found here.
The top five operators for Google search
Of course, there are numerous search operators that you can use on Google. The five most useful are the following:
- If you want to search for a specific phrase, enclose it in quotation marks. This is useful, for example, when you are looking for citations.
- With the minus or plus symbol you can exclude certain terms or require them. For example, a search for "Operators + Google" only returns hits that include the word "Google", while "Operators -Google" only shows pages on which "Google" does not appear.
- You can use the asterisk symbol as a gap filler. This is practical, for example, if you do not know exactly what a proverb or a term is called. Example: "Roses are *, violets are *"
- If you only want to find search results from a certain website, use the "site" operator. Use this as follows: "site: chip.de Google search". Only hits on Chip.de are displayed.
- The search operator "OR" is relatively self-explanatory, but the applications are versatile. While the search query "Google Search Operator Help" primarily lists pages with all four search terms, "Operators Google OR Bing" will find hits for search operators with Google as well as with Bing.