Find Exactly What You Need on Google with These Advanced Search Tricks

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Utilize all of Google's search options with these easy-to-use tricks

Co-authored by Tyrone Showers and Megaera Lorenz, PhD

Last Updated: November 22, 2024 Fact Checked

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Using the Advanced Search Page

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Adding Search Operators

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Getting Fast Facts

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Video

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Expert Interview

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Q&A

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Tips

Are you having trouble finding the results you need from Google? As the most popular search engine, Google provides countless results with just a simple keyword. This can be a bit daunting to browse if you have a specific result in mind. In this article, which features advice from Technologist Tyrone Showers, we’ll show you how to use Google’s Advanced Search menu or special search operators to find exactly what you’re looking for, as well as a few tricks to get simple answers to basic queries without having to dig through pages of results.

Quick Steps

Go to the www.google.com/advanced_search in a web browser.
Fill in at least one field to make your search. Use the fields to include or exclude words, phrases, and/or numbers.
Narrow your search by inputting a language, region, website/domain, and more. Click "Advanced Search" to view results.

Section 1 of 3:

Using the Advanced Search Page

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1
Go to https://www.google.com/advanced_search in a web browser. You can use Google Chrome or another browser. You'll be taken to the Advanced Search page, where you can narrow down your results by filling in the fields.^{[1]
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Research source}
- You don't have to fill out every single field, but you must fill out at least one. Your results will be narrower with more information.
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Fill in the fields underneath "Find pages with…". This is the first header on the page. Fill in at least one of these fields. Otherwise, you'll be redirected to a blank Google Search page.
- all these words: Searches will contain all words in this field. This is the filter used in normal Google searches with the Google homepage.
- this exact word or phrase: Searches will contain the word or phrase without anything in between.
- any of these words: Searches will contain any of the words provided, with and without anything in between.
- none of these words: Searches will exclude this word. According to technology expert Tyrone Showers, excluding unwanted words is one of the easiest ways to narrow down your search results and get the answers you really want.
- numbers ranging from/to: Searches will include these numbers or number range.
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Fill in the fields underneath "Then narrow your results by…". This is optional, though it provides more refined search results. Select the drop-down menu to view the options.
- language: Searches will contain this language.
- region: Searches will contain this location/region.
- last update: Searches will contain results in this time frame.
- site or domain: Enter a website to search within that website.
- terms appearing: Select a location for your terms to appear (such as in the page text, the title, or the URL).
- file type: Select a format, if searching for a file.
- usage rights: Select the terms of use for files or photos in the search results.
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Click Advanced Search to view your results. This is the blue button at the bottom of the screen.
- If you want to reenter the information in the fields, you can click the back arrow on your browser. Edit the fields and click Advanced Search again to view the results.
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Change your SafeSearch settings to control whether you see explicit results. This setting is now separate from the rest of Google’s Advanced Search settings. The process for changing your SafeSearch settings depends on whether you’re using a browser or the Google app.
- In a browser, visit https://www.google.com/safesearch and select one of the options. Filter filters out explicit results. Blur allows Google to retrieve explicit results, but blurs explicit images. Off displays all relevant results, including explicit ones.
- In the mobile app, tap your profile picture at the top right. Go to Settings > Safe Search and select your preferred setting.

Section 2 of 3:

Adding Search Operators

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Use basic operators as an alternative to the Advanced Search menu. If you’d rather not fill out the fields on the Advanced Search page, you can also use search operators on the Google homepage.^{[2]
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Research source} These are simple text tags that you add directly to your search terms. Depending on the tag, you can limit searches to exclude or contain words, exclude or contain websites, or even filter the date posted. Here are the basic search operators:
- Exact word or phrase: Put quotes around the word or phrase. For example: "how to do an advanced google search"
- Any of these words: Put OR between the keywords. You can get the same result with a | between your search terms. For example: Sheen OR Tennant
- None of these words: Exclude words by putting a - before them. For example: garden -roses
- Numbers ranging from: Search for results containing a specific range of numbers by putting two periods (..) between them. You can also add units of measurement. For example: $25..$150
EXPERT TIP

Tyrone Showers
Technologist
Tyrone Showers is a Technologist and the Co-owner of Taliferro Group, an IT consulting company based in Seattle, Washington. With over 35 years of professional experience, he specializes in API Design, e-Commerce, Operational Efficiency, and website development. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from DeVry Institute of Technology.

Tyrone Showers
Technologist

Refined search techniques yield targeted Google results. Here's a little Google search trick that can really help drill down to find what you want — use a minus sign (-) in front of words you want to leave out. So if you search for "pancakes -chocolate" you'll filter out results with chocolate. It's an easy way to cut through clutter and zoom in on more relevant stuff. Works like a charm!
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Try these additional operators for an even more advanced search. Want to delve even deeper into Google’s advanced search capabilities? There are several other operators you can try, some of which go beyond the features on the Advanced Search page.
- *: An asterisk inserted into a search phrase acts like a wildcard. This allows you to search for variants of an exact phrase. For example: I * French fries could return results with “I eat French fries,” “I like French fries,” and so on.
- The in and allin operators let you search for text in a particular part of a website. For instance:
  - intitle: or allintitle: Look for the phrase in the title of a website. (E.g., allintitle:blueberry cobbler recipe)
  - inurl: or allinurl: will return websites with the word or phrase in the URL.
  - intext: and allintext: will return websites with the word or phrase in the body of the website.
- filetype: and ext: allow you to search by a particular file type. For example, ancient Egypt filetype:pdf would give you PDF files with content about ancient Egypt.
- site: lets you search within a specific website. For example, brush your teeth site:wikihow.com.
- The src: and imagesize: operators are specific to Google Images.
  - src: allows you to find websites that link to a specific image URL in their HTML code. For instance, src:https://www.iana.org/help/example-domains
  - imagesize: lets you search for an image with specific dimensions. For example, gruyere cheese imagesize:600x800

Section 3 of 3:

Getting Fast Facts

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Type in a simple phrase or question to get a quick answer. Sometimes you just need a simple answer to a question instead of an entire article or website. Google has an increasing number of features to address this kind of query. You just need to enter the right combination of words or symbols into the search bar to bring up the answer. Here are just a few examples:
- Type in a math problem to get a quick calculation. For example, 75/5 will bring up the answer “15” in Google’s built-in calculator.
- Enter a conversion formula to convert between two units of measurement, e.g. 36 m to ft. This will bring up Google’s conversion tool. You can use the dropdown menus to switch between different units and types of conversion.
  - This also works for currencies. For example, try 100 gpb to usd.
- Search for the weather in a particular city. Just type in something like current weather Chicago IL. A detailed weather report will show up at the top of the search page.
- Look up the time in another time zone. For instance, type in time in Tokyo.
  - You can also convert times between different time zones with a search like 2pm cst to pst.
- Check the dates of holidays by typing in the name of the holiday and the year. For instance, Easter 2024.
- Take a look at the latest stock updates. Type in any stock symbol or the name of the company plus “stock” to get a graphic display of the current market trends. For example, NVDA stock will show the market summary for NVIDIA Corp.
- Compare flight or hotel costs. Use a search like flight cost Chicago to London to see a quick roundup of available flights and prices.
- Check travel distances. You don’t have to go to Google Maps to do this. Simply search for the distance between two points (e.g., distance from St. Charles IL to Polo IL to see a route map with the distance and estimated travel time.
- Look up translations and definitions. Type in something like meaning of mycorrhiza to display a dictionary definition, or enter grandma in Yiddish to bring up a quick translation.
- Reveal your IP address. To find your public IP address, all you have to do is type what’s my IP address into the Google search bar. You may have to scroll down a little, but it will pop up in a box with the title What’s my IP.
- Set a timer or stopwatch. Simply type something like set a timer for 5 minutes into the search bar. The timer will start immediately, but you can pause or reset it. You can also switch to a stopwatch!
- Get customer service contact info. For many companies, Google will display a customer support number at the top of the results page if you enter the right search terms. For instance, contact Apple support.

Community Q&A

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Question

When I open Google Advanced Search in Opera, it opens in Russian. Why?

Community Answer

It could be your Google settings. Try changing your language settings to English.

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Can an IP address be used to hack a system?

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An IP address can not be directly used to hack a system but can be used to identify your target and run hacking tools. For example, to connect to a target system, you will want to use the IP to connect to the system. If you want to use NMAP to scan the target, you will need the IP address.

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Tips

Google often retires search operators that don’t work reliably, so you might find that certain operators don’t work when you try them. Check websites like this one to see a list of current and retired operators (but keep in mind that even this extensive list might not be totally up to date).

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Use the category tabs at the top of the search page (Images, Shopping, Forums, etc.) to narrow your results by type.

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