man at a laptop performing a search query. Google advanced search commands are useful for targeted search results.Google Advanced Search Commands enable a user to make a search query more precise. As we’ll show below, they can also be useful for SEO work. The list of available options has evolved over time, with Google occasionally dropping a search operator and introducing others. Most recently, Google replaced the sort by date feature in favor of new before: and after: commands. These new search operators may be used alone or together (and with either dashes or slashes). For example:

     digital marketing news before:2019

     digital marketing news after:2019/06/01

     digital marketing news after:2019-05-01 before:2019-05-31

Here’s a reference list of some of our favorite advanced search operators:

Exact Match – to force an exact match result, use quotations. For example: “digital marketing”

Alternates – to search for multiple options, use OR or the pipe symbol. For example: digital OR marketing digital | marketing

Combinations – to include multiple terms (but not necessary as an exact match) use AND. For example: digital AND marketing

Exclude – to search for a particular topic but exclude a certain term, use the minus symbol. For example: digital -marketing

Include – to search for a particular topic but include a certain term, use the plus symbol. For example: digital marketing +agency

Group – to control more complex searches, use parentheses to group terms. For example: (digital OR content) marketing will return results related to digital marketing or content marketing.

Search a Website – use site: to search for a term within a particular website. For example: site:www.periscopeup.com “digital marketing”. This search operator can be especially helpful when you need to search an entire website for a phrase or mention that needs to be amended.

Check Indexation – use the site: without a query to see the number of pages Google has indexed. See the example below, showing 415 results (or indexed pages).  

example of site search query showing number of indexed pages for periscopeup.com.

Search Social Media – use the @ in front of the platform you’d like to search for results. For example: @facebook

Search Hashtags – use the # in front of the term you’d like to search. For example: #digitalmarketing

By Location – use LOC to search for a topic within a certain geographic area. For example: LOC:”chevy chase, md” digital marketing

Does your business show up for relevant queries? We can help you improve visibility and increase traffic and leads. Call 443.475.0787 or contact us today!

By / Published On: May 29th, 2019 / Categories: Blog, Google News And Updates /

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