Webmaster-Friendly Google Operators

There are a lot of operators (commands you can enter in the Google search box to return specific results) you can plug into Google in order to find what you want. For webmasters and website owners, however, a few particular operators can be especially useful. Operators can be used to locate potential link partners, evaluate current inbound links, and determine what pages of your website still need to be added to the index. Here are the operators we think you should know:

link:

Simply enter this operator followed by your full url (including http://) with no space. Ex: link:http://www.googleadvisor.org

This operator is one of the most popular and widely used. It simply shows you what (and how many) webpages within the index have a link to your url.

Using this operator, you can also plug in the url of your competitor(s) to see what sites link to them. These websites may be a good place to start in your search for link exchanges (or even one-way links).

site:

This operator will restrict all results to webpages within the domain or website you enter. For example, if you enter site:googleadvisor.org you will find all of the webpages of this site that are listed on Google. This a good operator to use if you want to see just how many webpages of your site Google has indexed, and likewise, how many pages are not listed - the ones you may want to submit, or resubmit, to Google.

allintitle:

Here you enter the operator and some keyword that you are interested in. The results will show you websites and webpages that have that keyword(s) in their title. For example, intitle:google will return all sites that have google in their title, including Google Advisor. This may be used to once again find link partners within your subject area, and to evaluate possible competitors.

Similarly, you can also use intitle: if you want to do a similar search, but open your results to those webpages with the keywords in their content as well . For instance, intitle:google advisor would give you all sites with google in the title and advisor somewhere on the webpage.

info:

This operator is not terribly useful, but its interesting to see what you find. Simply place your url in front of the operator like info:www.googleadvisor.org to get a Google page with your website title and desciption. The page will also contain links to your website's cache, related websites (you can also use the related: operator for this), and more. If your website is new to the index, and you are not appearing for any keywords yet, this is an easy way to find your website and confirm that it is indeed listed. Note: some operators like related: will not work for new websites.

To obtain the full list of operators, visit: http://www.google.com/help/operators.html.

We hope these few operators mentioned above will be of the most use to you as a webmaster or website owner.

Bradley James is the Webmaster of GoogleAdvisor.org [http://www.googleadvisor.org], an informational site providing free information to casual searchers and Webmasters about the Google search engine.

---

Search Engine Optimization for Everyone

There are many facets to SEO and the search engines... Read More

Link Building: To Link, or Not to Link, That is the Question

Lately, there have been a lot of heated discussions regarding... Read More

Search Engines The Masters Of The Internet Universe ? Part 2

"This is a continuation of the pervious part, split into... Read More

Get Listed in Google Without Submitting Your Site

With Google delivering so much traffic, it is only normal... Read More

Straight Talk on Search Engine Optimization

To get your website listed well in the major search... Read More

The (Not So) Shocking Truth About Getting A High Search Engine Ranking

I have seen my site hit #3 at Google, and... Read More

Understanding Googles Algorithm

What is the Google Algorithm?An algorithm is a mathematical equation... Read More

Increase Your Page Rank Through SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) must be considered a process and... Read More

Link Exchange Tips, No Tricks

Use text links, avoid image links. Anyhow, if you... Read More

How Do I Improve My Web Site Conversion Rate? Part 3

Question 1How do keywords effect your conversion rate in terms... Read More

What In The World Is This Google Sandbox Theory Thing? And How Do I Beat It?

Ok, so over the past month or so I've been... Read More

Without Conversion Rates You Don’t Know If You’re Mickey Mouse Or Mickey Mantle

I couldn’t agree more with the headline of this article... Read More

MLM and SEO - Bad Business! No Business!

MLM has been around way before the Internet. It is... Read More

Getting To Know Google

Having greatly benefited from my relationship with Google in the... Read More

Your Online Home-Based Business Can Lead To Search Engine Stress

As a member of several search engine optimization forums, I... Read More

A Way for Search Engines to Improve

Wouldn't it be nice if the search engines could comprehend... Read More

Search Engine Indexing - 3 Strategies Guaranteed to Skyrocket Your Success

In order to design a website that performs well with... Read More

Duplicate Content Penalty - How to Lose Google Ranking Fast!

Duplicate content penalty. Ever heard of it? This penalty is... Read More

Is Reciprocal Link Exchange Dead?

The sun seems to be setting on the world of... Read More

See How The New Kicked Up Google Sitemap Can Get You Indexed Faster and Ranked Higher!

Does Creating a Google Site Map and Telling Google About... Read More

7 Essential SEO techniques

1) Title Tag ? When we're talking about SEO Technique,... Read More

Table Structures For Top Search Engine Positioning

So you have a beautiful website that you paid a... Read More

Get More Cosmetic Surgery Patients From The Web

It's no surprise that dominant cosmetic surgery practices also have... Read More

Article Marketing: Fox in the Competitor Hen House or Chicken Little?

I recently was asked by an author to remove a... Read More

Search Engine Optimization that Works in the Long-Term

Search engines are constantly tweaking their ranking algorithms and when... Read More