Over the past decade, Google has grown from a minor player in the web’s search and advertising industry into one of the world’s biggest internet-based companies. It’s certainly progress that’s been pushed on by development; the search engine has been through thousands of tweaks, minor edits, and development changes over the years.
Most recently, the search giant’s advanced search options were overhauled, giving users a greater degree of control over their search queries. Unused options were hidden or removed completely, while the search engine’s most popular advanced options were given more prominent placements.
We’ve prepared this guide to help you understand and implement Google’s advanced search features more effectively. Getting the most from Google search isn’t impossible or even particularly difficult, though it does require an understanding of the theory behind a search engine. With these advanced commands and specific search options, you’ll be able to do just that.
1 – How does Google sort data?
2 – Phrases, wildcards, and exclusive search terms
3 – Searching by website
4 – Searching by title
5 – Searching by country, region, or city
6 – Google Blog Search
7 – Google Image Search
8 – Search resources
How does Google sort data?
Before Google, search was performed entirely through on-page data. The leading search engines of the 1990s – Ask, AOL Search, and MSN Search – indexed and arranged their search results by the amount of keywords present on a page alone. This lead to an endless competition between website owners to squeeze more search terms into less space, giving users a poor experience and searchers cluttered, irrelevant, and frustrating results.
Google’s algorithm offered an alternative for webmasters – a search system based on site authority and popularity, rather than a results page loaded with keywords. Pages were arranged and ordered by the amount of links pointing towards them, their standing within the online community, and the level and detail of information they offered to users.
Google patented their PageRank technology in the late 1990s, and it’s since become the de-facto sorting algorithm for managing and organizing search results. Generally speaking, whenever users search for a competitive and popular term using Google – “office furniture” for instance – the most visible and prominently displayed results will be those with a high PageRank score.
However, PageRank isn’t the only factor which determines Google’s search results. Advertising and keyword-based articles often feature prominently for search terms despite belonging to smaller, less popular websites. It’s safe to say that there’s no one determining factor behind your search results, but a mix of website popularity, the level of detail and value provided, and the level of advertising displayed for specific search terms.
Phrases, wildcards, and exclusive search terms:
In order to receive relevant search results, you need to make sure that the terms you search for are specific and phrased properly. Despite over a decade of optimization, Google’s search algorithm is still far behind the human brain when it comes to interpreting data. Search terms phrased for human conversation are unlikely to be understood, leaving you with poor results and useless data.
For example, search queries that would be obvious in human conversation are often completely nonsensical to a search engine. A search for [Where can I eat Chinese food in London?] is clear and simple to a human, yet difficult for Google’s search algorithm to understand and sort into results.
Phrase your search queries according to the way Google interprets data and you’ll end up with more relevant and valuable results. [Where can I eat Chinese food in London?] is unlikely to appear on a website, and equally unlikely to feature prominently in search results. On the other hand, [London Chinese Restaurants] is likely to bring up specific results about London’s Chinese dining scene.
Phrase searches
For the most part, Google is quite effective at arranging multi-word search queries into the most relevant and useful search terms. A search for [Malcolm] brings up millions of largely unrelated results, whereas a search for [Malcolm X] yields websites related to the American Muslim minister.
However, multi-word search terms can sometimes become ambiguous and difficult for Google’s search algorithm to interpret. A search for [Plastic Tables] brings up mostly relevant results, though it includes a few mixed websites; some listed websites feature plastic products and tables, with the combination of words triggering their placement in the search results.
By searching for [“Plastic Tables”] you’ll find that Google generates a more specific and tailored set of search results. Phrase searches can help you find more specialized and relevant data, though they can occasionally exclude worthwhile pages which don’t contain your specific search terms.
Wildcard search and exclusive search terms
Google’s wildcard search feature can help you find specific results without including specialized words or phrases in your search results. For example, a search for [David Bowie Album] brings up results pertaining to David Bowie’s first self-titled album.
However, a search for [David Bowie Album *] gives Google a greater degree of flexibility and ambiguity in determining your results. Instead of results about David Bowie’s first album, you’ll find a list of album reviews, album artwork collections, and album lyrics websites.
Exclusive search terms work similarly. By using the “+” and “–” characters in your searches, you can control Google’s ability to include or exclude specific words from your search results. For example, a search for [Japanese Food -Recipes] will bring up websites related to Japanese food without including recipes.
A search for [Japanese Food] on its own will also yield pages with “Japanese cuisine” and “Japanese cooking” in their content. You can eliminate Google’s use of synonyms and related search terms by using the “+” character in your search. Search for [Japanese +Food] and pages containing synonyms for “food” will be excluded from your results.
Searching by website:
While most web surfers think of Google as a tool for searching the entire internet, it can also be a highly effective tool for searching through individual websites and large directories. The “site:” command allows users to give Google specific instructions for where to search for information, limiting the search engine to a single domain or subdomain. 
For example, a search for [Tom Clancy] will bring up general results about the American thriller author. A Wikipedia biography is included, alongside links to fan-made websites and the author’s official website and bibliography.
While this is useful for research, it’s not particularly useful if your goal is to purchase one of Tom Clancy’s books. A search for [site:Amazon.com Tom Clancy] excludes results from all websites except for Amazon.com, giving searchers the ability to view Clancy’s novels and entertainment products on a website which also provides the ability to buy them directly.
Searching by title:
By using the “allintitle:” command, users can instruct Google to search only for pages which contain preferred keywords within their title or page header. This advanced search option is particularly useful for limiting search results to those dealing with a specific subject in great detail, while at the same time excluding general sources.
For example, a search for [Dwight Eisenhower Military Career] brings up a mix of general and specific information on the late American President’s military career and general life. A Wikipedia biography is included within the first two results, along with a series of informational pages which contain a brief section on Eisenhower’s military career.
By contrast, a search for [allintitle:Dwight Eisenhower Military Career] will only bring up pages related to his military career. Eisenhower’s Wikipedia biography is excluded, along with websites which don’t feature “Military Career” within their page title. Apply this search prefix strategically and you can quickly find resources and research pages that would otherwise be buried deep in Google’s search index.
Searching by country, region, or city:
Google is surprisingly efficient at sorting results by location and country. A search for [Bathroom Tiles] using Google’s Google.co.uk homepage primarily yields results located within the United Kingdom, though a few American and worldwide retailers also appear in the mix, alongside some international articles about bathroom tiles and non-UK advertisements.
International results can be eliminated by clicking the “Pages from the UK” option in Google’s new left-hand sidebar. This setting limits your search results to websites which are registered using the UK’s “.uk” top-level domain or websites which use domains registered within the United Kingdom.
Searching by region is slightly less scientific. Insert your region before search queries and Google will limit results to pages which contain your region and the specific search terms entered. Region-based search examples could include [West Midlands Mechanic], which will bring up pages for mechanics located in the West Midlands.
Search by city and Google’s results will become even more specific and targeted. A search for [West Midlands Mechanic] tends to bring up business directories and automotive websites within the region, while a search for [Birmingham Mechanic] brings up more specific businesses, complete with a local map and list of contact details.
Country, region, and city-based search commands are particularly useful for business search queries and online shoppers. Country-based searches assist in finding online retailers and major businesses, while region and city-based searching can provide information on local businesses, regional offices, and driving directions.
Google Blog Search:
Google introduced Blog Search in 2005, giving users the ability to isolate their search results to include blogs and dynamic online publishers only. Blog Search isn’t the only way to search for blog content using Google – blog posts appear as part of Google’s standard search results – but it is the most effective method for finding specific blog posts.
The Google Blog Search homepage includes a list of categories, a short and varied collection of current top stories, and a list of the day’s most popular search queries. Users can select a category and have it reflected in the content Google displays on the blog search homepage; selecting Politics will cause the homepage to display political opinion posts, while World displays global news.
The search tool itself operates similarly to Google’s regular search, although content is limited to blogs and other social media publishing outlets. “Allintitle:” and other search-based commands influence the content which blog search displays, though basic search is often a more reliable option due to the smaller index.
Google Image Search:
Google Image Search operates using the same basic parameters as Google’s standard search feature, drawing its keywords from image titles, descriptions, and filenames and its relevancy from the rank of the hosted image’s website. Search results are generated in the same manner; a search for [Cars] will generate less specific results than [Sports Cars] or [BMW Cars] would.
However, Image Search also includes a number of options which can help users further customize and target their searches. Using the left-hand sidebar, users can isolate images by their dimensions or photographic structure – these options use the “Size” and “Type” functions respectively. Images can be arranged by colour and aspect ratio, using the left-hand sidebar and advanced image search options.
Google’s SafeSearch technology is particularly present during image searches, switched on by default and able to be customized using the advanced search options. By default, SafeSearch will block websites containing pornographic or violent images. It can also be applied to Google’s website search index, blocking explicit websites and hate speech from search results.
Search resources:
Google Web Search Help – http://www.google.com/support/websearch/
Google’s help section contains thousands of articles explaining the search engine’s advanced options and standard features. Tutorials and basic guides are available in the Google Search Basics section, along with detailed resources for developers and advanced searchers.
Google Help Forum – http://www.google.com/support/forum?hl=en
Can’t find the answer to your question in Google’s official documentation? Search the help forums or post a discussion to speak directly with Google employees and top contributors.
Official Google Blog – http://googleblog.blogspot.com/
The Official Google Blog provides coverage of Google’s ongoing philanthropic activities, new developments at the company, and changes to Google’s many applications and search tools.
