An introduction to search commands

Did you know you can search Google for web pages which were published in a certain timeframe? Did you know it often better to use Yahoo to work out your back links as you can exclude your own internal links?

In Yahoo it is possible to restrict your search to pages which have meta tags or which are in the Mediterranean (the coast, one assumes, rather than the sea). On Live search you can look for pages which contain RSS.

The Search Commands* home page shows summary search commands for: Google, Yahoo and Live Search. The rest of the site takes a deeper look at the nuances of common search commands and digs up some of the more obscure search engine commands too. Search Commands* is in beta.

Google search commands summary Yahoo search commands summary Live search commands summary Google search commands summary cache: Show the cached snapshot of a page link: List pages which link to a page related: List pages which Google consider to be related to another info: Find one specific URL in the search database define: Show Google's glossary definition for a term stocks: Show American stockmarket information for a given ticker symbol site: Restrict a search to a single site allintitle: Restrict a search so that all the keywords must appear in the title intitle: Restrict a search so that some of the keywords must appear in the title allintext: Restrict a search so that all of the keywords must appear in the body text allinurl: Restrict a search so that all of the keywords must appear in the page address inurl: Restrict a search so that some keywords must appear in the page address OR List pages which have at least some of the keywords + Insist that the search engine includes a given keyword in the search results - Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results ~ Enhance a search to include synonyms for a given keyword * Include a wildcard match in your search results [#]...[#] Search a range of numbers as a keyword daterange: Restrict a search to any timeframe "" Restrict a search so that the keywords must appear consecutively in a phrase date: Restrict a search to a recent timeframe safesearch: Restrict a search to exclude adult-content filetype: Restrict a search to a given type of file More information about Google's search commands is available on the dedicated Google search commands page. In Google's page we look at how to use each commands, which search commands can be used together and which cannot. Yahoo search commands summary site: Restrict a search to a single site hostname: Restrict a search to a single host name link: List pages which link to a page url: Find one specific URL in the search database inurl: Restrict a search so that some keywords must appear in the page address intitle: Restrict a search so that some of the keywords must appear in the title map Inclue a map of any US location weather Include current weatherinformation for any US location define Include a defination for the keyword airport Link to weather, directions and maps for an American airport area code Include a list of cities which match the US area code facts Include encyclopedia entry for keyword convert: Show a variety of unit conversion rates, for example currency or distance gas Include link to gas prices for an American area hotels Include links to hotels in the area showtimes Include and link to movie showtimes in the area news Include and link to news headlines which match the keyword patent Link to detailed information for the matching patent number keyword quote Show American stockmarket information for a given ticker symbol synonym Include synonyms for keyword and link to definitions of each scores Include and link to score results for team name keyword time Include local time and timezone information for location keyword traffic Link to traffic reports for location keyword zip code Include a list of zip codes which match the location keyword + Insist that the search engine includes a given keyword in the search results - Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results feature: Restrict a search to pages which include a given feature region: Restrict a search to pages from a given region More information about Yahoo's search commands is available on the dedicated Yahoo search commands page. In Yahoo's page we look at how to use each commands, which search commands can be used together and which cannot. Live search commands filetype: Restrict a search to a given type of file link: List pages which link to a page linkdomain: List pages which link to a domain LinkFromDomain: List pages which a domain links to contains: List pages which link to a given filetype inurl Restrict a search so that some keywords must appear in the page address inanchor: Restrict a search so that the keyword must appear in anchors tags on the page intitle: Restrict a search so that some of the keywords must appear in the title inbody: Restrict a search so that all of the keywords must appear in the body text ip: List sites hosted by keyword IP address language: Restrict a search to a specific language location: Restrict a search to pages from a given region prefer: Enhance a search by giving emphasis to the given keyword site: Restrict a search to a single site url: Find one specific URL in the search database + Insist that the search engine includes a given keyword in the search results - Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results NOT Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results OR List pages which have at least some of the keywords | List pages which have at least some of the keywords "" Restrict a search so that the keywords must appear consecutively in a phrase () Group keywords together More information about Live Search's search commands is available on the dedicated Live search commands page. In Live Search's page we look at how to use each commands, which search commands can be used together and which cannot.