Understanding how to use advanced Google search operators can significantly boost your SEO auditing, competitor analysis, and content discovery efforts. Below is a curated list of 25+ practical search commands to help SEO professionals, content marketers, and webmasters efficiently navigate Google’s index.
✅ Basic Search Operators
site:yourwebsite.com– View all indexed pages from your website.site:yourwebsite.com "404"– Identify error pages containing “404”.filetype:pdf site:yourwebsite.com– Find PDF files on your website.site:yourwebsite.com -intitle:"keyword" -inurl:"keyword" "short content"– Detect thin content without relying on specific keyword targeting.link:yourwebsite.com– Check backlinks (limited functionality in modern Google).site:competitor.com– Analyze indexed content from a competitor’s site.
✅ Content & Metadata Analysis
intext:"keyword"– Audit keyword usage within body content.-intext:"meta description" site:yourwebsite.com– Find pages missing meta descriptions.inanchor:"keyword"– Explore pages optimized with specific anchor text.
✅ Date-Based Filtering
before:2023-01-01 site:yourwebsite.com– Locate outdated pages.after:2024-01-01 site:yourwebsite.com– Discover fresh content.
✅ Structure & Technical Audits
site:subdomain.yourwebsite.com– Check indexation of subdomains.site:yourwebsite.com inurl:mobile– Identify mobile-specific pages.site:yourwebsite.com "FAQ"– Find all FAQ pages."404 not found" site:yourwebsite.com– Spot broken pages."1-50 words" site:yourwebsite.com– Identify pages with thin content.site:yourwebsite.com inurl:2020– Audit older blog posts or legacy content.
✅ Competitor & External Monitoring
site:facebook.com "yourwebsite.com"– Track social media mentions."duplicate content example" site:otherwebsite.com– Detect plagiarism or duplicate content issues."internal links" site:yourwebsite.com– Review internal link structures.
✅ Link & Schema Insights
link:competitorwebsite.com– Analyze (limited) backlinks to competitors.site:yourwebsite.com inurl:blog– List all blog articles.-inurl:"rel=canonical" site:yourwebsite.com– Identify pages lacking canonical tags.rel=nofollow site:yourwebsite.com– Find nofollow links on your site.site:domain.com inurl:blog– Great for guest posting opportunities.site:yourwebsite.com inurl:"reviews"– Spot all review pages.intext:"noindex" site:yourwebsite.com– Find non-indexable pages.site:yourwebsite.com "robots.txt"– Check crawl directives.site:yourwebsite.com "rich snippet"– Evaluate structured data presence.
Final Tip
You can mix and match many of these operators to run more advanced queries — for example:
site:yourwebsite.com inurl:blog -intext:"meta description"
This will help uncover blog pages missing meta descriptions for further SEO optimization.
