Google Search — One-page cheat-sheet

A compact, copy-pasteable markdown cheat-sheet with short explanations and ready examples.

Core operators (fast, precise)

• related: — Find sites similar to a domain. Example: related:clientwebsite.com

• site: — Search only inside a specific website. Example: burnout at work site:hbr.org

• intitle:infographic — Pages that call out “infographic” in the title. Example: gdpr intitle:infographic

• filetype: — Restrict results to a file format (pdf, docx, ppt). Example: consulting case interview filetype:pdf

• intitle:2022 — Find pages with a specific year in the title (good for reviews). Example: intitle:2022 laptop for students

• - (minus) — Exclude words to reduce noise. Example: meta -facebook

• -site: — Exclude an entire domain. Example: data visualization -site:youtube.com -site:pinterest.com

• "exact phrase" — Exact-match a full phrase. Example: "that's where google must be down"

• * (wildcard) — Placeholder for unknown words. Example: "top * programming languages 2024"

• + — Force inclusion / niche focus. Example: app annie +shopping

• OR — Return results that match either term. Example: growth marketing OR content marketing OR product marketing

Region & time filters

• Country TLD with site: — Limit to country-level domains. Example: vaccine site:.us or vaccine site:.fr

• Date tools (Google → Tools → Any time) — Filter by recency (e.g., Past year). Example workflow: Search google tasks tips → Tools → select Past year

Image quick tip

• Transparent backgrounds — Images → Tools → Color → Transparent. Example: company logo → Tools → Color → Transparent

Quick reference (your numbered list mapped to operators)

1. Exact search: "search"
2. Site search: site:
3. Exclude: -search
4. After date: after:YYYY-MM-DD (useful for single-date filtering)
5. Range: YYYY-MM-DD..YYYY-MM-DD (or first..second for numbers)
6. Compare / either/or: (A|B) C or A OR B C
7. Wildcard: *search (use * inside phrases)
8. File type: filetype:pdf

Combine operators — practical combos

• Find recent PDFs from universities:

  site:edu filetype:pdf intitle:2023
  

• Search product reviews excluding YouTube:

  "laptop review" intitle:2024 -site:youtube.com
  

• Regional news about vaccines:

  vaccine site:.de after:2024-01-01
  

• Narrow Q&A on a topic:

  "how to build REST API" site:stackoverflow.com
  

Copy-paste cheat block

related:clientwebsite.com
burnout at work site:hbr.org
gdpr intitle:infographic
consulting case interview filetype:pdf
intitle:2022 laptop for students
meta -facebook
data visualization -site:youtube.com -site:pinterest.com
"that's where google must be down"
"top * programming languages 2024"
app annie +shopping
growth marketing OR content marketing OR product marketing
vaccine site:.us