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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