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.
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
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
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
Google search commands
Google was one of the first search engines to help lift the veil on the search index and allow users to interrogate the index via other means than just simple keyword searches. Today, rather surprisingly, Google lags a little behind Yahoo and Live Search (some might argue) when it comes to command flexibility. It is often not possible to mix two advanced search features and some basic commands like link: have censored results (in that not all known linking pages are returned).
Google search commands chart
- cache:
- Show the cached snapshot of a page
Sample search: Cache of www.searchcommands.com
The cache is the search engine's copy of a page in its index. Google typically caches the first 101K of a page and not the images. The links to the caches are shown in Google's search results and Page Info button on the Google toolbar can be used to access any cache available for the page. - link:
- List pages which link to a page
Sample search: Backlinks for www.searchcommands.com
The term "backlinks" is used to describe those links from external sites which point to the page in question. These links are also known as "Inbound Links" or "IBLs". "Outbound Links" or "OBLs" are links from your site to other sites. The search engine optimisation world places great emphasis on increasing the number of backlinks a site enjoys because Google's conceptual model uses backlinks as votes. In general terms, a site with more backlinks is more of an authority than a site with fewer backlinks. Not all backlinks are of equal importance. In Google the phrase "B.O." is used for "Backlink Obsession" as a humorous reference for webmasters and optimisers who fixate on gaining links. Google's use of the link command omits the "http" protocol. - related:
- List pages which Google consider to be related to another
Sample search: Related links for www.searchcommands.com
Related (or similar pages) are worked out by Google's algorithm. This search command allows you to find pages which discuss a similar topic to a page you have already found. For example, a review of Product X is likely to have related pages which also discuss Product X but may simply just be various reviews. - info:
- Find one specific URL in the search database
Sample search: Page info for www.searchcommands.com
Presents limited information about a particular page in Google's index. Typically the command shows the page snippet and title as well as links to the cache or related pages. Typing a fully qualified URL into Google's search produces the same page. - define:
- Show Google's glossary definations for a term
Sample search: Define SERPs
Google lists definitions of the keyword harvested from authoritative glossary-esq sites. The definitions are presented in a bullet point format with a link to the authoritative URL in green below. This results page differs from the links to Answers.com in the top right of many standard search result pages. - stocks:
- Show American stockmarket information for a given ticker symbol
Sample search: Stock report for ticker symbol BAY
Unusually, Google shows information in a frameset. This is an odd quick as Google states a dislike of frames in its own guidelines to webmasters. Google's frame shows Yahoo's finance report by default and allows users to switch from that to Fool.com, ClearStation and Live Search's MoneyCentral. The stock symbols used must be American, for example, BAY refers to Bayer and not British Airways (which is listed as BAY on the London Stock Exchange). - site:
- Restrict a search to a single site
Sample search: Site search for www.searchcommands.com
The site: command can be used in two ways; to restrict a search to one site or to list all the pages Google has indexed from one site. For example, site:www.searchcommands.com google searches Search Commands* for the word google and site:www.searchcommands.com searches the site for any page and therefore lists them all. The site: command can either include or omit the 'www' in a domain, omitting the www will return all the sub-domains from the domain which Google has found. - allintitle:
- Restrict a search so that all the keywords must appear in the title
Sample search: Search for pages with google search commands in the title tag
This advanced search command restricts results to those pages which have all the keywords in their title tag. The title tag is the mark up to put contents into the bar at the top of the browser (typically blue in Windows XP). The title tag for this page is Google search commands :: Search Commands*. - intitle:
- Restrict a search so that some of the keywords must appear in the title
Sample search: Search for pages which contain google in the title and search or commands in the title or body tag
Returns pages which have some of the keywords in the title tag. This advanced search command differs from allintitle: in that only the keyword adjacent to intitle: is included in the title tag search. - allintext:
- Restrict a search so that all of the keywords must appear in the body text
Sample search: Search for pages with search commands in their body text
Returns pages which have all of the keywords contained within the body tag. This advanced search ignores the title tag which normally has a non trivial significance in Google's algorithm. - allinurl:
- Restrict a search so that all of the keywords must appear in the page address
Sample search: Search for pages with search and commands in their URL
A page's URL is its address. The URL of this page is www.searchcommands.com/google/. This advanced search command returns only those pages which have all the keywords in their URL. - inurl:
- Restrict a search so that some keywords must appear in the page address
Sample search: Search for pages with search, commands or both in their URL
Lists pages which have one or more of the keywords in their URL. The inurl: command can sometimes be used to restrict searches to specific sites and directories. For example: inurl:searchcommands.com/google/ inurl will return pages with 'searchcommands.com/google/' in their URL and inurl elsewhere on the page. - OR
- List pages which have at least some of the keywords
Sample search: Search for search OR commands
By default Google searches for almost all the keywords entered (some words like a, the, of, etc are omitted). The OR command is placed between two or more keywords and instructs Google to return pages which contain one or another of the keywords. - +
- Insist that the search engine includes a given keyword in the search results
Sample search: Search for search, the and commands
Google purposely omits some words from normal searches but the use of the + command instructs the search engine to include them. For example, Google would treat a search for search the commands as a search for search commands as the is ignored but the phrase search +the commands would ensure the word the was included. - -
- Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results
Sample search: Search for pages which match commands but which do not mention search
The - command creates a negative keyword which must not be present on any page Google matches with the rest of the query. For example, football -american is likely to return pages about Soccer. - ~
- Enhance a search to include synonyms for a given keyword
Sample search: Search for search, commands and any synonyms for commands
The synonym search is more like an associated word search. With the ~ symbol present before a keyword Google will return pages which contain the keyword or pages which contain words commonly associated with the keyword. Google simply looks as frequencies across the internet to determine which words are associated with which. Words associated with commands are: reference and syntax. - *
- Include a wildcard match in your search results
Sample search: Search for search, [something] and commands
The order of keywords in a Google search is significant. Adding the asterisk * as a wildcard to the keyphrase instructs Google that one or more other words should appear in that location. - [#]...[#]
- Search a range of numbers as a keyword
Sample search: Search for champions and a number between 1976 and 2005
The [#] values are replaced with numbers to form a range. For example, 1976...2005. Google will search for pages which contain numbers matching the first, the last or any number in the middle of the sequence. - daterange:
- Restrict a search to any daterange
Sample search: Search for search on pages which were indexed between September 1, 2005 and September 24, 2005
The daterange command restricts Google's search to pages published between two dates. The date format used in the Julian calendar rather than the traditional Gregorian calendar. You can use Search Commands* Julian date calculator to formulate the correct syntax. - ""
- Restrict a search so that the keywords must appear consecutively in a phrase
Sample search: Search for "search commands"
The order of keywords in a Google search is significant but not sacrosanct. Searching for search commands returns pages which simply mention search and commands. The search for "search commands" returns different results as only pages which mention search commands as a complete phrase are listed. - date:
- Restrict a search to a recent timeframe
Sample search: Search for search and commands on pages published in the last three months
The date: command is used to restrict searches to either 3, 6 or 12 month peroids. Pages which qualify are those which have been published and found by Google in the time peroid. Pages without a last modified header may simply be qualified by the date Google found the page first. - safesearch:
- Restrict a search to exclude adult-content
Sample search: Safe search for girls
The safesearch command mimics the effects of enabling SafeSearch on the Google preferences panel and excludes adult related content. Unlike other Google commands it is necessary to leave a space between safesearch: and the keyword as placing the keyword directly adjacent to the colon results in odd (often adult) results. For example, safesearch:girls (safesearch is off in this example). - filetype:
- Restrict a search to a given type of file
Sample search: Search for PDFs contain the word searchGoogle indexes more than just HTML pages. A wide range of different file types, including PDF and .doc files, are found in the search engine. The filetype command restricts searches to documents which match the filetype extension.
Yahoo search commands
Yahoo's current database is built on the bones of the old Inktomi index which Yahoo bought in late 2004. This index is also used for All the Web and the original search engine Alta Vista (though the results edge in favour of either natural results or sponsored listings). Yahoo has a wide range of additional search commands and even provide Site Explorer (and API) to encourage search engine optimisers to use official tools rather than scrape the content. You can view the Site Explorer page for www.searchcommands.com. Yahoo is one of the very few search engines which will return results for all the links a domain has (hostdomain:) and restrict results to pages with just meta tags (feature:).
Yahoo search commands summary
- site:
- Restrict a search to a single site
Sample search: Site search for www.searchcommands.com
The site: command can be used in two ways; to restrict a search to one site or to list all the pages Yahoo has indexed from one site. For example, site:www.searchcommands.com yahoo searches Search Commands* for the word yahoo and site:www.searchcommands.com searches the site for any page and therefore lists them all. The site: command can include or omit the 'www' from the search. - hostname:
- Restrict a search to a single host name
Sample search: Search example.searchcommands.com
The hostname: command is similar to site: but it is used to restrict the search to one specific hostname/sub-domain. For example, hostname:news.bbc.co.uk. The command is most useful to see how many pages Yahoo has indexed of a site without the 'www' prefix. - link:
- List pages which link to a page
Sample search: Backlinks for www.searchcommands.com
The term "backlinks" is used to describe those links from external sites which point to the page in question. Google is largely responsible for bringing backlinks into the limelight. Although Yahoo seems to place less importance on the quality/quantity of backlinks they are a non trivial factor in the algorithm. Unlike Google, Yahoo includes the http protocol in the link command, link:http://www.searchcommands.com, and this allows users to count and contrast links to page via specific protocols. For example, the difference between links to http://www.searchcommands.com and https://www.searchcommands.com. In addition and also unlike Google, Yahoo allows users to use the link: command with the site: command and count the number of purely external links. For example: link:http://www.searchcommands.com -site:http://www.searchcommands.com. - url:
- Find one specific URL in the search database
Search search: Search for http://www.searchcommands.com
Like Yahoo's link: command url: requires the protocol to be included in the URL, ie, http or https. The url: command returns a single URL if it is known to Yahoo along with a category link and cache if available. - inurl:
- Restrict a search so that some keywords must appear in the page address
Sample search: Search for pages with commands in their URL
Returns pages that have one or more of the keywords in their URL. The inurl: command can sometimes be used to restrict searches to specific sites and directories. For example: inurl:searchcommands.com/yahoo/ search will return pages with 'searchcommands.com/yahoo/' in their URL and search elsewhere on the page. - intitle:
- Restrict a search so that some of the keywords must appear in the title
Sample search: Search for pages which contain one or more of search in the title tag and commands in the title or body.
Returns pages which have the adjacent keyword in the title tag. This command does not restrict results so that pages must also include any subsequent keywords in the title tag. - map
- Inclue a map of any US location
Sample search: Search for map of Boston
Yahoo's map command only works for US locations and only in the US version of the search engine, ie not at uk.search.yahoo.com. The maps are provided by Yahoo! Maps and appear below the sponsored results but approve the natural result. The search results which come with the map do include map as the keyword. The map search command does not use the colon. - weather
- Include current weatherinformation for any US location
Sample search: Search for weather report for Chicago
The weather search command does not use a colon (ie, the syntax weather: chicago would be incorrect according to Yahoo's suggested use, however, the presence of the colon does not actually stop the search command. The weather search command inserts a snippet of a weather forecast for an American location above the organic search results and below the sponsored links. - define
- Include a defination for the keyword
Sample search: The definition for search and search results for search
The define search command does not use the colon, ie define search rather than define:search and this differs from the Google use of the command. The define search command adds a snippet definition of the search term to the search results, above the natural results and below the sponsored links. The definition links to a fuller dictionary entry at Yahoo! Education. - airport
- Link to weather, directions and maps for an American airport
Sample search: Search for information about LAX airport
The correct use of the airport search command is after the airport keyword, for example lax airport. This search command places a link above natural search results but below pay per click search results. The airport information link always points to the Yahoo! owned Farechase. For example, the lax airport keyword links to http://farechase.yahoo.com/airports/lax. - area code
- Include a list of cities which match the US area code
Sample search: Search for the area code for Boston and Boston search results
The area code command is used without the colon and uses area code plus a city keyword. The result pages inserts a Yahoo! Shortcut above search hits for the city keyword plus 'area code' as a keyword. This feature works for American areas only currently. - facts
- Include encyclopedia entry for keyword
Sample search: Search for money facts
The search command facts is placed after a single keyword. The results pages insert a pargraph summary of an encyclopedia entry for the associated keyword. The encyclopedia shortcut links to a larger entry for the keyword. The shortcut also links through to Yahoo's copy of the Columbia Encyclopedia with a keyword search for related topics. - convert
- Show a variety of unit conversion rates, for example currency or distance
Sample search: Convert Dollars to Pounds
This search command allows users to convert one unit to another, fahrenheit to celsius for example, or to reveal the conversion factor between the two. Yahoo lists a page of convertion units which the command supports but testing reveals only partial support. - gas
- Include link to gas prices for an American area
Sample search: Search for gas prices in Orlando
Gas is the Americanism for gasoline/petrol and as such is a command which works with American cities. This search command does not display any gas prices on the search results but provides a link to a gas information provider. - hotels
- Include links to hotels in the area
Sample search: Search for new york hotels
The hotels search command follows the location keyword rather than introducing them. The hotels search command works with a global range of cities, for example; Edinburgh hotels. This search command adds short cuts to Yahoo Travel and the city specific hotel pages there. - showtimes
- Include and link to movie showtimes in the area
Sample search: Search for showtimes in Dallas
This search command adds Yahoo! Shortcut links to Yahoo! Movies cinema/theatre pages. The showtimes search command typically comes after the city keyword, eg, Dallas showtimes. This command works for American locations only. - news
- Include and link to news headlines which match the keyword
Sample search: Search for London news
The news search command can be placed before or after the topic keyword. This search command adds Yahoo! Shortcut links above the organic Yahoo search results to Yahoo! News search results and links directly to recent news stories at various news providers. - patent
- Link to detailed information for the matching patent number keyword
Sample search: Search for patent 6269361
This search command works only with US patent numbers. With this search command the Yahoo! user must already know the patent number for their search and with it Yahoo will include a Yahoo! Shortcut to the US Patent Office's record of the patent. This search command works only with American patents and not with keywords. - quote
- Show American stockmarket information for a given ticker symbol
Sample search: Search for Yahoo financial information
A ticker symbol represents a floated company in a stock exchange, rather than listing a company's full and possibly lengthy name, the ticker symbol is a concise summary. In response search command quote and a ticker symbol together as a search option Yahoo will include a graph of recent share price values, a Yahoo! Shortcut to financial information for the company, links to quotes, charts, profiles, recent news and a message board. The use of the search command quote is optional at times as simply by entering a ticker symbol (for example, Yhoo) Yahoo! will return the same information. Omitting the search command quote will also ensure that sponsored results triggered by the keyword quote do not appear. Ticker symbols can also be looked up at Yahoo. - synonym
- Include synonyms for keyword and link to definitions of each
Sample search: Include synonyms for command
Yahoo responds to the search command synonym by adding a Yahoo! Shortcut to Yahoo! Education's copy of Roget's Thesaurus for the keyword. In addition, in the Yahoo! Shortcut also lists a brief dictionary definition of the keyword and some synonyms. The listed synonyms are linked through to their own Yahoo! Education Roget Thesaurus entries. - scores
- Include and link to score results for team name keyword
Sample search: Search for recent golf scores
The search command scores follows a sport keyword and produces a Yahoo! Short cut to Yahoo! Sports page. This command works mainly for American searches (so Football scores links to American Football results rather than football/soccer results) but also for international events covered by Yahoo! Sports. - time
- Include local time and timezone information for location keyword
Sample search: Include information on the local time in Edinburgh (United Kingdom)
The search command includes information on a location keyword's local time. A twelve hour clock with calendar is returned along with a Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) adjustment. - traffic
- Link to traffic reports for location keyword
Sample search: Include information for traffic in Boston
This search command works only with American locations and results in a Yahoo! Shortcut to Yahoo! Local. Traffic information is shown on the Yahoo! map where icons are used to indicate minor, moderate or severe incidents and colours used to suggest traffic speeds. - zip code
- Include a list of zip codes which match the location keyword
Sample search: Include zip codes for Orlando
This search command includes all known zip codes (American) for a destination keyword a Yahoo! Shortcut to Yahoo! Local. Where the city keyword exists in the more than one state, Yahoo! assumes the search is for the dominant location and provides links to the others. - +
- Insist that the search engine includes a given keyword in the search results
Sample search: Search for search, the and commands
Yahoo automatically filters some words from normal searches but the use of the + command instructs the search engine to include them. For example, Yahoo would treat a search for search the commands as a search for search commands as the is ignored but the phrase search +the commands would ensure the word the was included. - -
- Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results
Sample search: Search for pages which match commands but which do not mention search
The - command creates is used in front of a keyword which must not be present in the Yahoo search results. For example, -search engine is likely to return pages about trains and cars. - feature:
- Restrict a search to pages which include a given feature
Sample search: Search for pages with meta tags and the keywords search commands
The feature search command limits Yahoo! search results to those which contain certain features like meta tags, JavaScript or PDF files. The full list of feature elements is here. The feature search command applies to pages which contain the feature or which links to the appropriate media (for vrml, shockwave, etc). - region:
- Restrict a search to pages from a given region
Sample search: Restrict search results to pages from Europe and which mention the keywords search and commands
Yahoo allows users to restrict their search results to certain regions and this in addition to providing country searches like Yahoo! Search UK & Ireland and Yahoo! Suche Deutschland. The region list is a little quirky and includes a sea as well as continental land masses.
Live search commands
Microsoft opened the doors to a beta version of its very first search engine late in 2004 and began returning its own full set of results in 2005.
Live search commands
- filetype:
- Restrict a search to a given type of file
Sample search: Search for PDFs contain the word commands
Live Search crawls more than basic web pages. A wide range of different file types, including PDF and .doc files, are found in the search engine. The filetype command restricts searches to documents which match the filetype extension. - link:
- List pages which link to a page
Sample search: Backlinks for www.searchcommands.com
The term "backlinks" is used to describe those links from external sites which point to the page in question. Google is largely responsible for bringing backlinks into the limelight. Live Search places less importance on the quality/quantity of backlinks than Google, backlinks continue to be an important factor in the algorithm. Live Search does not require the 'http' protocol in the link command (unlike Yahoo), but it can be used if desired. For example, the difference between links to http://www.searchcommands.com and https://www.searchcommands.com. Live Search allows users to use the link: command with the site: command and count the number of purely external links. For example: link:www.searchcommands.com -site:http://www.searchcommands.com. - LinkFromDomain:
- List pages which a domain links to
Sample search: Pages which www.microsoft.com links to
The LinkFromDomain was added by Live Search in October 2006 and announced on the MSDN Live Search blog. The search command was added in response to requests from the search community. - linkdomain:
- List pages which link to a domain
Sample search: List all the backlinks to any page on Amazon.com
The linkdomain: command lists all the backlinks to the domain rather than just the links to a given page. This command is an effective way to compare the relative strengths of entire domains, for example, Amazon.co.uk has 4,053,567 inbound links for the entire domain at the time of writing and Tesco.com has 51,356. - contains:
- List pages which link to a given filetype
Sample search: Search for .bml (Better Markup Language) pages which contain the keyword search
The search command contains allows users to search for pages which link to files matching the filetype keyword. For example, contains:rss limits the search for pages which link to RSS and contains:bml search limits the search to pages linking to .bml pages and which have the keyword search. - inurl
- Restrict a search so that some keywords must appear in the page address
Sample search: Search for pages with searchcommands in the URL
This search command limits the search results to pages which have the given keyword in their URL. Only one keyword can be used with inurl but inurl can be used more than once in a query. - inanchor:
- Restrict a search so that the keyword must appear in anchors tags on the page
Sample search: Search for pages which use the word commands in anchor text
This search command restricts results to pages which use one given keyword in anchor text. This command does not return pages which are linked to by pages using specific anchor text and in fact the combination of inanchor and link cannot be used to achieve that query either. The Live Search WebLog recommends using link and inbody as the basis for that search. The inanchor search command only also works with one keyword but can be used more than once in a search query. - intitle:
- Restrict a search so that some of the keywords must appear in the title
Sample search: Search for pages which have Live and commands in their title tag.
Returns pages which have the adjacent individual keyword in the title tag. This command does not restrict results so that pages must also include any subsequent keywords in the title tag but can be used more than once in the search query. - inbody:
- Restrict a search so that all of the keywords must appear in the body text
Sample search: Return pages with the keyword search in their body
This search command limits results to pages which have the keyword in their body text (rather than meta, title or inbound pages). Only one keyword can be used with inbody at a time but inbody can be used numerous times within one query. - ip:
- List sites hosted by keyword IP address
Sample search: List all the sites hosted at 213.171.219.245
The IP search command is unique to Live and returns all the domains hosted at one specific IP address. Virtual hosting allows one server to be associated with numerous domain names. Load balancers can also associate many servers and sites with just one IP address. This command does not list all possible domains on the IP address, just those domains LiveBot has found. - language
- Restrict a search to a specific language
Sample search: Search for pages in Norwegian which also mention search
This search command restricts returned results to pages written in a specific language. Language searching is independant of country and location. A server hosted in the UK could have Irish language content, for example. A full list of Yahoo language codes is available at Search Commands*. - location:
- Restrict a search to pages from a given region
Sample search: Search for pages in the UK which mention search
The location search command is used with a location code to limit returned pages to a specific country or region. The Live location search command is more precise than Yahoo's region command which does not narrow the search to countries and settles for wider, larger, land massses as regions. - prefer:
- Enhance a search by giving emphasis to the given keyword
Sample search: Search for commands and search with a bias on commands
The prefer search command places an emphasis on one of the keywords in the query. Typically, the order of keywords in the query implies an order of importance but this command allows the last keyword to supersede the first. - site:
- Restrict a search to a single site
Sample search: Return all the pages from www.searchcommands.com
This search command restricts the search to a specific site. The site command can be used to find an instance of a keyword or keyphrase within a site or used without a keyword in order to return all the pages that Live lists from a given site. - url:
- Find one specific URL in the search database
Sample search: Search for the URL www.searchcommands.com
The search command url returns a single page from the Live index if it is known to the search engine. Unlike Yahoo this search command returns no other information. - +
- Insist that the search engine includes a given keyword in the search results
Sample search: Search for search, the and commands
Live search filters some words from searches but the use of the + command instructs the search engine to include them. For example, Live would treat a search for search the commands as a search for search commands as the is ignored but the phrase search +the commands would ensure the word the was included. - -
- Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results
Sample search: Search for pages which match commands but which do not mention search
The - command creates is used in front of a keyword which must not be present in the Live search results. For example, -search engine is likely to return pages about trains and cars. - NOT
- Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results
Sample search: Search for pages which contain the word search but not commands
The NOT search command is a synonym for the - search command. Using the NOT search command allows the user to insist that search results only include pages which do not mention a given keyword. - OR
- List pages which have at least some of the keywords
Sample search: Search for search OR commands
Live searches for almost all the keywords entered (some words like a, the, of, etc are omitted). The OR command is placed between two or more keywords and instructs Live to return pages which contain one or another of the keywords, though the phrase itself remains a prominent term. - |
- List pages which have at least some of the keywords
Sample search:
The | (pipebar) search command is a synoym for the OR search command. The pipebar command instructs Live search to look for pages which match all or some of the adjacent keywords. - ""
- Restrict a search so that the keywords must appear consecutively in a phrase
Sample search: Search for "search commands"
The order of keywords in a Live query is important but not the be all and end all. Searching for search commands returns pages which simply mention search and commands. The search for "search commands" returns different results as only pages which mention search commands as a complete phrase are listed. - ()
- Group keywords together
Sample search: Search for pages which exclude the group of keywords (search commands)
The brackets search command groups keywords together but produces a different effect from the quotes. For example, -(search command) produces different SERPs than -"search commands". The brackets are used to search for or exclude groups of keywords.
More information about Live's search commands is available on the dedicated Live search commands page. In Live's page we look at how to use each commands, which search commands can be used together and which cannot.