Narrow your search and find exactly what you’re looking for with Google Search Operators.

So you’ve just performed a Google Search and now you’ve got 40,000 pages of stuff to sort through. Great. Fan-freakin-tastic. And it looks like the first 10 pages have nothing to do with what you were looking for. Do you know what can help? Google Search Operators—it’s time to get specific and become a smooth operator!

o what are Google Search Operators? These handy little tools let you add functional terms or symbols to your Google search box to gain more control over the results that you see. You can use them in Google, in Gmail and even Google voice. But we’re going to stick to Google searches because that’s where they really work their magic.
Since there are so many Google Search Operators to choose from, we’re going to touch on just a few of the more popular ones. You can find a complete list of these bad boys on the Google Search Operators list.

Searching for “An Exact Phrase”

Don’t you hate it when you type a phrase into the Google search bar and you get results that contain those words throughout the page? Sometimes, it has nothing to do with what you were looking for. But if you add quotes at the beginning and end of the phrase, Google will search for that exact phrase within the quotation marks.

Define a Word

When you just want to know what something means—let’s say SEO —just type define:SEO into Google. It will come back with a search that gives you the definition of that term, not just a bunch of articles that explain complex SEO campaigns.

What’s the Weather Like?

Planning a trip and want to know if you should pack sunscreen? You can check the weather of your intended destination by typing weather:Los Angeles into Google. It will come back with the weather forecast for that day, along with a long-range forecast.

What time is it?

So while you’re on your way to Los Angeles, you want to check the time to see if there’s any difference. Type time:Los Angeles into Google and up pops the time (FYI: LA is on PDT, so if you’re heading in from Toronto, that city is three hours behind).

Wanna Catch a Movie?

You want to see Paranormal Activity 4, but you don’t know where or when it’s playing. Instead of going through a movie theatre’s entire listing, type movie: Paranormal Activity 4 to find out where the movie is playing near you, along with the showtimes.

Where Are You Going?

You don’t have GPS, but that doesn’t mean you have to get lost. Use Google Search Operators to help you get where you’re going. Let’s just say you’re heading to Toronto. Type map:Toronto into the search box and you get a Google map of the area, along with links to local site attractions.