Google: Warm Mangos & Search Engine Operators
Larry Page at Google was having some difficulty determining why mangoes warm &/or ripen when enclosed in paper bags or confined spaces. In the interest of folks performing such non-trivial search queries, and in the honor of the “warm mango”, we offer up this search operator guide. A more in-depth version of the guide is also available in a more printer/reader friendly format (PDF).
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Search Goal |
Comments |
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All terms (AND) |
Default search engine usage. |
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All terms (AND + synonyms) |
Includes common synonym(s) of the appended search term. |
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All terms (precise AND) |
+ or quotes forces inclusion of that precise term sans variants. |
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Any terms (inclusive OR) |
‘|’ (pipe) does not require spaces. OR, if used, must be CAPITALIZED. |
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Excluded terms (this not that) |
Can be applied to multiple terms. Dashes (‘–’) &/or NOT don’t work. |
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Partial match |
Can be applied nearly anywhere, e.g., between terms for proximity. |
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Exact match |
Useful in many contexts, e.g., to find precise term, phrase, or URL. |
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Combined match |
For combining terms & operators to reduce the number of searches. |
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Numeric range |
Also for money, e.g., $100…$999 |
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Term proximity |
AROUND is capitalized. The results of AROUND(n) & * * … * may differ. Quotes may better limit results. |
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Relative location |
best applied via user interface (UI) after query results are initially returned by Google search to the user |
change location – in combo with more search tools → search nearby. |
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Date updated |
again, best applied via user interface (UI) after query results are initially returned by Google search to the user |
“past {day, month, year, …} under “more search tools” in results list. |
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Date indexed |
Use Julian date format (1, 2, 3, 4). May differ from date updated. |
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Domain match |
Excluding multiple “-site:” works as expected, multiple site: only works on the last specified domain. |
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Context match |
Related ops – inanchor:, intext:, intitle:, and “all” prefix variants. |
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Content match |
Example uses include academic (pdf, doc) or business (pptx, xlsx). |
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Site info |
Additional site info operators – cache:, link:, related:, & “[URL]”. |
– browse Search channel or 6/11/2011 entries
– print
entry written by Chris Augeri
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