Advanced search options

Google search tips

Automatic "and" Queries

By default, Google only returns pages that include all of your search terms. There is no need to include "and" between terms.

"OR" Searches

Google supports the logical "OR" operator. To retrieve pages that include either word A or word B, use an uppercase OR between terms. Example: Pizza OR Pasta

Stop Words

Google ignores common words and characters (known as stop words) as they tend to slow down searches without improving the quality of the results. Terms such as "where" and "how", as well as certain single digits and single letters, are not included in searches unless you indicate that they are essential. You can do this by using the "+" sign in front of the term. Be sure to include a space before the "+" sign, which can also be used in phrase searches.
For example, to search for Star Wars, Episode I, use: Star Wars Episode +I

Excluding Words

You can exclude a word from your search by putting a minus sign ("-") immediately in front of the term you want to avoid. (Be sure to include a space before the minus sign.)

Phrase Searches

With Google, you can search for phrases by adding quotation marks. Words enclosed in double quotes ("like this") will appear together in all returned documents exactly as you have entered them. Phrase searches using quotation marks are useful when searching for famous sayings or specific names.
Certain characters serve as phrase connectors. Google recognizes hyphens, slashes, periods, equal signs, and apostrophes as phrase connectors. Phrase connectors work like quotes; for example, mother-in-law is treated as a phrase even if the three words aren't in quotes.

See your search terms in context

Each Google search result contains at least one excerpt from the found web page, which shows how your search terms are used in context on that page. Your search terms are bolded so you can tell at a glance whether the result is a page you want to visit.

Stemming

To provide the most accurate results, Google does not use "stemming" or support "wildcard" searches. In other words, Google searches for exactly the words that you enter in the search box. Searching for "googl" or "googl*" will not yield "googler" or "googlin". If in doubt, try both forms: "airline" and "airlines," for instance.

Does capitalization matter?

Google searches are not case sensitive. All letters, regardless of how you type them, will be understood as lower case. For example, searches for "george washington", "George Washington", and "gEoRgE wAsHiNgToN" will all return the same results.

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