How to Search a Specific Website With Google

Lee Stanton January 20, 2021

Those familiar with doing online research know that looking for specific topics on the internet is a lot more complicated than the term ‘Google it’ may imply. Simply entering a word in the text box can often lead to results that aren’t exactly what you were looking for.

How to Search a Specific Website With Google

It isn’t easy to find the most related results unless you can narrow down search results efficiently. In the article below, we’ll show you how to search a specific website with Google along with Google Syntax terms to help you find what you’re looking for.

How to Search a Site With Google

For many people, searching for topics or subjects on Google involves typing in the search term and then hitting the search button. For most casual searches, this will do the trick, especially if you’re not after any site in particular. However, if you are after a particular site, try the following to get exactly what you’re looking for:

Type in “search item + site: site name” without commas. For example, if you were looking for Microsoft Word-related articles on Alphr.com, you would type in: “Microsoft Word site: Alphr.com.” Google will then present you with links to the most relevant search results from that website.

The ‘site’ command is only one of several Google Syntax options that you can use to narrow down any search term. A discussion of additional Google Syntax operators is given in the next section.

How to Search a Site With Google Syntax

If you want specific results to show up in your Google searches, you can use certain words combined with your search terms to get more related links. These words are called Google Syntax Search Operators. These Google Syntax terms are:
“Search Item”
1. Enclosing your search term within open and closed quotes tells Google that you want an exact match to what you just typed in. This is useful to eliminate synonyms and words that are only closely related to the term you’re looking for.
2. Syntax Example: “Minecraft”
OR
1. This tells Google to look for either of the terms that you type into the search box, with the most related links to each on the top. It’s important to note that you must type the syntax in all caps or you’ll get different results. Also, the pipe symbol ‘|’ can be used as a substitute for “OR” or, it can be typed in using Shift + \ on normal PC or Mac keyboards and under the Symbols menu of mobile device virtual keyboards.
2. Syntax Example: Minecraft OR Roblox
AND
1. Typing this in returns results related to both search terms between the AND command. Google does this by default, but it becomes more useful if you combine them with other Google Syntax operators.
2. Syntax Example: Minecraft AND Roblox
–
1. Using this operator will exclude the search term from the results. This is useful when the search term you are using is closely related to subjects that aren’t exactly the topic you want. In the example below, the results will display terms related to actual gates and won’t display any related to either Microsoft or Bill Gates. If you’re getting results unrelated to what you want, just add them to the – syntax.
2. Syntax Example: gates -bill -Microsoft -corporation
*
1. This is a wildcard operator. It will return results with all of the terms you typed in plus other related words or phrases. In the example below, typing it in will give links related to Minecraft blocks of different types. This Syntax is useful if you’re not sure of the exact search term to use.
2. Syntax Example: Minecraft * block
()
1. Similar to mathematical operations, the parentheses symbols group syntax arguments together and tells Google which arguments to do first.
2. Syntax Example: (Minecraft OR Roblox) -Company
$
1. Will display results with dollar signs in them. This is great if you’re looking for items with exact prices. This also works for Euro (€), but for some reason doesn’t work for British pounds (£).
2. Syntax Example: iPhone $200
Define
1. Uses Google search’s built-in dictionary to give you the definition of the term you put in.
2. Syntax Example: define:commiserate
Cache
1. Using this Google Syntax will show the latest cached versions of the search term that you typed in. Please note that the web page itself needs to have been indexed otherwise no cached versions will exist to be displayed.
2. Example cache:Minecraft.com
Filetype
1. This operator will tell Google to display results of only a certain file type.
2. Example: Minecraft filetype: pdf
Site
1. As explained above, this limits the search to results from a specific website.
2. Example: Microsoft Word site:Alphr.com
Related
1. Using this term will display links that are related to the given search domain. Websites with single domains or unrelated sites will not display any results.
2. Example: related:microsoft.com
Intitle
1. Using this operator will display results that have the search term in their title.
2. Example: intitle: Minecraft
Allintitle
1. As opposed to the previous operator, this one will only display links to sites that have ALL of the search terms in the title.
2. Example: allintitle: Minecraft Roblox
Inurl
1. Also similar to the previous two operators, this option focuses on the URL, or web address of a site to find the search term defined instead of the title. In the example below, any website with Minecraft in its address will be displayed.
2. Example: inurl: Minecraft
Allinurl
1. This operates almost exactly like inurl except this will display websites with all of the terms given in their web address.
2. Example: allinurl: Minecraft Roblox
Intext
1. This Google Syntax will search for webpages that contain the terms that you typed in.
2. Example: intext: Minecraft
Allintext
1. As with similar operators, this will look for all of the given search terms within the content of a webpage.
2. Example: allintext: Minecraft Roblox
AROUND(X)
1. This Google Syntax operator needs two search words and will display results that have both terms within X words of each other. This is useful if you’re looking for a specific phrase and not just websites that have both words, probably within a paragraph of each other
2. Example: Minecraft AROUND(5) Roblox
Weather
1. Will display the weather for a location specified.
2. Example: weather: California
Stocks
1. This will display relevant stock information related to the search term.
2. Example: stocks: Microsoft
Map
1. Using this Syntax will display map information for search terms that have them. If the entered search term is fictional or doesn’t have any map information, the most relevant results are shown instead.
2. Example: map: California
Movie
1. This will display reviews, release dates, and other facts about films with the title that you include as a search term. If you have locations turned on this will also display any nearby theaters that may be showing the movie in your location if there are any.
2. Example: movie: Avengers Endgame
In
1. A conversion operator, using this Syntax will display a unit of measurement in terms of another. Useful for weight, temperature, length, currency, and other similar conversions. This will also display an editable conversion calculator for the measures that you typed in.
2. Example: 100 inches in centimeters
Source
1. This will scan the given website to search for any related news or blog posts about the search term that was typed in.
2. Example: Minecraft source:Alphr.com

How to Search a Website With Google Chrome

If you’re using Google Chrome as your browser of choice, you can look for specific terms on a website that is already open by following these instructions:

In Google Chrome, open the webpage that you want to search.
Click on the three dots icon in the upper right corner of the browser page.
From the dropdown menu, click on Find. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + F on your keyboard instead.
Type in your search term in the text box. If you hear a sound notification, this means search can’t find the word as typed. Check your spelling. If your sound notifications are turned off, you’ll notice that Google Chrome stops highlighting text when it can’t find your search term. Otherwise, all similar terms will be highlighted.
Use the up and down arrows to the right of the search box to navigate between the results.

Additional FAQs

How Do I Use Google to Search a Specific Website?

If you wish to search for terms on a predetermined website, you can use either a Google search syntax or the Find function on Google Chrome. As to the former, type in your search terms followed by a syntax as listed above. As to the latter, refer to the instructions for using a search on Google Chrome.

How Do I Get My Website on Google?

When you create a website, it can usually take a very long time for it to show up on the first few pages of Google. Don’t be disheartened though, there are a few things you can do to speed up the process. These are:

• Submit your website sitemap to Google Search Central. They have a very extensive tutorial on how to make sure that your page gets found quickly by their algorithm.

• Don’t do this without a website owner’s permission, however. Not only is it bad net etiquette, doing it often enough can get you blacklisted from Google search for spam. A good place to start would be your social media pages if you have any.

• Use keywords and SEO tools. When a user searches for a keyword, the Google Search engine uses an algorithm to find the most relevant webpages to display. Although this algorithm changes from time to time, using the right keywords still helps. Try out Google’s Keyword Planner to see what search terms to include.

• Use meta tags on your webpages. Google has an extensive, though not an exclusive list of meta tags that its algorithm can recognize. Check the list to see which ones apply to your page.

• Make sure that your website can be viewed comfortably on mobile devices. A lot of internet browsing is now done on phones and tablets so it must be optimized for different screen sizes. If your webpage isn’t optimized for mobile, you’re missing out on a larger target market that browses the net using cellphones.

How Do I Search for a Specific Item on Google?

Refer to the Google Syntax operators as listed above to refine your search results when looking for specific items on Google.

Can I Search a Website for a Particular Word?

Yes. The Find command for Google Chrome will scan the content of a webpage for the word that you type in. Refer to the instructions above to do this.

Efficient Researching

Knowing how to search a specific website with Google can make a world of difference to your search experience. It can be the difference between an afternoon of endless, inefficient browsing or finding what you want at the click of a button. You’d be surprised at how much more enjoyable and efficient your Google searches can become if you familiarize yourself with these techniques.