Google Guide: Making Searching Even Easier
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Special Notation

You can fine-tune your search query and increase the accuracy of its results by using special characters and operators, such as +, -, ~, .., OR, and quotation marks.

Force Google to include a term by preceding the term with a "+" sign.

Google search box with [ Thomas +the Tank Engine ].  

The + operator is typically used in front of stop words that Google would otherwise ignore or when you want Google to return only those pages that match your search terms exactly.

Precede each term you do not want to appear in any result with a "-" sign.

Google search box with [ bush -president ].  

Find synonyms by preceding the term with a ~, which is known as the tilde or synonym operator.

Google search box with [ google ~guide ].  

Note: Currently the synonym operator is only supported on Google Web and Directory search.

Specify synonyms or alternative forms with an uppercase OR or | (vertical bar).

Google search box with [ Tahiti OR Hawaii ].  

Use quotes (" ") to group compound words and phrases together.

Google search box with [ filter OR stop   

Specify that results contain numbers in a range by specifying two numbers, separated by two periods, with no spaces.

Google search box with [ Russian Revolution 1800..2000
].  

Google search box with [ trail-a-bike $50..$350 ].  

This table summarizes how to use basic search operators.

You may include any of these operators multiple times in a query.

Notation Find result Example
terms1 terms2 with both term1 and term2 [ after-school activity ]
term1 OR term2
term1 | term2
with either term1 or term2 or both [ Tahiti OR Hawaii ]
[ Tahiti | Hawaii ]
+term with term (The + operator is typically used in front of stop words that Google would otherwise ignore or when you want Google to return only pages that match your search terms exactly. However, the + operator can be used on any terms.) [ +i spy ]
-term without term [ twins -baseball ]
~term with term or one of its synonyms
(currently supported on Web and Directory search)
[ google ~guide ]
number1..number2 with a number in the specified range
trail-a-bike $50..$350 ]
"phrase"  with the exact phrase, a proper name, or a set of words in a specific order [ "I have a dream" ]
[ "Rio de Janeiro" ]


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