Google Search Operators: The Complete List (42 Advanced ...

Do you want to know how to leverage Google for your SEO needs? Check out this list of 42 Google advanced search operators, ... JoshuaHardwickHeadofContent@Ahrefs(or,inplainEnglish,I'mtheguyresponsibleforensuringthateveryblogpostwepublishisEPIC).ArticlestatsMonthlytraffic7,365Linkingwebsites1,614Tweets969DatafromContentExplorerShowshowmanydifferentwebsitesarelinkingtothispieceofcontent.Asageneralrule,themorewebsiteslinktoyou,thehigheryourankinGoogle.ShowsestimatedmonthlysearchtraffictothisarticleaccordingtoAhrefsdata.Theactualsearchtraffic(asreportedinGoogleAnalytics)isusually3-5timesbigger.ThenumberoftimesthisarticlewassharedonTwitter.SharethisarticleSubscribeforweeklyupdatesEmailSubscriptionSubscribeLeavethisfieldemptyifyou'rehuman:ContentsForanyonethat’sbeendoingSEOforawhile,Googleadvancedsearchoperators—i.e.,specialcommandsthatmakeregularol’searchesseemlaughablybasicincomparison—arenothingnew. Here’saGooglesearchoperator youmaybefamiliarwith.the“site:”operatorrestrictsresultstoonly thosefromaspecifiedsite.It’seasytoremembermostsearchoperators.They’reshortcommandsthatstickinthe mind.Butknowinghowtousethemeffectivelyisanaltogetherdifferentstory.MostSEOsknowthebasics,butfewhavetrulymasteredthem.Inthispost,I’llshare15actionabletipstohelpyoumastersearchoperatorsforSEO,which are:FindindexationerrorsFindnon-securepages(non-https)FindduplicatecontentissuesFindunwantedfilesandpagesonyour siteFindguestpostopportunitiesFindresourcepageopportunitiesFindsitesthatfeatureinfographics…soyoucanpitch YOURSFindmorelinkprospects…ANDcheckhowrelevantthey areFindsocialprofilesforoutreachprospectsFindinternallinkingopportunitiesFindPRopportunitiesbyfindingcompetitormentionsFindsponsoredpostopportunitiesFindQ+AthreadsrelatedtoyourcontentFindhowoftenyourcompetitorsarepublishingnewcontentFindsiteslinkingtocompetitorsButfirst,here’sacompletelistofallGooglesearchoperatorsandtheirfunctionality.GoogleSearchOperators:TheCompleteListDidyouknowthatGoogleisconstantlykillingusefuloperators?That’swhymostexistinglistsofGooglesearchoperatorsareoutdatedandinaccurate.Forthispost,IpersonallytestedEVERYsearchoperatorIcould find.Hereisa completelistofallworking,non-working,and“hitandmiss”Googleadvancedsearchoperatorsasof 2018.“search term”Forceanexact-matchsearch.Usethistorefineresultsforambiguoussearches,ortoexcludesynonymswhensearchingforsinglewords.Example:“stevejobs”ORSearchforXor Y.ThiswillreturnresultsrelatedtoXorY,orboth.Note:Thepipe(|)operatorcanalsobeusedinplaceof“OR.”Examples: jobsORgates /jobs| gatesANDSearchforXand Y.ThiswillreturnonlyresultsrelatedtobothXand Y.Note:Itdoesn’treallymakemuchdifferenceforregularsearches,asGoogledefaultsto“AND”anyway.Butit’sveryusefulwhenpairedwithotheroperators.Example:jobsAND gates-Excludeatermorphrase.Inourexample,anypagesreturnedwillberelatedtojobsbutnot Apple(thecompany).Example:jobs-apple*Actsasawildcardandwillmatchanywordorphrase.Example: steve*apple ()Groupmultipletermsorsearchoperatorstocontrolhowthesearchisexecuted.Example:(ipadORiphone)apple$Searchforprices.AlsoworksforEuro(€),butnot GBP (£) 🙁Example:ipad$329define:AdictionarybuiltintoGoogle,basically.Thiswilldisplaythemeaningofawordinacard-likeresultinthe SERPs.Example:define:entrepreneurcache:Returnsthemostrecentcachedversionofawebpage(providingthepageisindexed,ofcourse).Example:cache:apple.comfiletype:Restrictresultstothoseofacertainfiletype.E.g.,PDF,DOCX,TXT,PPT,etc.Note: The“ext:”operatorcanalsobeused—theresultsareidentical.Example:applefiletype:pdf /appleext:pdfsite:Limitresultstothosefromaspecificwebsite.Example:site:apple.comrelated:Findsitesrelatedtoagivendomain.Example:related:apple.comintitle:Findpageswithacertainword(orwords)inthetitle.Inourexample,anyresultscontainingtheword“apple”inthetitletagwillbereturned.Example:intitle:appleallintitle:Similarto“intitle,”butonlyresultscontainingall ofthespecifiedwordsinthetitletagwillbereturned.Example:allintitle:appleiphoneinurl:Findpageswithacertainword(orwords)intheURL.Forthisexample,anyresultscontainingtheword“apple”intheURLwillbereturned.Example:inurl:appleallinurl:Similarto“inurl,”butonlyresultscontainingall ofthespecifiedwordsintheURLwillbereturned.Example:allinurl:appleiphoneintext:Findpagescontainingacertainword(orwords)somewhereinthecontent.Forthisexample,anyresultscontainingtheword“apple”inthepagecontentwillbereturned.Example:intext:appleallintext:Similarto“intext,”butonlyresultscontainingall ofthespecifiedwordssomewhereonthepagewillbereturned.Example:allintext:appleiphoneAROUND(X)Proximitysearch.FindpagescontainingtwowordsorphraseswithinXwordsofeachother.Forthisexample,thewords“apple”and“iphone”mustbepresentinthecontentandnofurtherthanfourwords apart.Example:appleAROUND(4)iphoneweather:Findtheweatherforaspecificlocation.Thisisdisplayedinaweathersnippet,butitalsoreturnsresultsfromother“weather”websites.Example:weather:sanfranciscostocks:Seestockinformation(i.e.,price,etc.)foraspecificticker.Example:stocks:aaplmap:ForceGoogletoshowmapresultsforalocationalsearch.Example:map:siliconvalleymovie:Findinformationaboutaspecificmovie.Alsofindsmovieshowtimesifthemovieiscurrentlyshowingnear you.Example:movie:stevejobsinConvertoneunittoanother.Workswithcurrencies,weights,temperatures,etc.Example:$329in GBPsource:FindnewsresultsfromacertainsourceinGoogleNews.Example:applesource:the_verge_Notexactlyasearchoperator,butactsasawildcardforGoogleAutocomplete.Example:appleCEO_ jobsHerearetheonesthatarehitandmiss,accordingtomytesting:#..#Searchforarangeofnumbers.Intheexamplebelow,searchesrelatedto“WWDCvideos”arereturnedfortheyears2010-2014,butnotfor2015andbeyond.Example:wwdcvideo2010..2014inanchor:Findpagesthatarebeinglinkedtowithspecificanchortext.Forthisexample,anyresultswithinboundlinkscontainingeither“apple”or“iphone”intheanchortextwillbereturned.Example: inanchor:appleiphoneallinanchor:Similarto“inanchor,”butonlyresultscontainingall ofthespecifiedwordsintheinboundanchortextwillbereturned.Example:allinanchor:appleiphoneblogurl:FindblogURLsunderaspecificdomain.ThiswasusedinGoogleblogsearch,butI’vefounditdoesreturnsomeresultsinregularsearch.Example:blogurl:microsoft.comSidenote.Googleblogsearchdiscontinuedin 2011loc:placenameFindresultsfromagiven area.Example:loc:”sanfrancisco”appleSidenote.Notofficiallydeprecated,butresultsareinconsistent.location:FindnewsfromacertainlocationinGoogleNews.Example:loc:”sanfrancisco”appleSidenote.Notofficiallydeprecated,butresultsareinconsistent.HerearetheGooglesearchoperatorsthathavebeendiscontinuedandnolongerwork. 🙁+Forceanexact-matchsearchonasinglewordorphrase.Example: jobs+appleSidenote.Youcandothesamethingbyusingdoublequotesaroundyoursearch.~Includesynonyms.Doesn’twork,becauseGooglenowincludessynonymsbydefault.(Hint:Usedoublequotestoexcludesynonyms.)Example:~appleinpostauthor:Findblogpostswrittenbyaspecificauthor.ThisonlyworkedinGoogleBlogsearch,notregularGooglesearch.Example:inpostauthor:”stevejobs”Sidenote.Googleblogsearchwasdiscontinuedin 2011.allinpostauthor:Similarto“inpostauthor,”butremovestheneedforquotes(ifyouwanttosearchforaspecificauthor,includingsurname.)Example:allinpostauthor:stevejobsinposttitle:Findblogpostswithspecificwordsinthetitle.Nolongerworks,asthisoperatorwasuniquetothediscontinuedGoogleblogsearch.Example:intitle:appleiphonelink:FindpageslinkingtoaspecificdomainorURL.Googlekilledthisoperatorin2017,butitdoesstillshowsomeresults—theylikelyaren’tparticularlyaccuratethough.(Deprecatedin2017)Example:link:apple.cominfo:Findinformationaboutaspecificpage,includingthemostrecentcache,similarpages,etc.(Deprecatedin2017).Note:Theid: operatorcanalsobeused—theresultsareidentical.Sidenote.Althoughtheoriginalfunctionalityofthisoperatorisdeprecated,itisstillusefulforfindingthecanonical,indexedversionofaURL.Thanksto@glenngabeforpointingthisone one!Example:info:apple.com /id:apple.comdaterange:Findresultsfromacertaindaterange.UsestheJuliandateformat,forsomereason.Example:daterange:11278-13278Sidenote.Notofficiallydeprecated,butdoesn’tseemto work.phonebook:Findsomeone’sphonenumber.(Deprecatedin2010)Example:phonebook:timcook#Searches#hashtags.IntroducedforGoogle+;nowdeprecated.Example:#apple15ActionableWaystoUseGoogleSearchOperatorsNowlet’stackleafewwaystoputtheseoperatorsintoaction.MyaimhereistoshowthatyoucanachievealmostanythingwithGoogleadvancedoperatorsifyouknowhowtouseandcombinethemefficiently.Sodon’tbeafraidtoplayaroundanddeviatefromtheexamplesbelow.Youmightjustdiscoversomethingnew.Boredofreading?Checkout9actionableGooglesearchoperatortipsinSamOh’svideo.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWLD9139IpcLet’sgo!1.FindindexationerrorsGoogleindexationerrorsexistformost sites.Itcouldbethatapagethatshouldbeindexed,isn’t.Orvice-versa.Let’susethesite: operatortoseehowmanypagesGooglehasindexedforahrefs.com.~1,040.Sidenote.Googleonlygivesaroughapproximation whenusingthisoperator. Forthefullpicture,checkGoogleSearchConsole.Buthowmanyofthesepagesareblog posts?Let’sfind out.~249.That’sroughly¼.IknowAhrefsbloginsideout,soIknowthisishigherthanthenumberofpostswe have.Let’sinvestigatefurther.OK,soitseemsthatafewoddpagesarebeingindexed.(Thispageisn’tevenlive—it’sa 404)SuchpagesshouldberemovedfromtheSERPsbynoindexingthem.Let’salsonarrowthesearchtosubdomainsandseewhatwe find.Sidenote.Here,we’reusingthewildcard(*)operatortofindallsubdomainsbelongingtothedomain,combinedwiththeexclusionoperator(-)toexcluderegularwwwresults.~731results.Here’sapageresidingonasubdomainthatdefinitely shouldn’tbeindexed.Itgivesa404errorfora start.HereareafewotherwaystouncoverindexationerrorswithGoogleoperators:site:yourblog.com/category -findWordPressblogcategorypages;site:yourblog.cominurl:tag-findWordPress“tag” pages.2.Findnon-securepages(non-https)HTTPsisamust thesedays,especiallyforecommercesites.Butdidyouknowthatyoucanfindunsecurepageswiththesite:operator?Let’stryitforasos.com.Ohmy,~2.47Munsecurepages.ItlookslikeASOSdon’tcurrentlyuseSSL—unbelievableforsuchalarge site.Sidenote.Don’tworry,Asoscustomers—theircheckoutpagesaresecure 🙂Buthere’sanothercrazy thing:ASOSisaccessibleatboththehttps andhttp versions.Andwelearnedallthatfromasimplesite: search!Sidenote.I’venoticedthatsometimes,whenusingthistactic,pageswillbeindexedwithoutthehttps.Butwhenyouclick-through,youwillbedirectedtothehttpsversion.Sodon’tassumethatyourpagesareunsecurejustbecausetheyappearassuchinGoogle’sindex.Alwaysclickafewofthemtodouble-check. 3.FindduplicatecontentissuesDuplicatecontent= bad.Here’sapairofAbercrombieandFitchjeansfromASOSwiththisbranddescription:Withthird-partybranddescriptionslikethis,they’reoftenduplicatedonother sites.Butfirst,I’mwonderinghowmanytimesthiscopyappearsonasos.com.~4.2K.NowI’mwonderingifthiscopyisevenuniqueto ASOS.Let’scheck.No,itisn’t.That’s15othersiteswiththisexactsamecopy—i.e.,duplicatecontent.Sometimesduplicatecontentissuescanarisefromsimilarproductpages,too.Forexample,similaroridenticalproductswithdifferentquantitycounts.Here’sanexamplefrom ASOS:Youcanseethat—quantitiesaside—alloftheseproductpagesarethe same.Butduplicatecontentisn’tonlyaproblemforecommercesites.Ifyouhaveablog,thenpeoplecouldbestealingandrepublishingyourcontentwithoutattribution.Let’sseeifanyonehasstolenandrepublishedourlistofSEOtips.~17results.Sidenote.You’llnoticethatIexcludedahrefs.com fromtheresultsusingtheexclusion(-)operator—thisensuresthattheoriginaldoesn’tappearinthesearchresults.Ialsoexcludedtheword“pinterest.”ThiswasbecauseIsawalotofPinterestresultsforthissearch,whicharen’treallyrelevanttowhatwe’relookingfor.Icouldhaveexcludedjustpinterest.com(-pinterest.com),butasPinteresthasmanyccTLDs,thisdidn’treallyhelpthings.Excludingtheword“pinterest”wasthebestwaytocleanuptheresults.Mostoftheseareprobably syndicatedcontent.Still,it’sworthcheckingtheseouttomakesurethattheydolinkbackto you.Recommendedreading:DuplicateContent:WhyItHappensandHowtoFix ItFindstolencontentinsecondsContentExplorer>Intitle>enterthetitleofyourpage/post>excludeyourown siteYouwillthenseeanypages(fromourdatabaseof900M+piecesofcontent)withthesametitleasyourpage/post.Inthisinstance,thereare5results.Next,enteryourdomainunder“Highlightunlinkeddomains.”Thiswillhighlightanysitesthatdon’tlinkbackto you.Youcanthenreachouttothosesitesandrequesttheadditionofasourcelink.FYI,thisfilteractuallylooksforlinksonadomain-levelratherthanapage-level.Itis,therefore,possiblethatthesitecouldbelinkingtoyoufromanotherpage,ratherthanthepageinquestion.4.Findoddfilesonyourdomain(thatyoumayhaveforgottenabout)Keepingtrackofeverythingonyourwebsitecanbedifficult.(Thisisespeciallytrueforbig sites.)Forthisreason,it’seasytoforgetaboutoldfilesyoumayhaveuploaded.PDFfiles;Worddocuments;Powerpointpresentations;textfiles;etc.Let’susethefiletype: operatortocheckfortheseonahrefs.com.Sidenote.Remember,youcanalsousetheext: operator—itdoesthesame thing.Here’soneofthose files:I’veneverseenthatpieceofcontentbefore.Have you?ButwecanextendthisfurtherthanjustPDF files.Bycombiningafewoperators,it’spossibletoreturnresultsforallsupportedfiletypesat once.Sidenote.Thefiletypeoperatordoesalsosupportthingslike.asp,.php,.html,etc.It’simportanttodeleteornoindextheseifyou’dpreferpeopledidn’tcomeacrossthem.5.FindguestpostopportunitiesGuestpostopportunities…thereareTONSofwaystofindthem,such as:Butyoualreadyknewaboutthatmethod,right!? 😉Sidenote.Forthosewhohaven’tseenthisonebefore,ituncoversso-called“writeforus”pagesinyourniche—thepagesmanysitescreatewhenthey’reactivelyseekingguestcontributions. Solet’sgetmorecreative.Firstoff:don’tlimityourselfto“writefor us.”Youcanalso use:“becomeacontributor"“contributeto”“writeforme”(yep—therearesolobloggersseekingguestposts,too!)“guestpostguidelines”inurl:guest-postinurl:guest-contributor-guidelinesetc.Buthere’sacooltipmostpeoplemiss:Youcansearchformanyoftheseat once.Sidenote.DidyounoticeI’musingthepipe(“|”)operatorinsteadof“OR”thistime?Remember,itdoesthesame thing. 🙂YoucanevensearchformultiplefootprintsANDmultiplekeywords.Lookingforopportunitiesinaspecificcountry?Justaddasite:.tld operator.Here’sanothermethod:Ifyouknowofaserialguestbloggerinyourniche,try this:Thiswillfindeverysitethatpersonhaswrittenfor.Sidenote.Don’tforgettoexcludetheirsitetokeeptheresultsclean!Howtofindevenmoreauthorguest postsContentExplorer >authorsearch>excludetheirsite(s)Forthisexample,let’suseourveryownTimSoulo.BOOM.17results.Allofwhichareprobably guestposts.Forreference,here’stheexactsearchIenteredintoContentExplorer:author:”timsoulo”-site:ahrefs.com-site:bloggerjet.comBasically,thissearchesforpostsbyTimSoulo.Butitalsoexcludespostsfromahrefs.comandbloggerjet.com(Tim’spersonalblog).Note. Sometimesyouwillfindafewfalsepositivesinthere.Itdependsonhowcommonthepersonsnamehappensto be.Butdon’tstop there:YoucanalsouseContentExplorertofindsitesinyournichethathaveneverlinkedto you.ContentExplorer>enteratopic>onearticleperdomain>highlightunlinkeddomainsHere’soneoftheunlinkeddomainsIfoundforahrefs.com:Thismeansmarketingprofs.comhasneverlinkedto us.Now,thissearchdoesn’ttelluswhetherornottheyhavea“writeforus”page.Butitdoesn’treallymatter.Thetruthisthatmostsitesareusuallyhappytoacceptguestpostsifyoucanofferthem“quality”content.Itwould,therefore,definitelybeworthreachingoutand“pitching”such sites.AnotherbenefitofusingContentExplorer isthatyoucanseestatsforeachpage,including:#of RDs;DR;Organictrafficestimation;Socialshares;Etc.Youcanalsoexporttheresultseasily. 🙂Recommendedreading:GuestBloggingforSEO:HowtoBuildHigh-qualityLinksat ScaleFinally,ifyou’rewonderingwhetheraspecificsiteacceptsguestpostsornot,try this:Sidenote.Youcouldaddevenmoresearches—e.g.,“thisisaguestarticle”—tothelistofsearchesincludedwithintheparentheses.Ikeptthissimplefordemonstrationpurposes.6.Findresourcepageopportunities“Resource”pagesround-upthebestresourcesona topic.Here’swhataso-called“resource”pagelooks like:Allofthoselinksyousee=linkstoresourcesonother sites.(Ironically—giventhesubjectnatureofthatparticularpage—alotofthoselinksarebroken)FurtherreadingASimple(ButComplete)GuidetoBrokenLinkBuildingHowtoFindandFixBrokenLinks(toReclaimValuable“Link Juice”)Soifyouhaveacoolresourceonyoursite,you can:findrelevant“resource”pages;pitchyourresourceforinclusionHere’sonewaytofind them:Butthatcanreturnalotof junk.Here’sacoolwaytonarrowit down:Ornarrowitdownevenfurtherwith:Sidenote.Usingallintitle:hereensuresthatthetitletagcontainsthewords“fitness”AND“resources,”andalsoanumberbetween5-15.Recommendedreading:ResourcePageLinkBuilding:TheOnlyGuideYou Needanoteaboutthe#..#operatorIknowwhatyou’rethinking:Whynotusethe#..# operatorinsteadofthatlongsequenceofnumbers.Goodpoint!Let’stry it:Confused?Here’sthe deal:Thisoperatordoesn’tplaynicelywithmostotheroperators.Nordoesitseemtoworkalotofthetimeanyway—it’sdefinitelyhitand miss.SoIrecommendusingasequenceofnumbersseparatedby“OR”orthepipe(“|”)operator.It’sabitofahassle,butit works.7.Findsitesthatfeatureinfographics…soyoucanpitch YOURSInfographicsgetabad rap.Mostlikely,thisisbecausealotofpeoplecreatelow-quality,cheapinfographicsthatservenorealpurpose…otherthanto“attractlinks.”Butinfographicsaren’talwaysbad.Here’sthegeneralstrategyforinfographics:createinfographicpitchinfographicgetfeatured,getlink(and PR!)Butwhoshouldyoupitchyourinfographicto?Justanyoldsitesinyour niche?NO.Youshouldpitchtositesthatareactually likelytowanttofeatureyourinfographic.Thebestwaytodothisistofindsitesthathavefeaturedinfographicsbefore.Here’show:Sidenote.Itcanalsobeworthsearchingwithinarecentdaterange—e.g.,thepast3months.Ifasitefeaturedaninfographictwoyearsago,thatdoesn’tnecessarilymeantheystillcareaboutinfographics.Whereasifasitefeaturedaninfographicinthepastfewmonths,chancesaretheystillregularlyfeaturethem.Butasthe“daterange:”operatornolongerseemstowork,you’llhavetodothisusingthein-builtfilterinGooglesearch. Butagain,thiscankickbacksomeseriousjunk.Sohere’saquick trick:usetheabovesearchtofindagood,relevantinfographic(i.e.,well-designed,etc.)searchforthatspecificinfographicHere’sanexample:Thisfound~2resultsfromthelast3months.And450+all-timeresults.Dothisforahandfulofinfographicsandyou’llhaveagoodlistofprospects.NotgettinggreatresultsfromGoogle?Try this.Haveyouevernoticedthatwhenaninfographicisembeddedonasite,thesiteownerwillusuallyincludetheword“infographic”insquarebracketsinthetitle tag?Example:Unfortunately,Googlesearchignoressquarebrackets(evenifthey’reinquotes).ButContentExplorerdoesn’t.ContentExplorer >searchquery>“AND[infographic]”Asyoucansee,youcanalsouseadvancedoperatorsinCEtosearchformultipletermsatonce.Thesearchabovefindsresultscontaining“SEO,”“keywordresearch,”or“linkbuilding”inthetitletag,plus“[infographic].”Youcanexporttheseeasily(withallassociatedmetrics),too.FurtherreadingTheVisualFormatYouShouldbeUsingforLinkBuilding(No,It’sNOTInfographics)6LinkableAssetTypes(AndEXACTLYHowtoEarnLinksWith Them)DeconstructingLinkbait:HowtoCreateContentThatAttractsBacklinks8.Findmorelinkprospects…ANDcheckhowrelevanttheyreally areLet’sassumeyou’vefoundasitethatyouwantalink from.It’sbeenmanuallyvettedforrelevance…andalllooks good.Here’showtofindalistofsimilarsitesor pages:Thisreturned~49results—allofwhichweresimilarsites.Sidenote.Intheexampleabove,we’relookingforsimilarsitestoAhrefs’blog—notAhrefsasa whole.wanttodothesameforspecificpages?NoproblemLet’stryourlinkbuildingguide.That’s~45results,allofwhicharevery similar. 🙂Here’soneoftheresults:yoast.com/seo-blogI’mquitefamiliarwithYoast,soIknowit’sarelevantsite/prospect.Butlet’sassumethatIknownothingaboutthissite,howcouldIquicklyvetthisprospect?Here’show:doasite:domain.com search,andnotedownthenumberofresults;doa site:domain.com[niche] search,thenalsonotedownthenumberofresults;dividethesecondnumberbythefirst—ifit’sabove0.5,it’sagood,relevantprospect;ifit’sabove0.75,it’sasuper-relevantprospect.Let’strythiswithyoast.com.Here’sthenumberofresultsforasimplesite: search:Andsite:[niche]:Sothat’s3,330/3,950=~0.84.(Remember,>0.75translatestoaveryrelevantprospect,usually)Nowlet’strythesameforasitethatIknowtobeirrelevant:greatist.com.Numberofresultsforsite:greatist.com search:~18,000Numberofresultsforsite:greatist.comSEO search:~7(18,000/7=~0.0004=atotallyirrelevantsite)IMPORTANT!Thisisagreatwaytoquickeliminatehighly-irrelevanttactics,butit’snotfoolproof—youwillsometimesgetstrangeorunenlighteningresults.Ialsowanttostressthatit’scertainlynoreplacementformanuallycheckingapotentialprospect’swebsite.YoushouldALWAYSthoroughlycheckaprospectssitebeforereachingouttothem.Failuretodothat=SPAMMING.Here’sanotherwaytofindsimilardomains/prospects…SiteExplorer>relevantdomain>CompetingDomainsForexample,let’sassumeIwaslookingformoreSEO-relatedlinkprospects.Icouldenterahrefs.com/blog intoSiteExplorer.ThenchecktheCompetingDomains.Thiswillrevealdomainscompetingforthesamekeywords.9.FindsocialprofilesforoutreachprospectsGotsomeoneinmindthatyouwanttoreachout to?Trythistricktofindtheircontactdetails:Sidenote.YouNEEDtoknowtheirnameforthisone.Thisisusuallyquiteeasytofindonmostwebsites—it’sjustthecontactdetailsthatcanbesomewhatelusive.Herearethetop4results:BINGO.Youcanthencontactthemdirectlyviasocialmedia.Orusesomeofthetipsfromsteps#4and#6inthisarticle tohuntdownanemailaddress.Furtherreading6WaysToFindAnyone’sEmailAddressin2021(Tried&Tested)HowtoFindSomeone’sEmailAddress(inSeconds)10.FindinternallinkingopportunitiesInternallinksareimportant.Theyhelpvisitorstofindtheirwayaroundyour site.AndtheyalsobringSEObenefits(whenusedwisely).Butyouneedtomakesurethatyou’reONLYaddinginternallinkswhererelevant.Let’ssaythatyoujustpublishedabiglistofSEOtips.Wouldn’titbecooltoaddaninternallinktothatpostfromanyotherpostswhereyoutalkaboutSEO tips?Definitely.It’sjustthatfindingrelevantplacestoaddsuchlinkscanbedifficult—especiallywithbig sites.Sohere’saquick trick:Forthoseofyouwhostillhaven’tgottenthehangofsearchoperators,here’swhatthis does:Restrictsthesearchtoaspecificsite;Excludesthepage/postthatyouwanttobuildinternallinks to;Looksforacertainwordorphraseinthe text.Here’soneopportunityIfoundwiththisoperator:Ittookmeallof~3secondstofind this. 🙂Recommendedreading:InternalLinksforSEO:AnActionableGuide9GreatPublicRelationsTacticswithCampaignExamples11.FindPRopportunitiesbyfindingcompetitormentionsHere’sapagethatmentionsacompetitorofours—Moz.Foundusingthisadvancedsearch:ButwhynomentionofAhrefs? 🙁Usingsite: andintext:,Icanseethatthissitehasmentionedusacoupleoftimesbefore.Buttheyhaven’twrittenanypostsdedicatedtoourtoolset,astheyhavewith Moz.Thispresentsanopportunity.Reachout,buildarelationship,thenperhapstheymay writeaboutAhrefs.Here’sanothercoolsearchthatcanbeusedtofindcompetitorreviews:Sidenote.Becausewe’reusing“allintitle”ratherthan“intitle,”thiswillmatchonlyresultswithboththeword“review”andoneofourcompetitorsinthetitle tag.Youcanbuildrelationshipswiththesepeopleandgetthemtoreviewyourproduct/servicetoo.GoevenfurtherwithContentExplorerYoucanalsousethe“Intitle”searchinContentExplorertofindcompetitorreviews.ItriedthisforAhrefsandfound795results.Forclarity,here’stheexactsearchI used:reviewAND(mozORsemrushORmajestic)-site:moz.com-site:semrush.com-site:majestic.comButyoucangoevenfurtherbyhighlightingunlinkedmentions.Thishighlightsthesitesthathaveneverlinkedtoyoubefore,soyoucanthenprioritisethem.Here’sonesitethathasneverlinkedtoAhrefs,yethasreviewedourcompetitor:Youcanseethatit’saDomainRating(DR)79website,soitwouldbewellworthgettingamentiononthis site.Here’sanothercool tip:Google’sdaterange: operatorisnowdeprecated.Butyoucanstilladdatimeperiodfiltertofindrecentcompetitormentions.Justusetheinbuiltfilter.Tools>Anytime>selecttimeperiodLookslike~34reviewsofourcompetitorswerepublishedinthepast month.Recommendedreading:9GreatPublicRelationsTacticswithCampaignExamplesWantalertsforcompetitormentionsinreal-time?Do this.Alerts>Mentions>Add alertEnterthenameofyourcompetitor…oranysearchqueryyou like.Chooseamode(either“intitle”or“everywhere”),addyourblockeddomains,thenaddarecipient.Setyourinternaltoreal-time(orwhateverintervalyouprefer).Hit“Save.”Youwillnowreceiveanemailwheneveryourcompetitorsarementionedonline.12.FindsponsoredpostopportunitiesSponsoredpostsarepaid-forpostspromotingyourbrand,productorservice.TheseareNOTlinkbuildingopportunities.Google’sguidelines statesthefollowing;BuyingorsellinglinksthatpassPageRank.Thisincludesexchangingmoneyforlinks,orpoststhatcontainlinks;exchanginggoodsorservicesforlinks;orsendingsomeonea“free”productinexchangeforthemwritingaboutitandincludingalinkThisiswhyyoushouldALWAYSnofollowlinksinsponsoredposts.Butthetruevalueofasponsoredpostdoesn’tcomedowntolinksanyway.ItcomesdowntoPR—i.e.,gettingyourbrandinfrontoftherightpeople.Here’sonewaytofindsponsoredpostopportunitiesusingGooglesearchoperators:~151results.Not bad.Hereareafewotheroperatorcombinationsto use:[niche]intext:”thisisasponsoredpostby”[niche]intext:”thispostwassponsoredby”[niche]intitle:”sponsoredpost”[niche]intitle:”sponsoredpostarchives”inurl:”category/sponsored-post”“sponsored”AROUND(3)“post”Sidenote.Theexamplesaboveareexactlythat—examples.Therearealmostcertainlyotherfootprintsyoucanusetofindsuchposts.Don’tbeafraidtotryother ideas.Wanttoknowhowmuchtrafficeachofthesesitesget?Do this.UsethisChromebookmarklet toextracttheGooglesearchresults.BatchAnalysis>pastetheURLs>select“domain/*”mode>sortbyorganicsearchtrafficNowyouhavealistofthesiteswiththemosttraffic,whichareusuallythebestopportunities.13.FindQ+AthreadsrelatedtoyourcontentForumsandQ+Asitesaregreatforpromotingcontent.Sidenote.Promoting!=spamming.Don’tjoinsuchsitesjusttoaddyourlinks.Providevalueanddroptheoccasionalrelevantlinkinthereintheprocess.OnesitethatcomestomindisQuora.Quoraallowyoutodroprelevantlinksthroughoutyouranswers.anansweronQuorawithalinktoanSEO blog.It’struethattheselinksarenofollowed.Butwe’renottryingtobuildlinkshere—thisisabout PR!Here’sonewaytofindrelevantthreads:Don’tlimityourselftoQuora,though.ThiscanbedonewithanyforumorQ+A site.Here’sthesamesearchforWarriorForum:IalsoknowthatWarriorForumhasasearchengineoptimizationcategory.Everythreadinthiscategoryhas“.com/search-engine-optimization/”inthe URL.SoIcouldrefinemysearchevenfurtherwiththeinurl:operator.I’vefoundthatusingsearchoperatorslikethisallowsyoutosearchforumthreadswithmoregranularitythanmoston-sitesearches.Here’sanothercool trick…SiteExplorer>quora.com>OrganicKeywords>searchforaniche-relevantkeywordYoushouldnowseerelevantQuorathreadssortedbyestimatedmonthlyorganictraffic.Answeringsuchthreadscanleadtoanicetrickleofreferraltraffic.14.FindhowoftenyourcompetitorsarepublishingnewcontentMostblogsresideinasubfolderoronasubdomain.Examples:ahrefs.com/blogblog.hubspot.comblog.kissmetrics.comThismakesiteasytocheckhowregularlycompetitorsarepublishingnewcontent.Let’strythisforoneofourcompetitors—SEMrush.Looksliketheyhave~4.5Kblog posts.Butthisisn’taccurate.Itincludesmulti-languageversionsoftheblog,whichresideonsubdomains.Let’sfilterthese out.That’smorelikeit.~2.2Kblog posts.Nowweknowourcompetitor(SEMrush)has~2.2Kblogpostsin total.Let’sseehowmanytheypublishedinthelast month.Becausethedaterange:operatornolongerworks,we’llinsteaduseGoogle’sinbuiltfilter.Tools>Anytime>selecttimeperiodSidenote.Anydaterangeispossiblehere.Justselect“custom.”~29blogposts.Interesting.FYI,that’s~4xfasterthanwepublishnewposts.Andtheyhave~15Xmorepoststhanusin total.Butwestillgetmoretraffic…with~2xthevalue,mightI add 😉Qualityoverquantity,right!?Youcanalsousethesite:operatorcombinedwithasearchquerytoseehowmuchcontentacompetitorhaspublishedonacertaintopic.15.FindsiteslinkingtocompetitorsCompetitorsgettinglinks?Whatifyoucouldalsohave them?Google’slink: operatorwasofficiallydeprecatedin 2017.ButI’vefoundthatitdoesstillreturnsomeresults.Sidenote.Whendoingthis,alwaysmakesuretoexcludeyourcompetitorssiteusingthe“site”operator.Ifyoudon’t,you’llalsoseetheirinternallinks.~900Klinks.wanttoseeevenmore links?Google’sdataisheavilysampled.Itlikelyisn’ttooaccurateeither.SiteExplorer canprovideamuchfullerpictureofyourcompetitor’sbacklinkprofile.~1.5millionbacklinks.That’salotmorethanGoogleshowedus.Thisisyetanotherinstancewherethetimeperiodfiltercanbeuseful.Filteringbythelastmonth,IcanseethatMozhasgained18K+newbacklinks.Prettyuseful.Butthisalsoillustrateshowinaccuratethisdatacan be.SiteExplorerpickedup35K+linksforthissameperiod.That’salmostDOUBLE!Furtherreading7ActionableWaystoLootYourCompetitors’BacklinksTheUltimateGuidetoReverseEngineeringYourCompetitor’sBacklinksFinalThoughtsGoogleadvancedsearchoperatorsareinsanely powerful.Youjusthavetoknowhowtouse them.ButIhavetoadmitthatsomearemoreusefulthanothers,especiallywhenitcomestoSEO.Ifindmyselfusingsite:,intitle:,intext:,andinurl: onanalmostdailybasis.YetIrarelyuseAROUND(X),allintitle:,andmanyoftheothermoreobscureoperators.I’dalsoaddthatmanyoperatorsareborderlineuselessunlesspairedwithanotheroperator…ortwo,or three.Sodoplayaroundwiththemandletmeknowwhatyoucomeup with.I’dbemorethanhappytoaddanyusefulcombinationsyoudiscovertothe post. 🙂CopylinkArticlebyJoshuaHardwickHeadofContent@Ahrefs(or,inplainEnglish,I'mtheguyresponsibleforensuringthateveryblogpostwepublishisEPIC).Likewhatwedo?Comeworkwithus