Smart and Focused B2B Search
Tired of getting 400 million search results researching the search engines? Wearied by the non-expert garbage content showing up on page one? Perplexed why Google can’t read your mind? Using combinations of Operators and Google Special Syntaxes can help you locate the credible sources and better focus your B2B marketing search experience.
Google is a remarkably powerful tool that can ease and enhance your Internet exploration. Using special syntax you can tell Google that you want to restrict your searches to certain elements or characteristics of Web pages. Google has listed a complete list of its syntax elements at www.google.com/help/operators.html
Try some of these search tips. You’ll be amazed at how many different ways Google can improve your Internet searching.
Google Boolean Search Operators
Boolean operators define the relationships between words or groups of words.
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OPERATOR
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EXPLANATION
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EXAMPLE
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No operator produces results for all word combinations and each word separately
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Business marketing strategic plans
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AND
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Narrow search and retrieve results containing all of the words it separates.
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business marketing AND strategy
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OR/|
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Broaden search and retrieve records containing any of the words it separates.
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b2b OR b-to-b marketing
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NOT/-
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Narrow search and retrieve records that do not contain the term following it.
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b2b marketing NOT technology
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“”
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Searches for the exact phrase.
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“b2b marketing strategy”
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~
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Immediately before a key term will search for synonyms.
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B2b marketing ~methods
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*
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A placeholder for unknown letters in a word or words in a phrase
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B2B marketing strat*
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Google Special Syntaxes
Google special syntaxes allow search engine users to search in specified parts of the Web site or page for the specific search keyword.
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SYNTAX
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EXPLANATION
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intitle:
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Restricts a search to titles of web sites; it can be effectively combined with other syntaxes to customize a search. An alternative syntax, allintitle: looks for all the words in the title of a Web site; allintitle: does not mix well with other syntaxes.
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inurl:
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Restricts a search to the URLs of websites. It can be an effective way to find sites from within a domain, directory or path; it can also be effectively combined with other syntaxes to customize a search.
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site:
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Allows you to limit a search to a site or a top level domain.
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intext:
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Searches for words in only the text of a Web site. It ignores link text, URLs and titles which makes it a useful syntax for finding search words that are commonly used in URLs or links. It can be effectively combined with other syntaxes to customize a search.
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inanchor
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Searches for text in a Web site's link anchors (i.e., the text you click on get to a Web site). Since the anchor text for a link is usually descriptive of the page it links to, the inanchor: syntax can be a useful way to limit a search to relevant sites. It can be effectively combined with other syntaxes to customize a search.
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link
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Returns a list of Web sites linking to a specific URL. The link: syntax cannot be combined with another syntax.
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filetype:
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Searches for specific filename extensions. Google searches for PowerPoint (.ppt), Excel (.xls), and Word (.doc) documents as well as Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), Adobe Postscript (.ps) and Rich Text Format (.rtf).
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related:
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Searches for Web sites related or similar to a specified URL. This is a good way to retrieve categories or types of Web sites.
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info:
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Provides a page of links to more information about a specified URL including a link to the page's cache, a list of Web sites that link to the specified URL, a list of Web sites related to the specified URL and Web sites that contain the specified URL.
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Sample Search on B2B Marketing
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Google Search Statement
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Results
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Search Strategies
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B2B marketing
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202,000,000
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Default Boolean AND search.
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"B2B marketing"
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13,700,000
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Phrase search
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intitle:"b2b marketing"
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2,770,000
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Phrase in the page title.
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intitle:"b2b marketing" ~strategy
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1,340,000
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Phrase in page title + synonyms for strategy
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"b2b marketing" "strategic plan"
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461,000
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Two phrases
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"b2b marketing" "strategic plan" integrated
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342,000
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Two phrases + one word
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"b2b marketing" "strategic plan" integrated ideas
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134,000
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Two phrases + two words
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intitle:"b2b marketing" "strategic plan" ideas
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1,550
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Phrase in page title + phrase + word
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"b2b marketing" ~strategy filetype:ppt
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824
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Phrase + synonyms + powerpoint files only
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intitle:"b2b marketing" ~strategy filetype:pdf
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435
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Phase in page title + synonyms + pdf files only
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intitle:"b2b marketing" ~strategy site:marketo.com
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386
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Phrase in the page title + synonyms + on specific website
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intitle:"b2b marketing" "social media" site:mltcreative.com/blog
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179
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Phrase in page title + phrase + on specific website subdirectory, blog
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intitle:"b2b marketing" site:hubspot.com
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56
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Phrase in page title + on specific website
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intitle:"b2b marketing" ~strategy site:marketo.com filetype:pdf
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7
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Phrase in the page title + synonyms + on specific website + pdf files only
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Special thanks to Cassandra Baker, falculty at University of Phoenix School of Business for sharing these search tips.
What tips and tricks can you share about smart and focused search?
/mh
Martine Hunter is the creative director of inbound marketing with the Atlanta advertising agency, MLT Creative, which specializes in B2B marketing. She holds the Inbound Marketing professional certification and serves the Atlanta chapter of the Business Marketing Association as president of the board of directors.
