Google search operators are commands added to a query to filter results by site, file type, title text, date, or other attributes. The most useful for daily tasks are site:, filetype:, and quoted exact-match phrases like “annual report 2024”. These cover most cases where a regular keyword search returns too much irrelevant material.
This article details the full set of operators in 2026 and those deprecated since 2010. About 25 operators remain functional. At least 12 have been retired or broken, with cache: removed in early 2024 and related: in mid-2023. The reference table is followed by per-category deep dives, real combination queries, and a list of non-functional operators to avoid wasting keystrokes.
Operator Mechanics in Plain Terms
An operator is a token Google parses before normal keyword matching. When you type site:nytimes.com climate, Google reads site:nytimes.com as an instruction (restrict to one domain) and climate as the search term. The two parts are separated by a space, but the colon and its value must touch. Writing site: nytimes.com breaks the parse, reverting to a normal keyword search.
Most operator names are case-insensitive. SITE: and site: behave identically. Two exceptions are OR and AROUND(N), which only work in capital letters; lowercase versions are ignored. The number in AROUND(N) must be a positive integer with no spaces inside the parentheses.
Operators stack. You can chain six or seven in a query, and Google applies them as logical AND filters by default. Mobile and desktop Google Search accept identical syntax, though result page layouts differ and certain SERP features appear or hide based on device. The udm=14 URL parameter forces a classic web-results view, stripping AI Overviews, useful for reading raw operator output without summaries.
The Master Operator Table
The table below lists every operator described in this article. The status column indicates each one’s functionality in 2026 or if retired.
| Operator | Purpose | Example | Notes |
| site: | Restrict to one domain or subdomain | site:nasa.gov mars | Working. Most reliable operator. |
| intitle: | Term must appear in page title | intitle:checklist seo | Working. Single term only. |
| allintitle: | All following terms must appear in title | allintitle:remote work productivity | Working. Does not stack well. |
| inurl: | Term must appear in URL | inurl:wp-admin | Working. Single term only. |
| allinurl: | All terms must appear in URL | allinurl:blog 2024 | Working. Does not stack well. |
| intext: | Term must appear in body text | intext:”data residency” | Working. Excludes title and URL. |
| allintext: | All terms must appear in body text | allintext:climate policy 2024 | Working. Strict. |
| filetype: | Filter by file extension | filetype:pdf “annual report” | Working. Many extensions supported. |
| ext: | Alias for filetype: | ext:xlsx revenue forecast | Working. Identical behaviour. |
| before: | Pages indexed before a date | before:2024-01-01 ai regulation | Working. Replaces daterange:. |
| after: | Pages indexed after a date | after:2024-06-01 carbon tax | Working. Combine with before:. |
| .. | Numeric range | laptop $500..$800 | Working. No spaces
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