Google Search Operators Cheat Sheet (2026)

By the getdork team — Published June 12, 2026

Google search operators are special commands you type directly into the search box to filter results by domain, file type, page title, URL structure, or exact phrase. The key operators that work reliably in 2026 are site:, filetype:, intitle:, inurl:, exact-phrase quotes, the minus (-) exclusion, and OR. Combine them in a single query and Google applies all filters simultaneously.
On this page

Core operators reference table

Operator What it does Example query Status
site: Limit results to a specific domain or subdomain site:linkedin.com "Head of Growth" Works
filetype: / ext: Return only files of the specified type filetype:pdf "annual report" site:sec.gov Works
intitle: Require a term in the page <title> intitle:"request for proposal" filetype:pdf Works
allintitle: All listed terms must appear in the title allintitle: vendor list 2026 Works
inurl: Require a term in the URL inurl:"/careers" site:acmecorp.com Works
allinurl: All listed terms must appear in the URL allinurl: team members site:startup.io Works
intext: Require a term in the page body text intext:"open to work" site:linkedin.com Works
" " Exact phrase match "Chief Marketing Officer" Chicago Works
- (minus) Exclude pages containing the term cardiologists Memphis -hospital Works
OR (uppercase) Match either of two terms or phrases "VP" OR "Director" site:linkedin.com Works
* (asterisk) Wildcard within an exact phrase "Head of * Sales" Works
before: / after: Filter by date published (YYYY-MM-DD) "data breach" site:techcrunch.com after:2025-01-01 Partial
cache: Show Google's cached copy of a URL cache:example.com Removed
link: Show pages linking to a URL link:competitor.com Removed
related: Find sites similar to a URL related:competitor.com Removed

"Partial" means the operator works but Google applies it inconsistently across queries and time ranges. "Removed" means Google officially deprecated the operator — use Google Search Console or dedicated SEO tools for that data instead.

How to build a dork query (6 steps)

  1. Start with your core keyword. This is the primary term: a job title, specialty name, topic, or phrase. Use quotes if it is a multi-word phrase: "VP of Sales".
  2. Restrict the domain with site:. If you want results from one platform, add site:linkedin.com, site:.gov, or a specific company domain. This is the highest-leverage operator and usually the first one to add.
  3. Add a file type if you need documents. filetype:pdf for PDFs, filetype:xlsx for Excel sheets. Useful for finding published reports, price lists, RFPs, and data exports.
  4. Filter by title or URL. If the domain filter still returns too many results, add intitle: to require your keyword in the page heading, or inurl: to require it in the path.
  5. Exclude noise with minus. If irrelevant terms are cluttering results, add -term. For example, searching for private-practice cardiologists? Add -hospital to filter out health system pages.
  6. Combine and adjust. Run the query in Google. If results are too few, remove one operator. If results are too many, add another. The sweet spot for prospecting is usually 50–500 results.

Copy-paste examples by use case

B2B sales: find decision-makers

# Marketing VPs in Austin on LinkedIn
site:linkedin.com "VP of Marketing" "Austin, Texas Area"

# CROs at SaaS companies (broad, no geography)
site:linkedin.com "Chief Revenue Officer" "SaaS"

# Company team/leadership pages
inurl:"/team" OR inurl:"/leadership" site:targetcompany.com

Recruiting: source candidates

# Python engineers open to work, San Francisco
site:linkedin.com "Python" "open to work" "San Francisco"

# GitHub profiles: React developers with Memphis in bio
site:github.com "Memphis" "React"

# Engineers who list a specific company in their profile
site:linkedin.com "Software Engineer" "Acme Corp"

Document research: public files

# Government RFP PDFs
filetype:pdf "request for proposal" site:.gov 2026

# Publicly indexed Excel files from a competitor
filetype:xlsx site:competitor.com

# Conference speaker lists (often PDFs)
filetype:pdf "speaker" "agenda" "2026 conference"

Competitive intelligence

# Press releases from a specific company
inurl:"press-release" OR inurl:"news" site:competitor.com

# Job postings revealing a competitor's hiring focus
intitle:"job" OR intitle:"career" site:competitor.com "machine learning"

# Pricing pages that are publicly indexed
inurl:"/pricing" site:competitor.com

OSINT: find exposed files (responsible use only)

# Publicly indexed backup files (report these if found on others' domains)
filetype:sql site:targetdomain.com
filetype:log site:targetdomain.com

# Open directory listings
intitle:"index of" site:targetdomain.com
Note on OSINT queries: Finding an exposed file or open directory via a dork does not authorize you to access, copy, or publish its contents. The ethical response is to notify the site owner. See What is Google dorking? for the full responsible-use section.
Skip the syntax — use getdork to build these queries from a form.
Select your filters, add a location or site, and getdork assembles the operator string. Free to generate; Pro to run results in-app.

Start for free at getdork.com →

Deprecated operators to avoid

Several operators that were once useful have been removed or disabled by Google:

A note on responsible use

All operators listed here search publicly indexed content — pages and files that Google has already crawled and made findable. Using them to research companies, find public documents, or discover prospects is legal and widely practiced in sales, recruiting, and journalism.

The responsible limits: do not use operators to attempt access to systems you are not authorized to use, do not scrape results at scale in violation of Google's Terms of Service, and if a dork surfaces sensitive data that should not be public, notify the owner rather than collecting or publishing it.

Frequently asked questions

Which Google search operators still work in 2026?

The reliably working set is: site:, filetype: / ext:, intitle:, allintitle:, inurl:, allinurl:, intext:, exact-phrase quotes, - exclusion, OR, and the * wildcard. before: and after: work but are inconsistent. cache:, link:, and related: are removed.

Can I combine multiple operators in one search?

Yes. Google evaluates all operators in a single query. There is no practical limit on the number of operators, though queries with 4–6 operators typically give the most useful result sizes. Example combining three: site:linkedin.com "Head of Engineering" "New York" -recruiter

Why does site: return fewer results than I expect?

Google only counts pages it has indexed, which excludes pages blocked by robots.txt, pages with a noindex tag, and pages too thin or duplicate to merit inclusion. The count shown is also an approximation; the real number changes as Google re-crawls. Do not rely on the count for precision audit work.

Does filetype: work for all file types?

Google indexes a specific set: PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, TXT, CSV, RTF, and a few others. Less common formats (DWG, PSD, RAW image files) are not indexed. The ext: alias works identically to filetype:.

What is the difference between intitle: and allintitle:?

intitle:term requires that one specific term appear in the title — the rest of your query applies normally to the full page. allintitle:term1 term2 requires all listed terms to appear in the title. For most prospecting queries, intitle: with a quoted phrase is more flexible and less restrictive.

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