SEO Optimization & Link Building – A Guide to Advanced Search Operators

SEO is the short form of search engine optimization. It is the process of optimizing web pages to reach the target audience on the SERPs. It also defines the process of making web pages easier for "crawlers"(search engine indexing software) to discover, scan, and index the sites.

The best search engine available on the Internet today is Google. Nearly 78% of % content is discovered through Google, while people use Baidu 9.9%, Yahoo 5.8 of times.

How to search on Google effectively?

To get the exact results wanted, one should make use of search operators and punctuations. Search operators are words that help to narrow down the results. Some basic search operators are specific site names, as "site: seooptimizers.com." One can also add some links that can refer to websites, as "link: youtube.com." It helps to find websites linked with YouTube. If one adds the "related:" tag, as related: youtube.com, it finds similar sites like YouTube. Such other operators and signs are-"OR:," "info:," "cache:," "$," @," "#," "+" and"-". 

Some advanced search operators can provide significant help. The search operator "allinanchor" helps to restrict google searches to show results that contain the anchor text. "Allintitle" only shows text that matches the title. "Allinurl" shows texts that match the searched text in the URL. There are other operators as- "allintext:", "author:", "define:", "intext:", "intitle:","site:" etc.

How to increase link-building opportunities?

You may use backlink search queries to build a link to another website. Find sites that give scope to post as a guest. To do this, one should type the keywords/ Competitor Name along with search queries as- "guest blog," "guest blogger," "write for us," "become a contributor," "contribute to us," "inurl:category/guest" and so on.

Further, find websites with industry resources. Insert the keyword and tags. For example - 

"top 10 resources", 

"top sources," 

"top ten tools," 

"top tools," 

"useful sites," 

"interesting sites," 

"favorite sites," 

"favorite articles," 

"top articles," 

"videos," 

"podcasts," 

"intitle:list," etc.

To find sites where one can list their website, add keyword with tags like - 

"add a site," 

"submit site," 

"add URL," 

"submit URL," 

"suggest URL," 

"add article," 

"submit article," 

"suggest article", 

"post article," 

"list," 

"recommend article," etc. 

You may also use "post / suggest / submit / add "along with"job / contest / coupons / webinars / video / listing / whitepaper / podcast / event and so on. 

To find non-profit organizations that accept donations, search for "Keyword site:.org." Use keywords like "donate for," "make donation," "make charity," "charity online," "support," "partner," "donate online," etc. 

To find websites that promote badges, tools, infographics, and widgets, search for "Industry Name" along with "intitle:tools/badges/widgets/ infographics", or " "inurl:tools/ badges/ widgets/ infographics". 

You may also use "Industry Name top/recommended/ favorite/ useful/ awesome/ amazing" with "tools/badges/widgets/ infographics". 

You can find government institutions by searching Keyword with ".gov" for the US (www.google.com), ".gov.uk" for the UK( www.google.co.uk), ".gov.in" for India( www.ggogle.co.in), "site: .gov"for in Canada(www.google.ca) and ".gov.au" for Australia. 

To find blogs that accept paid reviews, search for "intext: " along with "this is/ was a sponsored review/ post," "this is/ was a paid post." Also, search "this is/ was a sponsored review" and "this is/ was a paid review" along with keywords.

You can always do experiments by using different operators with queries.