Carry out a free SEO audit with Google search operators

It's common to hear that SEO requires an array of expensive tools, right? We share this opinion. However, rest assured, it is entirely possible to carry out a partial analysis of your site using Google Dorks. Of course, by combining these with other tools, your analysis will be more in-depth, thus generating more effective results to resolve your problems.

What are Google search operators?

Today we'll explain how to analyze a portion of your search engine optimization (SEO) using these search operators that will make you a great web searcher.

 

How to use Google Dorks to carry out an SEO audit

Know the number of pages indexed with the site

The first and most well-known operator is “site:”, which allows you to select a domain and see all the pages indexed in the search engine. This advanced operator allows you to check if your indexed pages correspond to those you want to see on the search engine. To use it, nothing could be simpler; type “site:ux-republic.com”, and all our results will appear.

Check how easy it is to find files on Google

You have files on your site accessible to Internet users, but they are easily found in Google search results. This leads to a loss of conversion of your leads (subscription to a white paper, training, etc.). You can check if your files are indexed using the “filetype:” operator. To use it on your site;

site:mysite.com filetype:pdf (add other file types as needed).

Find competing sites

Are you looking for competitors to develop a new natural referencing strategy for your site? The problem is knowing who your competitors are according to Google. Use the advanced search operator “related:”. All sites classified like yours will come up with this query. Try with “related:facebook.com”.

Take inspiration from content on other sites

A new SEO strategy involves rework and new content on your site. However, inspiration can sometimes be lacking. No problem, the Google Dorks are here to help! Use different search operators like “allintext:”, “allinurl:”, “allintitle:”, “intitle:”. After each dork, add your keywords.

Renew your content with a Google Dork

Do you want to find your oldest content on your website? Nothing's easier ! Google helps you with the “before:” operator. Anything on your site before the date you specify will be in the search results. A way to quickly bring your content up to date.

Boolean search operators

Now that you know how to improve your SEO with Google operators, let's learn how to filter search results using Boolean operators. To begin with, what is a Boolean? This is an absolute result, the answer being either “yes” or “no”. Two operators allow you to filter your results in the best way:

  • AND : checks several conditions in your query. All must be respected in the search results.
  • OR : finds results if at least one of the conditions is met.

Google operators and their advanced applications

Now that you've explored some of the basic search operators, let's dive deeper into the advanced possibilities offered by Google.

Search operators for dates: If your analysis requires a time specification, Google offers operators to help you.

  • Before/After: uUse “before:” or “after:” to define a time range in which you want the results to be included. For example, “site:mysite.com before:2022-01-01” will display all content indexed before January 1, 2022.

Operators for exclusion: Suppose you want to exclude certain terms from your results.

  • "-": hasadd a hyphen before the term you want to exclude. For example, “SEO -search” will display results that include the term SEO but exclude the word “techniques”.

Operators for synonyms and similar terms : When you want to search for related terms.

  • “~”:uUse the tilde (~) before a word to find results with similar terms. For example, “SEO ~guide” will return results related to SEO and similar terms.

Location operators : For searches specific to a region or geographic location.

  • “location:”: en using “location:”, you can restrict the results to a specific geographic area. For example, “Italian restaurant location:Paris” will return Italian restaurants in Paris.

Operators for links : When you want to explore links between web pages.

  • “link:” :eUsing “link:”, you can see which pages link to a specific site. For example, “link:socialcomarket.com” will display pages that have links to the site socialcomarket.com.

Operators for security : When you want to check the security of a site.

  • “intitle: index of”: ce dork allows you to find indexed directories that may contain sensitive files. For example, “intitle:index of confidential” can reveal directories containing confidential information.

 

In conclusion on Google and search operators

You have understood, Google helps those who get started in SEO thanks to its search operators. They allow you to position yourself in relation to competitors and filter search results. The flexibility offered by Boolean operators allows you to better guide your SEO strategy. However, without other tools such as access to Google Search Console and a crawler (even a free one), fully auditing your website could prove complex.

 

 

 

Esteban Irschfeld, SEO Consultant at UX-Republic