How To Use Search Operators To Find Link Building Opportunities

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Search Operators for Link Building
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You type hundreds of search queries daily on Google, but how much of the content that comes up is actually what you need?

For some queries, we get exactly what we were looking for.

But sometimes, we find the results are totally incompatible.

This post is all about how to use search operators. 

  • But why use search operators at all?

Because using search operators can make your search queries 60% more effective.

Many SEOs use search operators for link building by searching for things like “guest posting opportunities”. Using these little-known operators can narrow the focus of your search and give you exactly what you want.

Read: What Are Backlinks in SEO and What Are the Advantages of Backlinks?

So let’s begin…

What is a Search Operator?

A search operator is simply a character or string of characters used to get more specific search results.

There are thousands of operators that you can use to speed up your process of finding accurate results from search engines.

This post will cover nine important operators that you can start using today.

Important search operators that link builders should know:

1. allinanchor:

The allinanchor: operator gives you results which contain your query as anchor text used in that post.

Let’s say you use the query term:

  • “best hotels in India”

In order to find all the results that use the anchor text “best hotels in India”, you can use the operator:

  • “allinanchor: best hotels in India”

2. allintext:

The allintext: operator gives you results which contain your query as text in the page.

For example, if you want to search for:

  • “link building for beginners”

You can find sites with this specific query as text in their page. Simply put your query with the operator:

  • “allintext: link building for beginners”

This will return results having “link”, “building”, and “beginners” in the text of that page.

3. allintitle:

Similar to allintext:, the allintitle: operator gives you results that contain your query in the title.

For example, if you want to query for:

  • “dog training”

You can find only those articles with this query in the title by using the operator:

  • “allintitle: dog training”  

This will give only give results that contain “dog” and “training” in their titles.

4. allinurl:

The allinurl: operator restricts search results to only those which have your query term in URL of the page.

For example, you want to search:

  • “product reviews”

To find that query in the URL, use the operator:

  • “allinurl: product reviews”

This operator will only return results that contain “product reviews” in their URL.

Take a look at this screenshot to understand better:

Note: “product reviews” is highlighted in the URLs of the results.

All in URL Search Operator
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5. intitle:

The intitle: operator gives you results that contain a specific part of the query in the title.

For example, you want to search for:

  • “link building service”

To make sure you filter out results that aren’t a service, use the operator:

  • “link building intitle:service”

This will give you results that contain “service” in the title and “link building” somewhere else.

  • Important Note: There must be no space between the “intitle:” operator and the following word (EX: intitle:service – CORRECT … intitle: service – INCORRECT).

6. site:

The site: operator is used to find all posts from a particular website.

For example, if you want to see only posts from ShoutMeLoud, then you can simply use the operator:

  • “site:shoutmeloud.com”

This will restrict Google results to posts that are only from ShoutMeLoud.com.

7. + (now quotation marks)

Initially, the + operator was used to restrict results for an exact keyword or phrase.

After 2011, Google updated its + operator to quotation marks (“).

Now, to search for an exact word or phrase you can simply enclose the word or phrase in quotations.

For example, to find guest posting opportunities for link building, you can use the operator:

  • link building “write for us”

This will give results that are related to link building that have the specific phrase “write for us” somewhere in the title, URL, description, or elsewhere.

8. ~

The ~ operator is used when you want to search for results that also include synonyms of your query.

Let’s say you are searching for:

  • “link building guide”

You can use the operator:

  • “link building ~guide”

This will not only display results of “link building guide” but will also display results of “link building help”, “link building tutorials”, “link building tips”, etc.

9. *

The * operator (asterisk) is a little-known operator used while searching for phrases having placeholders between them.

For example, if I query Google with:

  • “India * country”

Google will find pages having phrases starting with “India”, followed by one or more keyword, then followed by “country”.

So the results may look like this:

  • “India best country”
  • “India top country”
  • “India is my favorite country”
  • etc.

Two Tips For Link Building Using Search Operators

1. Guest Posting Opportunities

Guest posting will always remain a high-priority link building method.

It helps you build online authority and trust with your audience. In order to find guest posting opportunities, you can try using these operators:

  • YOUR KEYWORD “write for us”
  • YOUR KEYWORD “guest post”
  • YOUR KEYWORD “blog for us”
  • YOUR KEYWORD “writers needed”

Example- intitle:seo “write for us” gives the following results:

Guest Posting using search operators
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(Read: List Of Quality Blogs That Accept Guest Posts)

2. Link Roundup Opportunities

Link roundups can be very effective if you have some quality information to offer.

In order to find sites that do link roundups, you can simply use this operator:

  • intitle:roundup ” YOUR KEYWORD”

Example- intitle:roundup “weight loss tips”

Search operator Link roundups
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Note: After finding sites that accept link roundups, you can manually contact them and pitch them your excellent content.

Conclusion

This is how you can use search operators to easily find sites that are worth reading, match your specific interests, or even for gaining links.

Search operators give you a totally different way to explore information by providing you with exactly what you were looking for.

Do you use search operators? Let me know which one is your favorite in the comments below.

Did you find this search operator guide useful? Share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus!

Here are more posts that will help you to earn links:

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Authored By
Abhishek Kalra is an Inbound Certified Marketer and Founder of SmartMarketingWays.com, A blog which talks about latest marketing strategies that you can use to grow your online business. With his Entrepreneurial skills, He is managing several blogs while pursuing bachelor degree Course in Computer Science.

22 thoughts on “How To Use Search Operators To Find Link Building Opportunities”

  1. Aman Thakur

    Hello Abhishek Kalra,
    The really great information it’s really useful for me and this link building guideline is the really boost the content. The link building is a basis of SEO and very helpful for google ranking. Through this, we can gain traffic on our website.

  2. Mahammad Faruk

    Thanks for your appreciation. It really motivates me 🙂
    Stay connected for more updates. Thank you

  3. anand manni

    Fantastic list of actionable link building strategies. I’m going to focus on going the infographic route/ publishing content that people will naturally want to link to. This seems like a good long-term strategy for on-going link building. Eliminates the outreach, attracts bigger brands and media outlets.

  4. RD Academia

    Congratulations on the article.

    What do you think of SGA softwre?

  5. Aitazaz afzal

    Thank you Harsh you always help us improve our seo.
    Thanks

  6. stephen

    Hi Abhishek,

    Nice article, it helped me because i was completely unaware of how to do proper link building. Your article really motivated me.

  7. Ankita Singh

    Thus the difficult task to find relevant content on search engine. Your post is very useful for Internet user. If you are in SEO technology, it is more difficult to create relevant backlinks. Thank you…

  8. Ashish Patel

    This is an amazing post . In fact every post mentioned in shoutmeloud.com is pretty illustrative and informative. I appreciate the work of every author involved in this website to make it sucessfull all the time . I am yet to start my website. I keep a track on your website Harsh . You are inspiration to many . Thank you for sharing things you learn and let others to implement the same for free:)

  9. Kassidi

    Very usefull. I tried allintitle to see all my competitors’ topics for a keyword.
    Makes easier life for beginners.
    Thanks Abhishek.

    1. Abhishek Kalra

      Hi KASSIDI
      I’m glad you liked this post. Using these search operators can really simplify your search results.
      Stay connected for more updates 🙂

  10. Rajesh K

    Don’t you think manual link-building is risky? Aren’t links supposed to come naturally?

    1. Abhishek Kalra

      Hi RAJESH K
      We can’t say manual link building is risky as long as they are build using white-hat techniques. Link are also supposed to come naturally, but manual link building should also be a part of your link building strategies if you want to rank on the top positions of Google.
      Stay connected for more updates 🙂

  11. Paramjot Singh

    Hi @Abhishek.

    Excellent tips you have shared here.

    Many newbies don’t know about this simple but powerful link building trick.

    I’ve never seen before in my blogging carrier, this link building strategy is awesome.

    Keep it up on man. A big thumbs up.

    Stay blessed. 🙂

    1. Abhishek Kalra

      Hi PARAMJOT SINGH,
      Thanks a lot for your motivating words. I’m glad that you liked this post. Tell me anytime, if you need any further help from me.
      Stay connected for more updates 🙂

  12. Akshay Girhepuje

    Really great article.. I didn’t know 90% of them. Thank you …:D

    1. Abhishek Kalra

      Hi AKSHAY GIRHEPUJE
      I’m glad that you learned a lot out of this post. Tell me anytime, if you need any more help from me.
      Stay Connected & Take Care 🙂

  13. Pixels Advice

    Hi ABHISHEK!

    Really great work to guide those people that are new in this field. I am also new one. Really i was facing issue to find relevant content. I can see your instruction help me to find out exact data what i need for my link Building Strategy. Thanks for helping us.

    1. Abhishek Kalra

      I’m really happy that you found what you were looking for using these tips and tricks.
      Stay connected for more updates 🙂

  14. kumar

    Hello Abhishek,

    first let me appreciate for your work, i feel its really very useful article, because max people dont know how to build the links, this concept helps them a lot.

    1. Abhishek Kalra

      Thanks for your appreciation. It really motivates me 🙂
      Stay connected for more updates.

  15. Anjali

    Hi Abhishek,
    Link building is definitely one of the most important aspects of SEO strategy. But, finding good sites to comment on might be a daunting task. The way you have mentioned about using the search engine to find backlinks is really good. I think link roundups is a good way to get quality backlinks.

    1. Abhishek Kalra

      Hi Anjali,
      I’m glad that you liked this post. Yes, you are right. Link roundups can be a great way of attracting quality backlinks if you have really good content.
      Stay connected for more updates 🙂

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