13 Search Operators for Ultimate Link Building
Every once in a while and depending on what website I’m working on, I’ll use different search operators to find easy links relevant to the keywords I’m targeting on the SERP’s. There are many search engine query cheat sheets and SEO Blogs that give huge list of search operators to use when doing link building. So I’ve composed a list of all the search queries I could find to help you build a nice list of relevant sites to get backlinks from.
(You can copy this list to an excel spreadsheet or edit pad text editor and replace “keyword” with your targeted phrase)
- add comment “keyword”
- allinanchor:keyword
- allintext:keyword
- allintitle:keyword
- allinurl:keyword
- directory keyword
- favorite links keyword
- favorite sites keyword
- intext:keyword
- intitle:blog keyword
- intitle:directory “keyword”
- intitle:forum keyword
- intitle:group keyword
- intitle:keyword
- intitle:post keyword
- intitle:tag keyword
- inurl:add-link
- inurl:submit-link
- inurl:blog)s)
- inurl:blog keyword
- inurl:directory “keyword”
- inurl:forum(s)
- inurl:forum keyword
- inurl:tag(s)
- keyword “add a url”
- keyword “add site”
- keyword “add url”
- keyword “add website”
- keyword “add your site”
- keyword “advertiser testimonials”
- keyword “favorite links”
- keyword “favorite sites”
- keyword “leave a comment” / “leave comment”
- keyword “no comments”
- keyword “notify me of follow-up comments”
- keyword “powered by wordpress”
- keyword “recommended links”
- keyword “recommended resources “
- keyword “recommended sites”
- keyword “related sites”
- keyword “related URLs”
- keyword “submit a url”
- keyword “submit site”
- keyword “submit url”
- keyword “submit website”
- keyword “submit your site”
- keyword “suggest a url”
- keyword “suggest site”
- keyword “suggest url”
- keyword “suggest website”
- keyword “suggest your site”
- keyword “wiki” (site:.edu)
- keyword blog
- keyword bookmarks
- keyword directory
- keyword discussion boards
- keyword donate
- keyword donations
- keyword donors
- keyword forum
- keyword group
- keyword join
- keyword members
- keyword resources
- keyword sites
- keyword sponsor charity
- keyword sponsors
- keyword sponsorship
- keyword tag
- keyword websites
- list keyword
- list keyword sites
- list of keyword sites
- post comment keyword
- post comment keyword
- recommended links keyword
- site:edu
- site:gov
- site:org
But check this out, all of these search operators can be used together. You can mix them up. You can use 2 of them, 5 of them or even all of them (for keywords like web, site, page etc. ;).
Imagine you are a webmaster for a hotel in New York city and you’re looking for more ways to obtain links from sites relevant to yours. Here are a few examples and explanations of how link building search queries would look if you mixed them up and played around with them.
allintext:keyword site:.edu – allintext:new york hotel site:.edu
- This will bring up all the .edu sites that have “new york hotel” anywhere in the site’s text.
allintitle:keyword “links” – allintitle:new york hotel “links”
- This will bring up all the pages with “new york hotel” and “links” in the title tags.
directory intitle:keyword – directory intitle:new york hotel
- This will bring up all the directories with a page that has “new york hotel” in the title tag.
intitle:keyword “favorite links” – intitle:new york hotel “favorite links”
- This will bring up all the “favorite links” pages with “new york hotel” in the title tag.
intext:keyword site:.edu – intitle:new york hotel site:.edu
- This will bring up all the .edu pages with “new york hotel” in the title tag.
intitle:keyword inurl:keyword inbody:keyword – intitle:new york hotel inurl:hotel inbody:new york hotel
- This will show all the the web pages with “new york hotel” in the title tag, “hotel” in the url and “new york hotel” somewhere in the body content.
inurl:keyword site:.edu – inurl:hotel site:.edu
- This shows all the .edu webpages with “hotel” in the url
keyword “favorite sites” site:.gov – new york hotel “favorite sites” site:.gov
- This will display all the government sites with “favorite links” pages and “new york hotel” somewhere within them.
keyword “suggest url” intitle:keyword – new york hotel “suggest url” intitle:new york hotel
- This will display all the pages with the phrase “suggest url” somewhere on the page and with “new york hotel” in the title tag.
links “keyword” intitle:blog – links “new york hotel” intitle:blog
- This will show all the pages with “blog” somewhere in the title tag and the phrases “links” & “new york hotel” somewhere within the site.
intitle:keyword “forums” site:.edu – intitle:new york hotel “forums” site:.edu
- This will dislpay all the forums on educational sites with new york hotel in the title tag.
keyword “sponsors” site:.edu – new york hotel “sponsors” site:.edu
- This will show all the .edu pages with ‘sponsors’ and ‘new york hotel’ somewhere in it.
keyword “links” intitle:keyword site:.gov – new york hotel “links” intitle:new york hotel site:.gov
- This will show all the government sites with “new york hotel” in the title tag and with the phrases ‘links’ and ‘new york hotel’ somewhere on that page.
I wish I could tell you guys about some other good ones. But I’m afraid I have to keep some to give me that edge when competing with other link building experts. But, I’m sure some of y’all could come up with some good ones yourself. Maybe even ones I’ve never thought of. So mix those up, change them around and create ones of your own. Feel free to comment some other good SE operator combos if you have or made any.
Some operator combos can be a gold mine. You’ll see.
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my SEO blog. I really do appreciate it. You can read another related post (found below) or subscribe here. Once again, thank you for visiting James’ SEO blog.
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This is a great article with lots of useful nuggets for those knowledgeable to recognize them. I think you might also enjoy this article: http://searchengineland.com/21-link-builders-share-advanced-link-building-queries-29848
Blew my mind when I read how some of those guys are using search operators.
Hey Vertical Measures, I haven’t got a chance to read through that yet. I remember when I 1st saw it, I had to bookmark. It looked so juicy. Thought I’d have to dedicate sometime to it (a lot). But now, I have to go read it. That’s for the reminder VM.
Good collection.Amazing list.it help for seo.
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Wow great list. Didn't see this till now. When the freak you going to make it up to LA?
James,
Very practical set of search operators and easy list to follow. Do you mind if I copy your post into the Digital Marketing Inner Circle community? I will credit you and put a link back to the source if you are happy for me to do this.
Regards
Matt
Hey Dr. Mathew, I'm glad you asked. You can do as you please.
Can I guest post in your community something I think your visitors would like?
Very useful, thanks!
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Thanks for sharing!
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whenever I see people like you which sharing information for other peoples, I feel so glad, thanks for your information and continue your work.
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Very good. I see that here I am going to learn very much.
I follow you from Valencia. Spain
thank you very much. I need your tips for my blog link-Building.
Wow James, This is an extremely useful list. I will look again, but I did not see the "comment luv" and the "keyword Luv" search operators. Comment luv, and keyword luv , are two very useful plug ins that I use with all of my word press sites, they work great for link building. I am definitely going to download this list of operators
Thank You so much
So there are definitely various reasons why you should use on-page search engine optimization. If there is anything that can permanently and irreversibly improve the prospects of your website, this is it.
Awesome stuff, thanks.
I have found lately that I don't need ways to build tons and tons of backlinks. I have been using an plugin for Firefox called SEOQuake. With good search strings I can find great places for backlinks. Getting just a few every couple of days does wonders for my clients search engine placement.
I agree David. Taking the time to get quality, relevant links goes much further (and last longer) than any strategy to get a bunch of links. Thanks for the tip!
I really like your this page and looking forward for the further information.
This is great stuff. Very thorough and well thought-out. Link building is very labor intensive and finding quality link partners is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks with any link building campaign. Thanks for your efforts and your willingness to share the 'fruits of your labor.' I look forward to spending a lot of time on your posts. You've got a great handle on SEO and your subject matter is without doubt some of the best written and well-organized I've come across.
Thanks,
GEO.
Sweet list man…..I use special search operators each day my my list was pretty short. This gigantic list should open up some great link building ideas and possibilities.
Thanks
Thank You Idea For site
I feel that I will be here for hours reading everything as I’m an information junkie.
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This is a great article with lots of useful nuggets for those knowledgeable to recognize them.really nice job well defined ,thanks for it