Today I’m going to talk about a really easy task that many people browsing the internet do but for some reason there are still some who don’t know how to search for a word on a website using either Google search itself, or using the find tool in your browser.
In this post I will show you how to:
- Use the Find Tool that comes with almost every web browser
- Use Google advanced search operator to search for specific words in all pages of a given website
- Some basic tips I learned along the way to better search websites
How to use the built in Find Tool in your browser
So almost every browser has a built in Find Tool to help you quickly locate and highlight any word or phrase in the open page. Here’s how to use it with pictures.
1. Browse to the open webpage you want to search, and click on Ctrl + F if using Windows or Command + F if using Mac. It will open the Find Tool search box in the upper right corner.
You can also open the Find Tool by clicking on the Edit menu and then choosing Find
If you’re using a mobile browser, the Find Tool will usually be in the menu and it may be called ” Find on Page ”
If you’re using Safari on IoS you can actually just delete the url from the address bar and start typing the word you want to find and then choose ” On This Page ” in the search results ( I actually just learned this myself )
2. Start typing the word into the Find Tool text box and your browser will locate the best match in real time
If there is more than one match for the search, you can click the ” Next ” or ” previous ” buttons to jump right between the results and the page will scroll automatically to that spot.
How to search for a word in a website with Google Search Operator
So you can also search for specific words inside a website using Google. There is a simple search operator that will help you confine the search to only that specific URL you enter.
For those who don’t know what are Search Operators, they are basically just advanced search commands that can give you specific results instead of the usual broad search terms most people use.
So to search for a word inside a website using Google Search follow these steps:
1. Browse to google.com
2. Using the search operator: site:alonymedia.com at the beginning of your search it will instruct Google to only give you results from that specific website, in this case my own site Alony Media
Just enter your search word after the site:yourdomain.com command and Google will return results only from within this domain.
If you want to search for a specific phrase and not just one word, you can surround your search phrase with quotes.
To give you a better example. If you want to search alonymedia.com for the word growth you will search:
site:alonymedia.com growth
And in this case Google will return all pages that contain the word ” Growth ”
If you want to search alonymedia.com for the specific phrase ” explosive growth rate ” you will search for:
site:alonymedia.com ” explosive growth rate ”
And in this case Google will return all pages from the site that has the specific phrase ” explosive growth rate ”
Do you see the difference? Great.
PRO TIP – Google will show you all pages on the site that contains the word or exact phrase you looked for, but once you click and browse to the page, you will need to use the Find Tool to locate the specific place the word or phrase are on the page.
Basic tips for searching better
1. So I have been using Google for many years now, and from my experience when I try to find something I usually like to perform a broad search first, so I can browse through the results and see if any of them is a god match.
Whether I see a result that interest me, I just right click the link and choose ” Open in a new tab ” and keep browsing the search result.
I do this so I can open a few results fast, and then browse all the relevant pages I found.
I also found that using this way while I browse the broad pages I searched, I will find new similar search terms about my initial search to broaden my search or refine it.
Even if I know exactly what I want, for example I am looking for a ” leather laptop backpack by XXX brand ”
I might search for ” leather laptop backpacks ” just to see all the other options available, you get it? Google is a powerful tool, but sometimes you ignore its features because you know what you want.
2. Use everyday simple terms. Sometimes when I want to find something that I think is complicated, the best way to find it is just use very simple, sometimes even idiotic phrases or words.
I do this because Google is a computer with an algorithm. Sophisticated as it may be, sometimes using simple terms gets the best results simply because it helps Google locate what you’re looking for more easily.
Hope you enjoyed this article about how to find specific words inside a website and that it helped you in some way.