At least one of the words

Using the OR operator between keywords returns documents containing ANY of the words. Example: rhino OR rhinoceros OR unicorn returns results containing any one of these words.

None of the words

The (minus) - operator excludes any page with this word from the results. Example: spaghetti -meatballs only returns documents containing spaghetti without the word meatballs.

The exact phrase

A phase within double quotation marks will appear in results exactly as you write it. Example: 'to be, or not to be.' Remember, Google is not case sensitive; capitalization is ignored.

Site: Operator

Focus your search on all sites within a single domain. Example: site:edu searches all .edu websites. Also used to search within a specific site. Example: site:nasa.gov returns results from just NASA's website.

-site: operator

Eliminates a selected domain from your search. Example: -site:com removes all .com sites from your results.

filetype: operator

Narrows search to one file type. The most common file type is Hypertext Markup Language (html); others include, Adobe (pdf) and Microsoft (.doc, .xls, .ppt). Example: filetype:doc returns Word documents.

-filetype: operator

Eliminates one file type from your search. The most common file type extensions are html, pdf, doc, and ppt. Example: -filetype:html removes all files ending in .html from your results.

~ operator

The tilde ~ operator in front of a keyword retrieves documents with that word and the word's 'nyms'. Nyms are types of words that focus or expand a search. Example: ~cat returns results for cat, kitty, pet, and animal.