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Using Google Dorks for Advanced Searching and Information Gathering

Adem Kouki
2 min read
#programming

In this post, I will be sharing some of the Google Dorks that I use for advanced searching and information gathering.

Search filters

FilterDescriptionExample
allintextSearches for occurrences of all the keywords given.allintext:"keyword"
intextSearches for the occurrences of keywords all at once or one at a time.intext:"keyword"
inurlSearches for a URL matching one of the keywords.inurl:"keyword"
allinurlSearches for a URL matching all the keywords in the query.allinurl:"keyword"
intitleSearches for occurrences of keywords in title all or one.intitle:"keyword"
allintitleSearches for occurrences of keywords all at a time.allintitle:"keyword"
siteSpecifically searches that particular site and lists all the results for that site.site:"www.google.com"
filetypeSearches for a particular filetype mentioned in the query.filetype:"pdf"
linkSearches for external links to pages.link:"keyword"
numrangeUsed to locate specific numbers in your searches.numrange:321-325
before/afterUsed to search within a particular date range.filetype:pdf & (before:2000-01-01 after:2001-01-01)
allinanchor (and also inanchor)This shows sites which have the keyterms in links pointing to them, in order of the most links.inanchor:rat
allinpostauthor (and also inpostauthor)Exclusive to blog search, this one picks out blog posts that are written by specific individuals.allinpostauthor:"keyword"
relatedList web pages that are “similar” to a specified web page.related:www.google.com
cacheShows the version of the web page that Google has in its cache.cache:www.google.com

Examples

intext:"index of /"
Nina Simone intitle:”index.of” “parent directory” “size” “last modified” “description” I Put A Spell On You (mp4|mp3|avi|flac|aac|ape|ogg) -inurl:(jsp|php|html|aspx|htm|cf|shtml|lyrics-realm|mp3-collection) -site:.info
Bill Gates intitle:”index.of” “parent directory” “size” “last modified” “description” Microsoft (pdf|txt|epub|doc|docx) -inurl:(jsp|php|html|aspx|htm|cf|shtml|ebooks|ebook) -site:.info
parent directory DVDRip -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums
parent directory MP3 -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums
parent directory Name of Singer or album -xxx -html -htm -php -shtml -opendivx -md5 -md5sums
filetype:config inurl:web.config inurl:ftp
“Windows XP Professional” 94FBR
ext:(doc | pdf | xls | txt | ps | rtf | odt | sxw | psw | ppt | pps | xml) (intext:confidential salary | intext:"budget approved") inurl:confidential
ext:(doc | pdf | xls | txt | ps | rtf | odt | sxw | psw | ppt | pps | xml) (intext:confidential salary | intext:”budget approved”) inurl:confidential

Operators

Search Term

This operator searches for the exact phrase within speech marks only. This is ideal when the phrase you are using to search is ambiguous and could be easily confused with something else, or when you’re not quite getting relevant enough results back. For example:

"Tinned Sandwiches"

OR

This self explanatory operator searches for a given search term OR an equivalent term.

site:facebook.com | site:twitter.com

AND

site:facebook.com & site:twitter.com

Operators combinaison

(site:facebook.com | site:twitter.com) & intext:"login"
(site:facebook.com | site:twitter.com) (intext:"login")

Include results

This will order results by the number of occurrence of the keyword.

-site:facebook.com +site:facebook.*

Exclude results

site:facebook.* -site:facebook.com

Synonyms

Adding a tilde to a search word tells Google that you want it to bring back synonyms for the term as well. For example, entering “~set” will bring back results that include words like “configure”, “collection” and “change” which are all synonyms of “set”. Fun fact: “set” has the most definitions of any word in the dictionary.

~set

Glob pattern (*)

Putting an asterisk in a search tells Google ‘I don’t know what goes here’. Basically, it’s really good for finding half remembered song lyrics or names of things.

site:*.com

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