Help with a Web Search

1. 78

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   I need help with running a search in any standard search engine.  I want to exclude sites that have a specific word in their URL.  How do I do that?

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2. 74

   Hauntyposted 12 years ago

   I have a not so perfect solution. Try inurl. For instance, if you want to search for the phrase 'red handbags' in all sites with 'ferrari' in their url, type:
   
   "red handbags" inurl:ferrari
   
   I'm guessing you meant to say specific word in their domain name. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer in that case.

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3. 74

   Hauntyposted 12 years ago

   You said exclude. Sorry.

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4. 61

   recommend1posted 12 years ago

   Terms you want to exclude (-)
   Attaching a minus sign immediately before a word indicates that you do not want pages that contain this word to appear in your results. The minus sign should appear immediately before the word and should be preceded with a space. For example, in the query [ anti-virus software ], the minus sign is used as a hyphen and will not be interpreted as an exclusion symbol; whereas the query [ anti-virus -software ] will search for the words 'anti-virus' but exclude references to software. You can exclude as many words as you want by using the - sign in front of all of them, for example [ jaguar -cars -football -os ]. The - sign can be used to exclude more than just words. For example, place a hyphen before the 'site:' operator (without a space) to exclude a specific site from your search results.
   
   straight from searching for goggle search terms

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   1. 78

      Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      rec1, my post crossed yours.  Does your info mean that, yes, I can use the "-" with "inurl"?  I'll at least try that, until I hear something different or better.

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      1. 61

         recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I just tried the example I wrote - and it seems to exclude the word from the site url that are found just fine

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5. 78

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Thanks for the help, because this info will help me out when I need the specifics you've listed, even though it's different.
   
   To make it easier, I'll explain my exact situation.  I have some quotations I'm trying to research.  I know who said them, but I would like to find out more about the circumstances in which they said what they said.  If I use the quote itself in the search box, the first page or so of results includes sites that are collections of quotes, and most of them have "quote" or "quotation" in their URL.
   
   Can the "-" be used with "inurl" to exclude something?

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   1. 61

      recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      just put     Alas dear Yorrick -quotation
      
      well this is how I read the google advice

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6. 78

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Uh-oh.  Let me try again then.  I tried my own example and it did not work.  In the meantime, I went to Advanced Search and got a little further down the path, but still not where I wanted to be.
   
   BRB.

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   1. 61

      recommend1posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      shakespeare Alas dear Yorrick -quotation -quote
      
      returns all sorts of stuff and not one collection of quote or quotation

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7. 78

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Thanks, rec1 and Haunty - it worked!  I didn't need to use "inurl" or "-inurl" at all this time.
   
   But... ugh... I also learned that my project is not practical.   I was able to limit my search, as requested, but I was still not able to find the information I needed. I have well over 100 quotes to track down, and I do believe I'll be better off taking a different path other than the one I had outlined for myself.
   
   I'll remember this helpful way to search, though.  Thanks again!

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8. 74

   Hauntyposted 12 years ago

   I can imagine it's hard to find this type of info on the web. Maybe in books or scholarly papers. You can email me some of the quotes if you need any help.

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   1. 78

      Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the offer, Haunty, and I definitely will e-mail you some more information about this.  I think you will see why I have probably bitten off more than I can chew, though!    I'll send it (e-mail) pronto, but then I'll be out of pocket for upwards of an hour.

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      1. 74

         Hauntyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         It's interesting research if you ask me. Currently, it's 3:34 am here, which reminds me I should go to sleep. But I'll check the mail in the morning.

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9. 78

   Aficionadaposted 12 years ago

   Yes, I was wondering whether you were actually in the part of the world where I thought you were!  Do check e-mail in the morning (just sent) and we can correspond more about it then.

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10. 61

    TheOnlineBloggerposted 12 years ago

    Hi Aficionada. I have some info about that topic that required me to write a hub about it. Take a look at http://hubpages.com/hub/Use-Google-smar … le-Search.
    I hope this helps.

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    1. 78

       Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you, TOB!  I'll go check it out right now.

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       1. 61

          TheOnlineBloggerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          u r welcome.

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    2. 78

       Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you for that good and helpful information!
       
       One small thing that I learned in this thread - new to me - was that the period at the end of the URL confused my browser.  It couldn't find the article!  I deleted the period from the address bar, and all was well.

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       1. 61

          TheOnlineBloggerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          yea, I forgot to hit the space bar before typing the period. I already edited it now.

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       2. 61

          TheOnlineBloggerposted 12 years agoin reply to this

          One more thing. I used to type (-) after the command (allinurl) to exclude a certain phrase from the URL. i.e when I type (allinurl: students homework -teachers) results are all websites that contain "students homework" and do not contain "teachers" in their URLs. It works with me so you can try it.

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