Boolean Search

Many search engines allow you to perform searches that contain mathematical formulas such as AND, OR, or NOT. By default most search engines include AND with your query, requiring results to be relevant for all the words in your query.

Examples:

• A Google search for SEO Book will return results for SEO AND Book.
• A Google search for "SEO Book" will return results for the phrase SEO Book.
• A Google search for SEO Book -Jorge will return results containing SEO AND Book but NOT Jorge.
• A Google search for ~SEO -SEO will find results with words related to SEO that do not contain SEO.

Some search engines also allow you to search for other unique patterns or filtering ideas. Examples:

• A numerical range: 12...18 would search for numbers between 12 and 18.
• Recently updated: seo {frsh=100} would find recently updated documents. MSN search also lets you place more weight on local documents
• Related documents: related:www.threadwatch.org would find documents related to Threadwatch.
• Filetype: AdWords filetype:PDF would search for PDFs that mentioned AdWords.
• Domain Extension: SEO inurl:.edu
• IP Address: IP:64.111.97.133

See also:

• Search Engine Showdown Features Chart - Greg R.Notess's comparison of features at major search engines.

A search allowing the inclusion or exclusion of documents containing certain words through the use of operators such as AND, NOT and OR.

The term 'Boolean' refers to a system of logic developed by an early computer pioneer, George Boole. In Boolean searching, an 'and' operator between two words results in a search for documents containing both of the words. An 'or' operator between two words creates a search for documents containing either of the target words. A 'not' operator between two words creates a search result containing the first word but excluding the second.

A search in which one or more search terms are combined by using operators such as AND, NOT, and OR.