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If you put the word "margins" in quotes in your query, all of your results will contain that word. Similarly, you can force words not to appear by prefixing the

If you put the word "margins" in quotes in your query, all of your results will contain that word. Similarly, you can force words not to appear by prefixing them with a "-". > The only solution I can see is for a search engine to support both styles of communication. Isn't this exactly what you're asking for? Non-technical users can be imprecise and let Google figure it out, while technical or power users can get more precise results with the various search operators?

adrianmonk 8y ago
I'm aware of quotes, but I have two issues: 1. It's tiring to type quotes around every word every time. 2. It takes you to the other extreme. Just because I'm being more precise than Google thinks I am doesn't mean if I have 8 words in my query that all of them are mandatory. There is potential for a useful middle ground that quotes don't get me to.
- asdff 8y ago
  Quotes are one of many operators google has for search (1). You can build very powerful search arguments with a handful of easy to use operators. Sometimes taking the time to type in the proper operators can save you much more time by bringing you to the content you are looking for faster. https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=en https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=en
  - nottorp 8y ago
    Please quit helping. The thing is, until like 4 years ago, Google worked just fine without any operators. Then they improved it to the point you can't find anything specific any more. Edit: Actually you could help. Show me where I set "Verbatim" as a permanent option :)
reaperducer 8y ago
If you put the word "margins" in quotes in your query, all of your results will contain that word. This seemed to be true at one time, but I noticed last night that it doesn't always work. These days it seems to put include results without the word, then provide a tiny link below each deficient result with a link to "must include" the missing word in a new search. That used to be the previous behavior, but now it's inconsistent.
- tempestn 8y ago
  All that link appears to do is add the quotation marks around that keyword.
- jonas21 8y ago
  Do you have an example where adding quotes doesn't work? As far as I can tell, it always works for me (yeah, we may be getting different personalized results, but still...)
  - prepend 8y ago
    It’s kind of hard to share links because google personalizes results against our wishes. But a search for ‘"monkeys" burritos san diego “fries”’[0] returns a first link [1] that doesn’t include ‘monkeys.’ There are also other results [2] that include ‘monkey’ not what I asked for. It’s infuriating. I just want to grep the internet. Is that too much to ask? [0] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=P1oHXIK8FNee1fAPvaqMuAc&q=%22monkeys%22+burritos+san+diego+%E2%80%9Cfries%E2%80%9D&oq=%22monkeys%22+burritos+san+diego+%E2%80%9Cfries%E2%80%9D&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.3..33i22i29i30.9381.13230..13512...0.0..0.381.2078.2-6j2......0....1.........0i71j33i160j33i21.IFT8IIfOgZk https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=P1oH... [1] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481463016388903842/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481463016388903842/ [2] https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55543-d4580159-r298090202-The_Proudest_Monkey-Bryan_Texas.html https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55543-d4580159-...
    - jonas21 8y ago
      In your first example, >90% of the text on the page is in the "More Like This" section which is heavily personalized by Pinterest. So I'm seeing different content than you are, and Googlebot saw different content than either of us. Given the complete randomness of the content in there, I wouldn't be surprised at all if "monkeys" appeared on the version that was indexed. In your second example, the word "monkeys" does appear on the page, in the "Show reviews that mention" section. More importantly, did you have a result in mind for this query that isn't showing up? It seems somewhat nonsensical.
iainmerrick 8y ago
That used to be the case, and it was fine, but they started breaking those operators a few years back (maybe when they tried to make “+” search for Google+ pages, but I’m not sure).

adrianmonk 8y ago

I'm aware of quotes, but I have two issues: 1. It's tiring to type quotes around every word every time. 2. It takes you to the other extreme. Just because I'm being more precise than Google thinks I am doesn't mean if I have 8 words in my query that all of them are mandatory. There is potential for a useful middle ground that quotes don't get me to.

asdff 8y ago
Quotes are one of many operators google has for search (1). You can build very powerful search arguments with a handful of easy to use operators. Sometimes taking the time to type in the proper operators can save you much more time by bringing you to the content you are looking for faster. https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=en https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=en
- nottorp 8y ago
  Please quit helping. The thing is, until like 4 years ago, Google worked just fine without any operators. Then they improved it to the point you can't find anything specific any more. Edit: Actually you could help. Show me where I set "Verbatim" as a permanent option :)

reaperducer 8y ago

If you put the word "margins" in quotes in your query, all of your results will contain that word. This seemed to be true at one time, but I noticed last night that it doesn't always work. These days it seems to put include results without the word, then provide a tiny link below each deficient result with a link to "must include" the missing word in a new search. That used to be the previous behavior, but now it's inconsistent.

tempestn 8y ago
All that link appears to do is add the quotation marks around that keyword.
jonas21 8y ago
Do you have an example where adding quotes doesn't work? As far as I can tell, it always works for me (yeah, we may be getting different personalized results, but still...)
- prepend 8y ago
  It’s kind of hard to share links because google personalizes results against our wishes. But a search for ‘"monkeys" burritos san diego “fries”’[0] returns a first link [1] that doesn’t include ‘monkeys.’ There are also other results [2] that include ‘monkey’ not what I asked for. It’s infuriating. I just want to grep the internet. Is that too much to ask? [0] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=P1oHXIK8FNee1fAPvaqMuAc&q=%22monkeys%22+burritos+san+diego+%E2%80%9Cfries%E2%80%9D&oq=%22monkeys%22+burritos+san+diego+%E2%80%9Cfries%E2%80%9D&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-serp.3..33i22i29i30.9381.13230..13512...0.0..0.381.2078.2-6j2......0....1.........0i71j33i160j33i21.IFT8IIfOgZk https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=P1oH... [1] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481463016388903842/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/481463016388903842/ [2] https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55543-d4580159-r298090202-The_Proudest_Monkey-Bryan_Texas.html https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g55543-d4580159-...
  - jonas21 8y ago
    In your first example, >90% of the text on the page is in the "More Like This" section which is heavily personalized by Pinterest. So I'm seeing different content than you are, and Googlebot saw different content than either of us. Given the complete randomness of the content in there, I wouldn't be surprised at all if "monkeys" appeared on the version that was indexed. In your second example, the word "monkeys" does appear on the page, in the "Show reviews that mention" section. More importantly, did you have a result in mind for this query that isn't showing up? It seems somewhat nonsensical.

iainmerrick 8y ago

That used to be the case, and it was fine, but they started breaking those operators a few years back (maybe when they tried to make “+” search for Google+ pages, but I’m not sure).