Google Search Operators for Link Building: 30 Queries

The short version: six operators do most link prospecting in 2026: quotes, site:, the minus sign, intitle:, inurl: and the date pair before: and after:. Google documents four of them, and we ran the other two on 6 November 2026. link: and cache: are dead. Below are 30 queries for 10 link building jobs.

Most operator lists online were written years ago and still recommend commands Google has switched off. This one was checked on 6 November 2026. Every one of the 30 queries uses only operators that Google documents today or that we ran in Google ourselves that day. Each job comes with the steps to take after the search, a time estimate and a link to our longer guide.

How we checked

• Google's own pages first. We read Google Search Help's Refine Google searches page and Search Central's overview of search operators (last updated 10 December 2025) and recorded which operators each one lists.
• A live run for the rest. intitle: and inurl: appear on neither page, so we ran them in Google, along with link:, cache: and related:, and recorded what came back.
• Where we stopped. Google served its "unusual traffic" check on our sixth operator search within a few minutes, so five searches is the whole live sample. We did not retest OR, intext:, allintitle: or AROUND(), and none of the 30 queries depends on them.
• Older tests, labelled. For operators we did not rerun, the table cites Ahrefs' tested list of 44 operators (Joshua Hardwick, April 2023) and says so.
• Time estimates are ours. They assume one person going from the first search to a list of about 20 vetted prospects. Writing the outreach emails is extra.

Which operators work in 2026

Operator	What it does	Status on 6 Nov 2026	Evidence
"phrase"	Matches the exact word or phrase	Works	Documented in Google Search Help
site:	Limits results to one domain, URL or URL prefix	Works	Documented in Search Help and Search Central
-	Leaves out a word	Works	Documented in Google Search Help
before: and after:	Pages last updated before or after a year or date	Works	Documented in Google Search Help
filetype:	Limits results to one file type	Works	Documented in Search Help and Search Central
intitle:	Word or phrase in the page title	Works, undocumented	Our test: 9 of 9 titles matched
inurl:	Word in the URL	Works, undocumented	Our test, combined with intitle:
OR	Either of two terms	Probably works	Not on Google's current help page; listed as working by Ahrefs in 2023; not retested
intext:, allintitle:, allinurl:	Word in the body; all words in the title or URL	Probably works	Listed as working by Ahrefs in 2023; not retested
AROUND(n), inanchor:	Words near each other; words in link anchors	Unreliable	Ahrefs, 2023
related:	Was: sites similar to a domain	Unreliable	Our test returned articles about alternatives, not similar sites
link:	Was: pages linking to a URL	Dead since 2017	Google's confirmation to Search Engine Land; our test
cache:	Was: Google's stored copy of a page	Dead since 2024	Google's documentation changelog; our test returned 0 results
info:	Was: details about a URL	Dead since 2017	Ahrefs, 2023

Two rules apply to all of them. Google's help page says not to put a space between the operator and the term, so site:example.com works and site: example.com does not. And dates can be a year (before:2019) or a full date (after:2026-08-01).

What happened to link:, cache: and related:

• link: A Google spokesperson confirmed to Search Engine Land in January 2017 that the command no longer functions. It still returns something, which is the trap: our search for link:ahrefs.com showed about 145 results, and six of the first eight were pages on ahrefs.com itself. Google reads it as two ordinary words. How to find backlinks to your website covers what to use instead.
• cache: Google's Search Liaison confirmed its removal in 2024, and Google deleted the operator's documentation that September. Search Engine Journal quotes the changelog: "The cache: search operator no longer works in Google Search." Our cache: search returned zero results.
• related: Ahrefs still listed it as working in 2023. Our search for related:ahrefs.com returned blog posts about Ahrefs alternatives and Ahrefs' own pages, not a list of similar websites. One test is thin evidence, so we call it unreliable, not dead.

The 30 queries at a glance

Swap gardening for your topic, and the brand, site and person names for real ones.

Job	Queries	Time to a first list	Best when
1. Guest post pages	1 to 3	30 to 45 minutes	You can write a good article
2. Resource pages	4 to 6	20 to 30 minutes	You have a real resource to list
3. Link roundups	7 to 9	20 minutes	You published something new this month
4. Broken link prospects	10 to 12	45 to 60 minutes	You have a page that can replace a dead one
5. Unlinked brand mentions	13 to 15	15 to 20 minutes	People already write about you
6. Lists and reviews that skip you	16 to 18	30 minutes	You sell a product with known rivals
7. Podcasts that take guests	19 to 21	30 minutes	You can talk about your subject
8. Statistics pages and data	22 to 24	30 to 45 minutes	You publish or plan a data page
9. Vetting a prospect or partner	25 to 27	5 minutes per site	Before any pitch or link swap
10. Your own site	28 to 30	10 minutes per page	Before and after building links

1. Guest post pages

Time: 30 to 45 minutes for 20 vetted sites.

#	Query	What it finds
1	gardening intitle:"write for us"	Pages that invite contributors
2	gardening "guest post by"	Sites that have already published a guest
3	gardening inurl:author/jane-doe	Every site a busy guest writer in your niche has written for

Query 1 is the one we ran: Google reported about 1,110 results for gardening, and all nine titles we captured contained the phrase. Query 2 is the stronger signal, because a published guest post proves the editor says yes. Query 3 comes from Ahrefs: pick a writer who guest posts a lot in your field and follow their author pages.

What to do next:

1. Open the first 30 results in tabs and close any site that is off-topic.
2. Drop sites that sell placements. One of our nine results was titled "Write For Us / Guest Post / Sponsored Post", which is the mark of a price list, not an editor.
3. Check the survivors with queries 25 to 27 below.
4. Read two recent guest posts on each site before you pitch a topic.

Guides: top guest posting sites, guest post farm red flags and how to write a guest post that gets accepted.

2. Resource pages

Time: 20 to 30 minutes.

#	Query	What it finds
4	gardening intitle:resources inurl:resources	Curated resource pages on your topic
5	gardening intitle:"useful links"	Older "links" pages under a different name
6	gardening inurl:links "helpful resources"	Link lists that sit on a /links URL

Query 4 returned about 74 results for gardening in our run, which is short enough to review in one sitting. These queries are well worn, so expect page owners to have seen many pitches.

What to do next:

1. Keep pages that link out to other sites. Many "resources" pages only list the owner's own content.
2. Check the page was updated in the last two years. Add after:2025-01-01 to the query to filter for that.
3. Pitch one specific page of yours, and say which section it belongs in.

Guide: what is a resource page link.

3. Link roundups

Time: 20 minutes.

#	Query	What it finds
7	gardening intitle:roundup after:2026-08-01	Roundups published or updated in the last three months
8	gardening intitle:"link roundup"	Posts that use the name outright
9	gardening inurl:roundup after:2026-08-01	Roundup series with the word in the URL

The date filter does the real work here. A roundup that stopped two years ago is not a prospect, and after: removes it before you open the page.

What to do next:

1. Confirm the series is still running by opening the two newest editions.
2. Note what the curator links to: news, guides or tools.
3. Send your newest piece within a week of publishing it, in two lines, with no follow-up after the second email.

Guide: what is a link roundup.

4. Broken link prospects

Time: 45 to 60 minutes, because every page needs a link check.

#	Query	What it finds
10	gardening intitle:resources before:2019	Resource pages not updated since before 2019
11	gardening inurl:links before:2019	Old link lists
12	gardening "recommended sites" before:2019	Old recommendation pages

Google describes before: as finding documents last updated before the date, so these queries surface pages nobody has touched in years. Those are the pages with the most dead links. The Pew Research Center found that 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer accessible a decade later.

What to do next:

1. Open each page and run a link checker extension over it. Check My Links, covered in our free SEO Chrome extensions comparison, does this for free.
2. Note any dead link whose topic you already cover, or could cover in a day.
3. Check the site still has an owner: a recent post, a working contact page.
4. Email the owner with the dead link and your replacement.

Guide: what is broken link building.

5. Unlinked brand mentions

Time: 15 to 20 minutes, then five minutes a month.

#	Query	What it finds
13	"Your Brand" -site:yourbrand.com	Pages that name you, outside your own site
14	"Your Brand" -site:yourbrand.com -site:facebook.com -site:linkedin.com -site:x.com	The same, with social profiles removed
15	"Your Brand" -site:yourbrand.com after:2026-10-01	New mentions since your last check

Google cannot tell a linked mention from an unlinked one, so every result needs opening.

What to do next:

1. Open the page, view the source and search it for your domain.
2. If there is no link, find the author and send a short thank-you that asks for one.
3. Save query 15 and rerun it on the first of each month with the new date.

Guides: do brand mentions help SEO and how to find link building opportunities.

6. Lists and reviews that skip you

Time: 30 minutes.

#	Query	What it finds
16	intitle:best "gardening apps" -"Your Brand"	"Best of" lists in your category that do not name you
17	"Competitor Name" intitle:alternatives -"Your Brand"	Alternatives pages for a rival that leave you out
18	"Competitor Name" intitle:review after:2026-01-01	Sites that reviewed a rival this year

Both ideas are from Ahrefs' operator guide: writers who list or review your competitors have already shown they cover your category.

What to do next:

1. Skip lists published by a competitor. They will not add you.
2. For the rest, check the list is maintained: a 2026 date or an "updated" line.
3. Pitch with the one thing you do that nothing on the list does, and offer a free account for testing.

Guide: how to find where competitors get backlinks.

7. Podcasts that take guests

Time: 30 minutes.

#	Query	What it finds
19	gardening podcast "be a guest"	Shows with an open guest invitation
20	gardening podcast "become a guest"	The same, in the other common wording
21	"Competitor Founder" intitle:podcast -site:competitor.com	Shows that have interviewed a rival's founder

Query 21 is usually the best of the three. A host who interviewed someone in your position already knows the audience wants the topic.

What to do next:

1. Check the show published an episode in the last 60 days.
2. Open three episode pages and confirm the show notes link to the guest's site.
3. Pitch one specific episode idea, not your biography.

Guide: how to get backlinks from podcasts.

8. Statistics pages and data

Time: 30 to 45 minutes.

#	Query	What it finds
22	gardening intitle:statistics before:2024	Statistics pages that have gone stale
23	gardening statistics filetype:pdf after:2026-01-01	Recent reports and surveys published as PDFs
24	gardening statistics "according to" after:2026-06-01	Writers who cited a number on your topic recently

These three support a statistics page of your own. Query 22 shows which existing pages are out of date. Query 23 finds primary sources to build from. Query 24 finds the writers most likely to cite a fresher page.

What to do next:

1. Use query 23 to collect numbers, and open every report to confirm each figure.
2. Publish your page with the year, sample and source for each number.
3. Email the writers from query 24 only where your page updates the figure they used.

Guides: how statistics pages earn backlinks and linkable asset ideas ranked.

9. Vetting a prospect or swap partner

Time: 5 minutes per site.

#	Query	What it finds
25	site:partner.com	Whether Google has the site indexed at all
26	site:partner.com viagra casino	Spam pages hiding on the site
27	site:partner.com "sponsored post"	Whether the site sells placements openly

Query 26 is Google's own example. Its site: operator documentation suggests that exact pattern for spotting spam problems on a site. The same page warns that a site: search does not list every indexed URL and does not rank the results, so read it as a yes or no signal, not a count.

What to do next:

1. No results for query 25 on an established site is a serious warning. See how to check if a domain is banned by Google.
2. Hits on query 26 on a site that has nothing to do with either subject usually mean it is hacked or sells links to anyone. Walk away.
3. Hits on query 27 are not fatal, but check that the paid posts are labelled.

Guide: how to vet a link swap partner.

10. Your own site: internal links and indexed backlinks

Time: 10 minutes per target page.

#	Query	What it finds
28	site:yoursite.com "target keyword"	Your pages that mention a phrase and could link to the page about it
29	site:yoursite.com intitle:"target keyword"	Your pages competing for the same keyword
30	site:https://partner.com/the-linking-page	Whether the page that links to you is indexed

Internal links are the only links you fully control, so run query 28 before any outreach. Query 30 is the check to run a few weeks after you win a link: a link on a page Google has not indexed cannot help you in Google.

What to do next:

1. For query 28, open each result and add a link where the phrase appears without one.
2. For query 29, if two pages target the same keyword, pick one to build links to and point the other at it.
3. For query 30, an empty result is not proof. Google says the URL Inspection tool is more reliable, but only the page's owner can use it, so ask them.

Guides: how to check internal links and how to check if a backlink is indexed.

Three habits that keep operator searches useful

Go slowly, and by hand

Google stopped our session with a traffic check on the sixth operator search. Its spam policies class automated queries and scraping of results as machine-generated traffic, which breaks its terms. Run these searches yourself, a few at a time, and copy the results you want by hand.

Use the form if you forget the syntax

Google's Advanced Search page builds the documented operators for you. On 6 November 2026 it offered fields for all these words, an exact phrase, none of these words, site or domain, file type and last update, plus language, region and usage rights. It has no field for titles or URLs, so intitle: and inurl: still need typing.

Treat every result as a lead, not a link

A query gives you a page. A link takes an email to a person, and a reason for them to say yes. Budget more time for outreach that gets replies than for searching, and use a free email finder for the contact.

Where Backlinkster fits (ours)

Operators find people who might link to you. Every one of them still needs a pitch. Backlinkster is our own product and it starts from the other end: it is a link exchange where owners of related sites trade in-content links one-for-one, and every swap is verified by API. The free plan covers five swaps a month. Google's spam policies list excessive link exchanges as link spam, so keep swaps a small share of your links and use queries 25 to 27 on any partner first.

How to cite this page

Backlinkster, "Google Search Operators for Link Building: 30 Queries", checked 6 November 2026, https://backlinkster.com/resources/google-search-operators-for-link-building. Copy the queries and the status table freely. A plain credit link to this page is appreciated, and we never ask for specific anchor text.

FAQ

What are Google search operators?

They are short commands typed into the search box that filter results. site: limits results to one website, quotes force an exact phrase, a minus sign removes a word, and before: and after: filter by date. Google documents these on its Search Help page.

Do Google search operators still work in 2026?

The main ones do. Google's help page documents quotes, site:, the minus sign, before:, after: and filetype:. intitle: and inurl: are undocumented but worked when we ran them on 6 November 2026. link:, cache: and info: no longer work.

Does the link: operator show backlinks?

No. Google confirmed in January 2017 that link: no longer functions. It still returns results, but they are ordinary keyword matches. In our test, six of the first eight results for link:ahrefs.com were pages on ahrefs.com itself. Use Search Console or a backlink checker.

Which search operator finds guest post sites?

Start with your topic plus intitle:"write for us", then try your topic plus "guest post by" to find sites that have already published a guest. In our test the first query returned about 1,110 results for gardening. Vet each site before you pitch, because some results are paid placement pages.

Why does Google show a CAPTCHA when I use search operators?

Many operator searches in a short time look like automated traffic to Google. It stopped our session on the sixth search. Slow down, wait a few minutes, and run searches by hand. Google's spam policies prohibit scraping results with automated tools.

Related: How to find link building opportunities · What is a resource page link? · Top guest posting sites · What is broken link building? · How to vet a link swap partner · Linkable asset ideas ranked