If Bing is your go-to search engine, you should know there are special commands you can add to your searches to generate way more accurate results: search operators.
I’m going to give you a definitive list that includes every Bing search operator currently in use, clear instruction on what each one does and an explanation about how to use them all.
Additionally I’ll show you some practical examples that combine search operators to give you ultra-powerful results from Bing searches!
Table of Contents
- What Are Search Operators?
- Search Operators & Options
- Bing Advanced Search Options
What Are Search Operators?
If you’ve never heard of search operators before and don’t know what they are, I’ve written a detailed overview here: What are Search Operators? If you’re pressed for time though, I’ll summarize below.
When you use a search engine to make a search, you often get millions of results. Most of them pretty accurately match what you’re looking for right?
However, if you’re looking for something very specific, broad searches create a lot of results that you have to sift through to find a result that specifically answers your needs.
In cases like these, search operators filter out the noise to return laser-targeted results.
So what are they?
Search operators are very powerful commands you add to your queries to tell a search engine to return a very specific result set. So instead of seeing millions of results for your search, you only see results that match precisely what you’re looking for.
There are many of them and they can be combined together to make your searches incredibly powerful.
Bing Advanced Search Operators & Options
You can fine tune the results in Bing for any search you make by combining what you’re searching for with an operator. If you want to refine them even further you can add options.
Operators are like advanced keywords that help to focus your searches. Options are symbols that further extend searches.
Let’s take a look at the operators that Bing allows you to use first.
Operators
The syntax for all operators must be precise. All operators are followed by a colon. There are no spaces immediately before or after the colon.
contains:
The contains: operator focuses Bing results on pages that include links to certain filetypes.
Example: search engine optimization contains:pdf
define:
Using define: in a Bing search delivers an instant answer for the term you pair it with. It’s effectively a way to request a definition of a word or phrase, as a type of dictionary function. This is how to use it:
Example: define:zeitgeist
domain:
domain: limits search results to the specified domain.
Example: domain:sidegains.com seo:
feed:
feed: returns the URLs for RSS or Atom feeds relating to the search term you request.
Example: feed:link building
filetype:
The filetype: operator only returns pages having a specified file type.
Example: sky diving filetype:pdf
imagesize:
imagesize: calls results directly from Bing Images. To use it you provide a search term combined with the imagesize: operator and one of the following options:
| imagesize: Option | Function |
| small | Width less than 200 pixels and height less than 200 pixels. |
| medium | Width between 200 pixels and 500 pixels. Height between 200 pixels and 500 pixels. |
| large | Width greater than 200 pixels. Height greater than 200 pixels. |
Example: seo imagesize:large
inanchor:
inanchor: lists all pages that include the term that follows it in the anchor text of any links on the indexed page.
Example: inanchor:sky diving
The word order of the inanchor: text is respected. So in this example, Bing is looking for pages that contain the anchor text “sky” followed by “diving”.
inbody:
The inbody: operator lists all pages indexed in Bing that contain the proceeding term within metadata of the actual page content.
Example: inbody:weather
instreamset:
instreamset: looks to see if a specific string appears in one or more page properties. It’s similar to intitle:, inbody:, and inanchor:, albeit more general. However, you can tell it specifically to look at one or all page properties by placing them in parethesis.
Example: instreamset:(title url):soccer
Other examples might be:
- instreamset:(body):soccer
- instreamset:(anchor):soccer
- instreamset:(url):soccer
- instreamset:(title):soccer
You can also use combinations of any of the above with instreamset: if you need more flexibility than intitle:, inbody:, and inanchor: provide.
Example: instreamset:(body url title):soccer
intitle:
Using the intitle: operator lists all indexed pages that contain the term following it in their metadata title.
So for example, using intitle:seo in Bing returns all sites having the term “seo” in their meta title:
Example: intitle:seo
ip:
Searching Bing with the ip: operator combined with a keyword returns results from indexed pages hosted at the IP address you pass. address
Example: ip:35.186.243.87 soccer
You’ll notice from the image that this pulls all indexed pages hosted at the specified IP relating to the search term “soccer”. The search has pulled results from different domains that are hosted on the same server.
language:
The language: operator is useful for keyword searches where you require results in a specific language.
Example: futbol language:es
Reference: Bing Language Codes
site:
site: combined with a domain name shows you all the pages from a specific domain indexed in Bing. Below is a result using it with sidegains.com.
Example: site:sidegains.com
The site: operator only returns subdomain results up to two levels deep. This means it won’t return results from one.example.of.sidegains.com but will return results them one.example.sidegains.com.
url:
url: combined with a domain name or a URL shows you whether or not a specific domain or URL is indexed in Bing. Here’s a result using it with sidegains.com.
Example: url:sidegains.com
Bing Advanced Search Options
Search options help to further refine your search results. The following option symbols streamline results to help you find waht you’re looking for more quickly.
| Symbol | Example | Effect |
| ” “ | “search engine optimization” | Returns pages indexed in Bing that exactly match your query. your query must be placed between the quotes. |
| + | soccer +fifa | Returns pages containing all search terms preceded by the + symbol. |
| () | (soccer clubs california) | Returns indexed pages containing a group of words. |
| AND or & | soccer AND teams | Returns all indexed pages containing the keyword or keyword phrases. |
| NOT or – | soccer -fifa | Returns all pages that do not contain the search terms you specify. |
| OR or | | kindle OR ipad | Returns all pages containing either of the search terms or phrases you specify. |
You must capitalize the NOT and OR options when you use them or Bing will ignore them.
That’s it for now.
Paul
Any questions about Bing search operators? Write your questions in the comment section below… or feel free to leave a comment!
Ok thanks Paul.
Great list! How about an inurl command for Bing? I don’t see it.
Hi Rich. Thanks for your comment.
Sadly “inurl:” doesn’t work in Bing searches… Microsoft suspended it in 2007 to stop nefarious data mining practises and it was never unsuspended.