site: search operator

A site: query is a search operator that allows you to request search results from the particular domain, URL, or URL prefix specified in the operator. For example:

site: examples
site:example.com	Show results only from the example.com domain (www.example.com and recipes.example.com).
site:https://www.example.com/ramen tsukemen	Shows results for pages that contain URLs that start with https://www.example.com/ramen and are relevant to the term tsukemen.

The site: search operator is available on all Google Search properties.

If a URL is indexed in Google, it can show up in search results for site: queries that are related to the URL, however it's not guaranteed. If a URL doesn't show in a site: query, use the URL Inspection tool to make sure the URL can be indexed and to submit the URL to indexing. Also, double-check the query is correct; site:https://www.example.com doesn't return the same results as site:https://example.com/.

Uses for site owners

A site: query can help in a few ways with debugging a site. A few examples:

site: examples
site:example.com	Returns a list of indexed and serving URLs. The list of URLs returned is not always exhaustive. Bigger sites shouldn't expect to see all their URLs in the results. A more specific prefix in the query may yield more results than broader prefixes.
site:https://example.com/recipes/tsukemen.html	May help you understand whether a specific URL is indexed and served.
site:example.com viagra casino	Helps with identifying and monitoring spam problems on your site.
site:https://example.com/ lemon	Shows which URLs on the site can show up for the term "lemon".
site:https://example.com/recipes/tsukemen.html lemon	Shows whether the specific URL is indexed for the term "lemon".

Limitations

The site: operator was designed primarily for search users and so it has some restrictions that site owners might find limiting. Specifically:

• The site: operator doesn't necessarily return all the URLs that are indexed under the prefix specified in the query. Keep this in mind if you want to use the site: operator for tasks like identifying how many URLs are indexed and serving under a prefix.
• A site: operator without a query (for example site:example.com) doesn't rank the results. It will generally show the shortest URL for the prefix at the top, but otherwise the results are relatively random.