Ask.com Advanced Search Tips

The advanced search form gives you the power to specify exactly the results you want.
Use as many filters as you wish. Any filters that you do not use will not affect your results.

Example: If you do not specify a language, the search will bring back results from documents in all supported languages. If you choose French, all results will be from sites in French.

Advanced Search Option Overview:

Find results with:
Allows you to narrow your search with term(s) you specify or exact terms you specify. You can specify term(s) to include or exclude from your search.

Location of words:
Allows you to specify where your search terms appear: Anywhere on the page, In page title, or In URL.

Domain:
Allows you to search for your term(s) ONLY within a particular domain. For example, if you ONLY want to search within www.microsoft.com you would use this option.

Language:
Allows you to search for your term(s) ONLY within Web sites that appear in a particular language, such as German or Spanish. You can select one language at a time.

Country:
Allows you to search for your term(s) ONLY within Web sites from a particular country. For example, if you ONLY want to search within Web sites in Netherlands or Web sites in Italy you would select this filter.

Page modified:
Allows you to search for your term(s) ONLY within Web sites that have been updated within a certain amount of time. (e.g. last week).

Advanced Web Searches from outside Advanced Web Search Form:

Any advanced Web search operators can be used in any Web search boxes and trigger an advanced Web search. Below is a list of search operators you can use.

"Terms": The terms surrounded by quotation marks. This will search for exact phrase entered. For example, "Marin county seat".

+: Plus sign in front of the term(s) specified. This will include specified term(s) in addition to the original term(s) entered. For example, robert downey +jr. Be sure to use quotation marks when you want to include a phrase. For example, Alexander +"the Great".

-: Minus sign in front of the term(s) specified. This will exclude specified term(s) from the original term(s) entered. For example, cola -Pepsi. Be sure to use quotation marks when you want to exclude a phrase. For example, Ask.com -"Ask Jeeves".

OR: OR (uppercase) between two terms. This will include either of specified multiple terms in addition to the original term(s) entered. For example, vegan Berkeley OR Oakland. Be sure to use space before and after OR search operator.

Intitle: intitle: followed by the specified term(s). This will search for documents whose page title has the specified term(s). For example, intitle:"University of California". Be sure not to put a space between the search operator and the term.

Inurl: inurl: followed by the specified term(s). This will search for documents whose URL has the specified term(s). For example, inurl:beatles. Be sure not to put a space between the search operator and the term. When you use a phrase, such as "United Nations", it will return results that use hyphen, underscore, or period between the specified words, such as http://www.san-francisco.us/.

Site: The term(s) followed by site: and domain. This will search for documents found only within the specified domain. For example, AIDS site:www.un.org. Be sure not to put a space between the search operator and the term. Currently, we do not support URLs with directories, such as www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Last: The term(s) followed by last: and time variable. This will search for documents that are found within the specified period. For example, ipod market share last:6months. Be sure not to put a space between the search operator and the time variable.

Supported time period:
Within one week = last:week
Within two weeks = last:2weeks
Within one month = last:month
Within six months = last:6months
Within one year = last:year
Within two years = last:2years

Afterdate: The term(s) followed by afterdate: and date in yyyymmdd format. This will search for documents that are found after the specified date. For example, Kyoto protocol afterdate:19971211. Be sure not to put a space between the search operator and the specified date.

Beforedate The term(s) followed by beforedate: and date in yyyymmdd format. This will search for documents that are found before the specified date. For example, Global warming beforedate:19971211. Be sure not to put a space between the search operator and the specified date.

Betweendate: The term(s) followed by betweendate:, starting date, a comma, and ending date. Dates must be in yyyymmdd format. This will search for documents that are found between the specified starting date and ending date. For example, Nobel prize betweendate:19921210,19981210. Be sure not to put a space between the search operator and the specified starting date. No space is necessary before and after the comma, neither.

Inlink: inlink: followed by the specified term(s). This will search for documents that contain the specified term(s) in anchor text. For example, inlink:W3C. Be sure not to put a space between the search operator and the term.