Don’t Forget About SITE: Search

In what is becoming a biennial tradition here on SLAW Tips, I want to remind everyone about SITE: search, one of the advanced search tools offered by Google.

Google’s SITE: search allows you to search just one website for specific terms. This can be useful when a site’s own search form is disappointing or missing altogether.

There are two ways to access this tool: via Google’s advanced search form or directly from Chrome’s address/search bar. Back in 2011 Shaunna Mireau gave us a detailed explanation on how to use the advanced search form. More recently, in 2013, Dan Pinnington showed us how to use this tool directly from Chrome’s address bar.

I prefer to use the SITE: search directly from Chrome’s address bar. To do this, follow these three steps:

1. In Chrome, navigate to the website you want to search. In my example, we’ll use Transport Canada’s website (https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/menu.htm).
2. In Chrome’s address bar, delete all the characters before and after the root domain. For example, I would edit the full URL (i.e. https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/menu.htm) to be tc.gc.ca.
3. Add the phrase site: before your edited text (no spaces!) and enter your search terms after the edited URL (with a space!). Press enter and review your results. For example, my search would look like this:

site:tc.gc.ca “minor works” “navigation protection”

— Bronwyn Guiton (@BronwynMaye)