Google Dorking¶
Advanced Searching¶
Google Dorking describes the process of using advanced search filters that allow to retrieve more efficient results. It is a technique often used by cybersecurity professionals in order to find valuable information about a target. While Google Dorking itself is legal (in most countries), it might quickly lead to actions that aren't, such as visiting a site with illegal content in it. Hence using TOR or a VPN is recommended. It is also beneficial to use a search aggregator like SearX.
Search Operators¶
| Operator | Description | Syntax | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| () | Group multiple terms or operators. Allows advanced expressions | (<term> or <operator>) | inurl:(html | php) |
| * | Wildcard. Matches any word | <text> * <text> | How to * a computer |
| "" | The given keyword has to match exactly. case-insensitive | "<keywords>" | "google" |
| m..n / m...n | Search for a range of numbers. n should be greater than m | <number>..<number> | 1..100 |
| - | Documents that match the operator are excluded. NOT-Operator | -<operator> | -site:youtube.com |
| + | Include documents that match the operator | +<operator> | +site:youtube.com |
| | | Logical OR-Operator. Only one operator needs to match in order for the overall expression to match | <operator> | <operator> | "google" | "yahoo" |
| ~ | Search for synonyms of the given word. Not supported by Google | ~<word> | ~book |
| @ | Perform a search only on the given social media platform. Rather use site | @<socialmedia> | |
| after | Search for documents published / indexed after the given date | after:<yy(-mm-dd)> | after:2020-06-03 |
| allintitle | Same as intitle but allows multiple keywords seperated by a space | allintitle:<keywords> | allintitle:dog cat |
| allinurl | Same as inurl but allows multiple keywords seperated by a space | allinurl:<keywords> | allinurl:search com |
| allintext | Same as intext but allows multiple keywords seperated by a space | allintext:<keywords> | allintext:math science university |
| AROUND | Search for documents in which the first word is up to n words away from the second word and vice versa | <word1> AROUND(<n>) <word2> | google AROUND(10) good |
| author | Search for articles written by the given author if applicable | author:<name> | author:Max |
| before | Search for documents published / indexed before the given date | before:<yy(-mm-dd)> | before:2020-06-03 |
| cache | Search on the cached version of the given website. Uses Google's cache to do so | cache:<domain> | cache:google.com |
| contains | Search for documents that link to the given fileype. Not supported by Google | contains:<filetype> | contains:pdf |
| date | Search for documents published within the past n months. Not supported by Google | date:<number> | date:3 |
| define | Search for the definition of the given word | define:<word> | define:funny |
| ext | Search for a specific filetype | ext:<documenttype> | ext:pdf |
| filetype | Refer to ext | filetype:<documenttype> | filetype:pdf |
| inanchor | Search for the given keyword in a website's anchors | inanchor:<keyword> | inanchor:security |
| index of | Search for documents containing direct downloads | index of:<term> | index of:mp4 videos |
| info | Search for information about a website | info:<domain> | info:google.com |
| intext | Keyword needs to be in the text of the document | intext:<keyword> | intext:news |
| intitle | Keyword needs to be in the title of the document | intitle:<keyword> | intitle:money |
| inurl | Keyword needs to be in the URL of the document | inurl:<keyword> | inurl:sheet |
| link / links | Search for documents whose links contain the given keyword. Useful for finding documents that link to a specific website | link:<keyword> | link:google |
| location | Show documents based on the given location | location:<location> | location:USA |
| numrange | Refer to m..n | numrange:<number>-<number> | numrange:1-100 |
| OR | Refer to | | <operator> OR <operator> | "google" OR "yahoo" |
| phonebook | Search for related phone numbers associated with the given name | phonebook:<name> | phonebook:"william smith" |
| relate / related | Search for documents that are related to the given website | relate:<domain> | relate:google.com |
| safesearch | Exclude adult content such as pornographic videos | safesearch:<keyword> | safesearch:sex |
| source | Search on a specific news site. Rather use site | source:<news> | source:theguardian |
| site | Search on the given site. Given argument might also be just a TLD such as com, net, etc | site:<domain> | site:google.com |
| stock | Search for information about a market stock | stock:<stock> | stock:dax |
| weather | Search for information about the weather of the given location | weather:<location> | weather:Miami |
Simple Examples¶
Search for websites that contain the word "google" and a number between 1 and 100
Search for the term "Videos" but exclude results from YouTube
Search for websites published after the 1st January 2022 dealing about how to
use/repair/shutdown/...a computer
Search for websites published before 2020 which have the TLD
.gov, are either html or php documents and contain the words "homework", "teacher" and "school"
Search for the term "chr3st5an" on instagram
Finding Valuable Information¶
Find open/public webcams
Find log documents which have the string "password" in it
Find vulnerable webservers
Find excel documents that contain email addresses
Find mp3 (music) documents
Further¶
You can find more Google Dorks at the exploit-db