This guide explains Bing advanced search.
Below, you’ll find out what advanced search on Bing is, how it works, and get a list of search operators and filters you can use (with examples) to get better web page results in Bing’s search engine.
Consider this your ultimate cheatsheet to Microsoft Bing advanced search operators and filters to help you quickly find the exact type of content you want that’s based on specific criteria and keywords.
What Is Bing Advanced Search?
Bing advanced search is a custom search feature that allows a user to specify additional requirements for a search. Advanced search operators and filters refine searches on Bing to help you find certain types of content based on specific criteria.
Bing Advanced Search Operators
” ” Quotations
Wrapping a search term with quotation marks tells Bing’s search engine to only return results that contain the exact match phrase within the content. Pages that do not include the exact words will be omitted from the results.
Example Search
“healthy food for dogs”
+ Plus Sign
Adding the plus sign to a Bing search allows you to refine the results by only finding web pages that contain the word attached to + symbol. It also helps you find content that includes terms that are usually ignored to help expand the results.
Example Search
seo tips +2023
NOT or – Minus Sign
These Bing advanced search filters work as a negative operator to exclude web pages that contain a specific term or phrase. You can remove content from Bing’s search engine by entering your target phrase into the search bar followed by the word NOT and another phrase. You can also attach the – minus sign to a single term.
Example Searches
gardening tips NOT basics
gardening tips -basics
AND or &
The AND parameter and & sign are Boolean operators that let you narrow your Bing search results to web pages that only contain a group of terms or phrases while omitting everything else. In other words, the web page must contain all words in the Bing search or it won’t be displayed. You can include the word AND or the & sign before a term or phrase to refine your Bing search results.
Example Search
paleo AND recipes AND chocolate
OR or |
The OR parameter and | sign are Boolean operators that let you broaden your set of search results, which is the exact opposite of the previous Bing advanced search filters. OR helps you find web pages that contain one or more of the terms that are separated by the OR operator.
Example Search
techno OR trance OR dubstep
( ) Parentheses
Wrapping your keyword phrase in parentheses is an advanced search filter for Bing that groups other operators together to control their order of execution. This allows you to find or exclude web pages based on a group of words. Parentheses ( ) work similarly to a mathematical statement. Keywords and Boolean operators within parentheses will be searched first, followed by keywords outside parentheses.
Example Search
(hotel reviews OR hotel tours) Paris
filetype:
This Bing search filter returns web page results that only contain the file type you specify, such as pdf, docx, xls, ppt, mp3, wav, etc.
Example Search
marketing strategies filetype:pdf
ext:
This search operator returns documents that only contain the filename extension that you specify, such as pdf, docx, xls, ppt, mp3, wav, etc.
Example Search
sleep music ext:mp3
contains:
This search parameter retrieves both web pages and documents that have links to the file types you specify, such as pdf, docx, xls, ppt, mp3, wav, etc.
Example Search
content calendar contains:pdf
intitle:
This Bing search operator delivers results that contain a specific term or phrase in the meta title tag which is the title you see for a web page in the search results.
Example Search
intitle:how lightbulbs work
inbody:
This Bing search filter works similarly to the previous operator; however, it delivers web pages that contain a specific term or phrase in the body content of the page.
Example Search
inbody:husqvarna 460 rancher
inanchor:
This advanced search operator for Bing helps you find web pages that are being linked to with specific anchor text. It’s not always to most reliable parameter to use, but it can help you find out which pages in Bing’s index are being linked to with a specific anchor text for off-page SEO.
Example Search
inanchor:iphone reviews
ip:
This search filter lets you find websites that are hosted by a specific IP address. The IP address must be a dotted quad address.
Example Search
ip:207.158.1.39
language:
You can use this Bing search operator to return web pages for a specific language. Enter your search term followed by language: and the two-digit code, such as en, gb, pl, zh, etc. To focus on two or more languages, use the OR parameter to separate the two language codes.
Example Search
funny jokes language:zh
loc: or location:
You can use this Bing search filter to return web pages from a specific country or region. Enter your search term followed by loc: or location: and the two-digit country or region code, such as us, uk, pls, cn, etc. To focus on two or more locations, use the OR parameter to separate the two location codes.
Example Search
care rental reviews location:us
prefer:
This advanced Bing search parameter adds emphasis to a specific word or another operator being used to help narrow the search results. It’s useful to help retrieve results that contain a certain parameter you prefer to find in the document.
Example Search
country music prefer:luke combs
site:
This search operator returns web pages that are only from a specific domain. You can also combine other advanced search filters with the site: parameter to refine the results even further for that domain. To focus on two or more domains, use a logical OR parameter to group the domains in Bing’s search results.
Example Search
site:nytimes.com “best headphones”
url:
This search parameter checks whether the specific URL’s web address is in Bing’s index. If it is, you’ll the URL in the search results. If not, then the URL has not been indexed yet.
Example Search
url:seochatter.com/bing-rank-checker-tracker/
feed:
You can use this search operator to find RSS or Atom feeds on websites that contain the terms you’re searching for on Bing.
Example Search
feed:finance
hasfeed:
This search operator is used in conjunction with the site: operator on Bing. It helps you find web pages that contain an RSS or Atom feed on a specific website for the terms you’re searching for online.
Example Search
site:cnn.com hasfeed:money
Bing Search Operator Precedence
Bing’s search engine uses precedence for some of its advanced search filters, which means Bing’s algorithm evaluates the action of some operators before evaluating the action of other operators.
Precedence Logic
- ( ) has the highest precedence.
- AND and & have higher precedence than OR and |.
Bing Advanced Search Summary
I hope you enjoyed this guide on Bing advanced search.
As you discovered, there are many different Bing advanced search operators and filters you can use to refine your web page results. By using the various parameters listed in this cheatsheet, you can gain better control of your Microsoft Bing search results to find the best content in the index that meets your needs.
