Site Search Tool
Many websites have a weak search box of their own, or none at all. A search engine's site: operator gets round that by searching only the pages it has indexed from that site. Type a site and what you're looking for, and this tool writes the right query for Google, Bing and Brave.
How to use the site search tool
- Type what you want to find. Use the words the site itself would probably use. Official sites tend to say "eligibility" rather than "who can get it", for example.
- Add the site. Type a domain such as
canada.ca. You don't needhttps://; the tool removes it. To search several sites at once, separate them with commas. - Leave out the noise. If a site has a busy forum or a blog you don't want, put that subdomain or section in the exclude box.
- Use the exact-phrase box for names and titles. It wraps your words in quotes so the engine looks for them in that order.
- Open the search. Compare the previews and press Google, Bing or Brave.
site: syntax by engine
| Task | Bing | Brave | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One domain and its subdomains | site:canada.ca | site:canada.ca | site:canada.ca |
| One section | site:example.com/help | site:example.com/help (up to two folder levels) | site:example.com/help |
| Top-level domain | site:gov | site:gov | site:gov |
| Several sites | (site:a.com OR site:b.com) | (site:a.com OR site:b.com) | site:a.com OR site:b.com |
| Exclude a site | -site:forum.a.com | -site:forum.a.com | NOT site:forum.a.com |
Where Bing and Brave differ
- Bing limits how deep a section can go. Microsoft says
site:works for domains, top-level domains and folders "not more than two levels deep". For anything deeper, search the parent folder and add a keyword. - Bing documents OR for several sites. Its own example is
(site:bbc.co.uk OR site:cnn.com). The tool uses the same form for Google, which also understands OR in brackets. - Brave shows exclusion with NOT. Brave's help page gives
brave search NOT site:brave.comas its example, so that's what the tool writes for Brave. It doesn't document brackets, so several sites are joined with a plain OR. - Coverage differs. Each engine only knows the pages it has crawled. A page missing from one engine's
site:results may still turn up on another, so it's worth trying all three for hard-to-find pages.
Worked examples
- Benefit rules on two government sites:
child benefit eligibility (site:canada.ca OR site:gov.uk). - A company's help pages without its community forum:
reset password site:example.com -site:community.example.com. - Academic sources only:
microplastics drinking water site:edu. - Checking which of your own pages a search engine has indexed:
site:yourdomain.com. Google warns that this list isn't complete and isn't ranked, so use Search Console for an exact answer.
Tips that save time
- Don't add
www.unless you mean it.site:example.comcoverswwwand other subdomains, butsite:www.example.comcovers only that host. - If the site has its own good search, use it for very new pages. Search engines can take days to index a new page.
- Combine with a file type, such as
site:canada.ca filetype:pdf, to pull out forms and reports. The file type search tool does this for you. - For old versions of a page that has disappeared, a
site:search won't help. Use the old website guide instead.
FAQ
Does site: search every page on a website?
No. It searches only the pages the engine has indexed, and Google says site: results aren't guaranteed to be complete. Very new or blocked pages won't appear.
Can I search more than one site at once?
Yes. Google and Bing accept sites joined with OR inside brackets, and Brave accepts sites joined with OR. The tool builds the right form for each engine.
How do I exclude part of a site?
Put a minus sign before site: on Google and Bing, for example -site:forum.example.com. On Brave the documented form is NOT site:forum.example.com.
Why does Bing ignore my long folder path?
Microsoft documents site: for folders up to two levels deep. Use a shorter path and add a keyword instead.
Sources
Operator syntax checked on October 13, 2026 against each engine's own help pages. Bing and Brave date filters were checked with live requests.