Google Searching: The OR operator

Being able to search effectively is becoming a skill that can save you time and give you access to a long list of appropriate results. In our series of how to work with Google we have a look at the simple OR operator.

When typing up a search it is tempting to put all of the words that you are seeking into one string. There's no problem with that in itself but if we are looking for pages to be returned that contain an alternate word, rather than all of the words, we need to use the OR command.

Here's an example to show you how it might work:

emerging innovations web design OR development

This will return all documents that return emerging innovations web as well as the word design or the word development. If we were to leave out the OR it would produce a different list, showing documents that contain both the words design and development.

When using the operator make sure that you type it IN CAPITALS otherwise it will be ignored.

(And here's the advanced tip, note that you can use pipe (|) in place of the OR word. There, we've saved you a key press there!)

Hopefully that tip will help you find more relevant results in your searches.