Are you using the site: command correctly?
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| Photo by luis arias on Unsplash |
If you're not signing out of Google Chrome before using the site: command, or using an incognito window, or switching to a different browser, you may be getting discouraging results from Google. When you are signed into Google Chrome, Google is trying to show you content that is relevant to you.
When you use the site: command to find out how many pages Google has indexed on your website, you want anonymous results.
What is the purpose of the site: parameter in Google.com?
The purpose of the site command is to show you how many pages are indexed in the domain. (Note:www is a subdomain, you want to use just the domain name.) So, "site:weblogwrite.com" in this case is what I used. There are other parameters you may chain together to drill down further in the index but what I was interested in was the total pages indexed so far. I kept getting "11", and yet when I ran other searches looking for material that I knew was present on the other pages I kept finding the desired webpage. Google HAD indexed the page, but the site: command was not showing me that information.
Wildly different results using the site: command
The site: command is an estimate. The results depend on many factors. For best results, try several browsers, and make sure to use the private browsing windows.
Here are my results:
In Chrome, when signed into Google Chrome, site:weblogwriter.com returned 11 results.
In Chrome, when signed into Google Chrome, but using an incognito window, 75 results.
In Chrome, when signed out of Chrome, and using an incognito window, 75 results.
In Firefox, site:weblogwriter.com returns 23 results.
In Firefox Private Window, the Firefox equivalent of Google Chrome's incognito Window, site:weblogwriter.com returns 55 results.
In Edge, when logged in, site:weblogwriter.com on Google.com returns 11 results.
In Edge, when logged out, site:weblogwriter.com returns 75 results
In Edge, when logged in, but in a InPrivate Window, weblogwriter.com returns 75 results.
During the testing the results varied significantly!
During testing the results of the site:weblogwriter.com command changed from a high of 75 to a low of 11. I also saw 23, 35, and 55. My conclusion is that site: should only be used in an incognito window and that it is just a ballpark figure.
