Google Dorking Reference

Advanced search operators to access the "deep web" through standard search engines.

Core Operators

site:

Restricts results to a specific domain or top-level domain.

Syntax: site:domain.com or site:.gov

site:gov "climate change"          # Government sites about climate change
site:edu filetype:pdf               # PDFs from educational institutions
site:pacer.gov "case number"        # Federal court records

Strategic Use:

• Target official sources (.gov, .mil, .edu)
• Find country-specific information (.uk, .ru, .cn)
• Exclude commercial results

filetype:

Restricts results to specific file formats.

Syntax: filetype:extension

Supported formats: pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, txt, csv, kml, kmz

filetype:pdf "budget report" 2024   # Budget PDFs from 2024
filetype:xls "confidential"         # Excel files marked confidential
filetype:kml "military base"        # Google Earth files of military bases

Why it matters:

• PDFs often contain scanned documents not indexed as text
• Spreadsheets reveal raw data
• Presentations show internal strategies

intitle:

Searches for keywords specifically in the page title.

Syntax: intitle:"keyword" or allintitle:keyword1 keyword2

intitle:"index of" "confidential"   # Open directories with confidential files
intitle:"login" inurl:admin         # Admin login pages
allintitle:budget 2024 draft        # Pages with all three words in title

inurl:

Searches for keywords within the URL structure.

Syntax: inurl:keyword

inurl:admin login                   # Admin login pages
inurl:pdf site:gov                  # Government PDFs (URL contains "pdf")

AROUND(X)

Finds pages where two words appear within X words of each other.

Syntax: term1 AROUND(5) term2

Biden AROUND(5) "tax policy"        # Biden mentioned near tax policy
"climate change" AROUND(10) funding # Climate change near funding discussions

Why it's powerful: Finds contextual relationships more precisely than simple keyword matching.

Strategic Combinations

site:gov filetype:pdf "not for public release"

site:* filetype:xls "confidential" -site:example.com

intitle:"index of" "parent directory" "budget"

Practical Workflows

Investigating a Company

1. site:sec.gov "Company Name" filetype:pdf
2. "Company Name" AROUND(5) lawsuit
3. site:pacer.gov "Company Name"
4. "Company Name" filetype:xls "financial"

Researching a Person

1. "Full Name" -obituary -facebook
2. "Full Name" site:linkedin.com
3. "Full Name" filetype:pdf
4. "Full Name" AROUND(5) "arrested" OR "charged"

Legal & Ethical Considerations

• Legal: Google Dorking accesses only publicly indexed information. No hacking is involved.
• Ethical: Just because something is indexed doesn't mean it was meant to be public. Use judgment.