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Google is one of the most popular search engines in the world. Every day, billions of people use this search engine for their work, education, or home to get their queries answered.
But sometimes, you may want to find precise links to your search query. You can do this by dictating the search engine to omit certain pages containing those words from the answers.
In this article, we’ve explained three ways to exclude words from Google Search.
- Method 1: Using the minus symbol
- Method 2: Quotation marks
- Method 3: Exclude specific websites from Google Search
But first, let us understand why you should learn this technique in the first place.
Why should you exclude words from Google Search?
Excluding words from Google Search can help you:
- Get more precise, updated and valuable website links. For long queries, you might get some random website showing random stuff that may not be related to your search term.
- Get the results quickly. Including broad and unspecific terms may result in you searching for the right website, which wastes your time.
- Avoiding confusion and misinformation. Some words have multiple meanings when used in different contexts. Excluding these words can be helpful in many situations.
Also read: How to cancel a Google Calendar event?Â
Three ways to exclude words from Google Search
Now that we have understood why we should exclude words from Google Search let us understand three simple ways to do so:
Method 1: Using the minus symbol
The first method is quite easy. All you have to do is insert a minus (-) symbol after your search query in Google Search to stop the search engine from showing the results containing the word after minus. Do not include space between the minus sign and the word you want to omit.
Here’s an example: malware -ransomware

The above search query will show you results of malware that do not contain the word ransomware. It is as easy as that.
Similarly, add more minus signs along with the words and no spaces to add more words you want Google Search to ignore.
Here’s an example: malware -ransomware -threats
This query will show you results without the words ransomware and threats.
Method 2: Quotation marks
Another way to exclude a search term in Google Search is by using quotation marks (” “).
You can exclude phrases by putting them in quotation marks and then adding them before your search query after the minus symbol, as explained in the above sub-section.
Here’s an example: how to protect your devices -“from hackers”

The term ‘from hackers’ will be omitted from the search results. Remember to place the minus sign in front of the quoted text, or Googe will show you the exact text in the quotes, which will be just the opposite of what you want.
Method 3: Exclude specific websites from Google Search
Suppose that you want to exclude a specific website from your search results may be due to the misinformation on that website or simply because you have rummaged through the website enough and want new information on the topic. You can use the site operator (site:) for this purpose.
Here’s an example: best tablets for work -site:amazon.com

As you can see from the above screenshot, Amazon’s links are not included in the search term. Usually, Amazon is one of the top websites shown in the search when you search for terms like ‘best laptops’, ‘best laptops’, or best anything.
Thus, you can use any of the three methods mentioned above to exclude words from Google Search easily and conveniently.
Also read: How to remove photos from Google Business?