- All searches are "AND" searches. Pages that contain at least one of the terms you type are returned.
- Stop words are common words, such as a, and, and the. These words, as well as all punctuation marks are ignored unless surrounded by quotation marks or preceded by the + symbol.
- Only the first 10 terms are used in obtaining search results.
- Term grouping and Boolean operators are supported in this preferential order:
quotation marks " … "
NOT + -
AND &
OR [vertical line]
MSN Search recognizes the following symbols:
+ Finds pages that contain ALL the terms preceded by the + symbol, and allows inclusion of terms that are usually ignored (example: cat +in +the hat)
" Finds the exact words as quoted ("cirque du soleil")
[vertical line] Finds pages that contain either term (check [vertical line] cheque)
- Excludes pages that contain a term or phrase (mobile -wireless)
( ) Finds or excludes pages that contain a group of words ( (mobile device) (wireless device) or (mobile device) -(wireless device) )
& Finds pages that contain all search terms (dog & cat)
AND Finds pages that contain ALL the terms or phrases (same as &) (dog AND cat)
NOT Excludes pages that contain a term or phrase (same as -) ( (mobile device)
NOT (wireless device) )
OR Finds pages that contain either term or phrase (same as ) ( (mobile device) OR (wireless device) )
Keyword reference
Use these keywords to target your search by modifying the search function performed:
contains: Restricts results to sites that have links to the file type(s) you specify. For example, to search for websites that contain links to Microsoft Windows Media Audio (wma) files, type music contains:wma.
filetype: Returns only web pages created in the file format you specify. MSN Search recognizes html, txt, and pdf extensions. MSN Search also recognizes the extensions for primary Office document types, such as doc and rtf for Microsoft Office Word, xls for Microsoft Office Excel, and ppt for Microsoft Office PowerPoint.
inanchor:
inbody:
intitle:
inurl: Returns pages that contain the specified term in the anchor, body, title, or web address of the site, respectively. Specify only one term per keyword. You can string multiple keyword entries as needed. For example, to find pages that contain msn in the anchor, and the terms spacesand magog in the body, type inanchor:msn inbody:spaces inbody:magog.
ip: Finds sites that are hosted by a specific IP address. The IP address must be a dotted quad address. Type the IP:keyword, followed by the IP address of the website. For example, type IP:207.46.249.252.
language: Returns web pages for a specific language. Specify the language code directly after the language:keyword. For example, to see only web pages in English, type "au pair" language:en.
link: Finds sites that have links to the specified website or domain. This is useful for determining who links to whom. Do not add a space between link:and the web address. For example, to find pages that contain the word games and that link to microsoft.com, type games link:microsoft.com.
linkdomain: Finds sites that link to any page within the specified domain. Use this keyword to determine how many links are being made to a specific page, as well as how those links are made. For example, to see pages that link to MSN, type linkdomain:msn.com. To find sites that link to a hosted IP address, type the IP address as a dotted quad address, such as 207.46.249.252. (Do not add a space between linkdomain:and the domain or IP address.)
loc: or location: Returns web pages from a specific country or region. Specify the country or region code directly after the loc:keyword. To focus on two or more languages, use a logical OR and group the languages. For example, to see web pages about media reporting from the U.S. or Great Britain, type media reporting (loc:US OR loc:GB).
prefer: Adds emphasis on either a word or another operator. For example, type football prefer:organization.
site: Returns web pages that belong to the specified site. To focus on two or more domains, use a logical OR and group the domains. Do not add a space after the colon (:). You can use site search for web domains, top level domains, and directories that are not more than two levels deep. For example, to see web pages about media reporting from the BBC or CNN websites, type "media reporting" (site:bbc.co.uk OR site:cnn.com), and then click Search. You can also search for web pages that contain a specific search word on a site. For example, to find web pages about the PC version of Halo on the Microsoft website, type site:www.microsoft.com/games/pc halo, and then click Search.You can also access this function by using the Search Builder Domain/sitefunction.
feed: Finds RSS or Atom feeds on a website. You must include a space after the colon (:). For example, to find RSS or Atom feeds on the New York Times website, type site:www.nytimes.com feed: www.nytimes.com.
hasfeed: Finds web pages that contain an RSS or Atom feed on a website. You must include a space after the colon (:). You can add search words to narrow your search. For example, to find web pages on the New York Times website that contain RSS or Atom feeds, type site:www.nytimes.com hasfeed: www.nytimes.com.
url: Checks whether the listed domain or web address is in the MSN Search index. Do not add a space between url: and the domain or web address. For example, to verify that the microsoft.comdomain is in the index, type url:microsoft.com.
