Using Google’s site search is an easy way to do health checks on your organic search. Customer Jeremy emailed me with a question I’ve never heard before:

What is the difference between typing in google search the following? The results are slightly different.

site:example.com (no space) site: example.com (space)

Searching with a space vs without a space is significant.

"site:example.com" triggers the special site search option in Google so only pages from example.com are searched.

"site: example.com" is a normal search that looks for the keywords "site:" and "example.com". In this case you’ll find pages that mention your domain by name and it’s not showing you pages on your site at all.

Case also matters.

"Site:example.com" won’t work but "site:example.com" will.

It’s confusing I know, but most of the advanced Google searches are.

What do you think? Or do you have a question? Reply and let me know.

Eric Davis