Mastering Google Dorking: Unveiling the Secrets of Advanced Search Techniques

What is Google Dorking?

Google Dorking, also known as Google Hacking, refers to using advanced search techniques on Google (or other search engines) to find specific information that is not easily accessible through normal queries. By utilizing special search strings (called Google dorks), you can apply operators like site:, filetype:, and intitle: to filter and refine search results. This can sometimes unintentionally expose sensitive information, vulnerabilities, or files that were never meant to be publicly available.

Real-World Applications

• Bug Bounty Hunting: Finding vulnerabilities like open directories or misconfigured security settings.
• OSINT: Gathering public data about individuals or companies.
• Cybersecurity Audits: Identifying unprotected files or sensitive information that may be publicly accessible due to misconfigura

Example: Searching for “Tesla”

In a basic Google search for “Tesla,” you see a variety of results related to the company, its cars, news, and more:

This shows a standard Google search result page for the term “Tesla.”

Narrowing Down Results with Google Dorking

However, if you only want to view results that belong to Tesla’s official domain, you can use the site: operator to focus on a specific domain.

To do this, simply use the search string:

site:tesla.com

Here’s what it looks like:

This filtered search displays only pages from tesla.com, effectively removing unrelated results from the search.

It looks like you’re diving deeper into using Google Dorking by refining search results further, specifically excluding subdomains. Here’s how you can structure that section in your presentation:

Let’s Deep Dive Into It

In some cases, you might want to exclude specific subdomains from your search results. For example, if you don’t want to see results from shop.tesla.com, you can modify the query to exclude that subdomain.

Excluding Subdomains from Results

You can use the - operator to remove certain terms from the search. For instance, to exclude the shop subdomain of Tesla, the search string would look like this:

site:tesla.com -shop

Here’s what happens:

Initial search without filtering subdomains like “shop”

Now, after applying the exclusion:

As you can see, the “shop” subdomain results have been excluded from the search.

Explanation:

• site:tesla.com — Limits the results to the main Tesla domain and its subdomains.
• -shop — Excludes any results that contain the word “shop,” effectively removing shop.tesla.com from the results.

This technique is useful when you want to narrow down the results by removing irrelevant sections of a site, helping you focus on specific content.

Operators

Google Dorking leverages a variety of powerful search operators that allow you to filter and refine search results with precision. These operators provide control over how Google interprets and retrieves results, enabling you to uncover hidden data or focus on specific aspects of web pages.

Using Quotation Marks for Precise Searches

In Google Dorking, you can use quotation marks ("") to search for exact phrases or words in the same order, ensuring more precise results. This is especially useful when you want to find pages containing specific text combinations or when exact matches are necessary.

How to Use Quotation Marks

To search for an exact phrase, place it within quotation marks:

"exact phrase"

Example By using the query:

site:.com intitle:"index of"

You can filter for pages across .com domains where the title exactly matches “index of”, often indicating exposed file directories or unprotected file structures on the web.

Using the intitle: Operator

The intitle: operator in Google Dorking is a powerful tool that lets you search for web pages containing a specific word or phrase within the title of the page. The title refers to the text within the <title> HTML tag, which appears in both the browser tab and search engine results.

How to Use intitle:

To target pages with a specific word in the title, you can structure your query as follows:

intitle:query

For example:

intitle:login

This query will return web pages that include the word login in their title.

Example: Searching for Login Pages

If you want to find login pages across various websites, you can combine the intitle: operator with a domain filter like so:

site:.com intitle:login

This query will search for login pages from websites with a .com domain. Here’s an example of how it works:

Search results showing pages where “login” appears in the title.

Understanding the Source Code

To see how this works behind the scenes, you can inspect the source code of any webpage by right-clicking and selecting “View Page Source.” Inside the HTML, you’ll find the <title> tag:

Here, you can see the relevant portion of the code:

<title>Login Manager</title>

Because “Login” is in the title of this page, it shows up in your search results using the intitle:login query.

Finding Open Directories

Using the query:

site:.com intitle:"index of"

Can help locate directory listings or file directories that might be publicly accessible, revealing potential vulnerabilities or sensitive information.

Example of search results showing pages with “index of” in the title, often indicating open directories.

Potential Uses and Implications

• Vulnerabilities: Open directories can expose sensitive files or information unintentionally. This can be a security risk if not properly secured.

• SEO Purposes: Sometimes, directory listings are intentionally left open for SEO reasons or to improve site navigation. Webmasters might use such listings to help users find files or resources more easily.

Understanding the context in which these directories are used is important for both security analysis and web development.

Using the address: Operator

The address: operator isn’t a standard search feature in Google, but with Google Dorking, you can use alternative methods and operators to effectively find addresses or locations by combining various operators creatively.

Finding Specific Addresses or Locations

Here are some approaches to uncover addresses or locations using Google Dorking:

Using the site: Operator for Subdomains

If you want to search for address-related information on a specific website or subdomain, you can use the site: operator in combination with relevant keywords. This can be helpful for finding store locations, offices, or other geographic information.

Example: Searching for Tesla Store Addresses

To find stores in the United States on Tesla’s website, you can structure your search like this:

site:tesla.com address:stores in united states

Search results showing Tesla store locations in the United States.

This query focuses on results from tesla.com that mention “address” and “stores” within the United States.

2. Using Google Maps for Address Searches

For more precise location searches, Google Maps can be a more direct tool. You can pair specific location types (like restaurants, shops, or offices) with keywords in a query to narrow down locations.

Example: Searching for Pizza Places in Kerala

You can use the intitle: operator combined with a specific location like this:

intitle:pizza address:kerala

Results showing pizza places with addresses in Kerala.

This method helps find specific businesses or locations based on the keywords and address details provided.

Even though Google doesn’t have a direct address: operator, combining other operators such as site:, intitle:, and keywords related to addresses can help you locate specific information. Google Maps can also be used as a complementary tool for finding addresses and locations.

Using the intext: Operator

The intext: operator in Google Dorking is used to search for specific words or phrases within the body text of a web page. This operator is particularly useful for finding content where the keyword appears in the text, but not necessarily in the title, URL, or other metadata of the page.

How to Use intext:

To locate pages with a specific keyword or phrase in the content, use this format:

intext:keyword

Example:

If you’re searching for pages containing the word “login” within the body text of .com websites, you would use the following query:

site:.com intext:login

This query will return pages from .com domains where the word “login” appears in the text of the page.

Similarly, if you want to search for pages containing the word “confidential” within .edu websites, you can use:

site:.edu intext:confidential

Example results showing pages where “login” or “confidential” appears in the content.

Breakdown:

• intext:login — Filters results to show pages where the word login appears in the body text.
• site:.com — Restricts the search to .com domains, refining the scope of your search.
• site:.edu — Restricts the search to .edu domains for academic or educational results.

Use Cases

• Finding Content: The intext: operator is perfect for locating specific content or keywords within the body of web pages.
• Security Research: Useful for identifying pages that reference login or sensitive information, even if the term isn’t in the title or URL.
• Information Gathering: Helps gather content on specific topics from within a large number of pages, especially useful in OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) investigations.

Using the intext: operator makes it easier to narrow down relevant pages based on the actual content within a page, providing more targeted results for security researchers and information gatherers alike.

Comparing intitle: vs intext: Operators

When performing advanced searches with Google Dorking, knowing how to use the intitle: and intext: operators effectively can greatly improve the precision of your search results. Both operators target different parts of a web page, and understanding their differences is key to refining your queries.

intitle: Operator

• Purpose: Searches for web pages where the specified word or phrase appears in the title of the page.
• Usage: Best for finding pages where the keyword is central to the content and likely to be summarized in the title.

Syntax:

intitle:keyword

Example:

intitle:login

This query returns web pages where the word “login” appears in the title, such as login portals or login-related articles.

Use Cases:

• Finding Specific Page Types: Ideal for locating pages like login portals, admin panels, or pages centered around specific subjects (e.g., “login” or “admin”).
• High Relevance: Titles are usually written to highlight the main topic of a page, making these results highly relevant to your query.

Example Query: To search for login pages on .com domains:

site:.com intitle:login

This query returns results where “login” appears in the title on websites with a .com domain.

intext: Operator

• Purpose: Searches for pages containing the specified word or phrase in the body text of the page.
• Usage: Useful when you need to find pages where the keyword or phrase appears anywhere in the content, even if it’s not the primary focus of the page.

Syntax:

intext:keyword

Example:

intext:login

This query returns pages where the word “login” appears in the body text, not limited to the title or URL.

Use Cases:

• Broad Content Searches: Helpful for finding pages that discuss a particular keyword within the text, such as explanations or mentions of “login” within a larger article or discussion.
• Comprehensive Search: Unlike intitle:, the keyword may appear anywhere on the page, so the results cover a wider scope.

Example Query: To find pages discussing login information on .com websites:

site:.com intext:login

This query shows pages where “login” appears somewhere in the body text of .com websites.

Summary

• intitle:: Targets keywords in the title, giving focused results where the keyword is a central theme or topic of the page.
• intext:: Targets keywords in the body text, providing broader results where the keyword appears anywhere in the content, even if it’s not the main focus.

Using these operators, either individually or combined, allows for tailored searches. For instance, pairing intitle: with intext: can help locate pages that both discuss a keyword and feature it prominently in the title, offering highly relevant and comprehensive search results.

Using the filetype: Operator

The filetype: operator in Google Dorking is a powerful tool for locating specific types of files on the web by filtering search results to include only files with a particular extension. This operator is valuable for finding various documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other file types.

How to Use filetype:

To search for files of a specific type, use the following syntax:

filetype:extension keyword

• extension: The file extension you are targeting (e.g., pdf, docx, xls).
• keyword: The term or phrase you want to find within those files.

Example Usage

1. Finding PDF Files:

   To locate PDF files related to “cybersecurity”, you would use:

   filetype:pdf cybersecurity
   

   
   This query returns PDF documents that include the term “cybersecurity”.

2. Finding Word Documents:

   To find DOCX files mentioning “project plan”, use:

   filetype:docx project plan
   

   This will return DOCX files containing the phrase “project plan”.

3. Finding Excel Spreadsheets:

   To search for Excel files related to “financial reports”, use:

   filetype:xls financial reports
   

   This query displays Excel spreadsheets that mention “financial reports”.

4. Finding CSV Files:

   For discovering CSV files that might contain data, use:

   filetype:csv data
   

   Many sites store data in CSV format, so this query can help find potentially sensitive information.

   
   This query can uncover CSV files that may contain valuable or sensitive data.

How It Works

• filetype: Operator: Filters search results to include files with a specified extension.
• Keyword: The term or phrase that should appear in the content of the files.

Use Cases

• Finding Specific Documents: Ideal for locating particular types of documents, such as technical reports, academic papers, or business plans.
• Research and Data Gathering: Useful for accessing detailed information or datasets often stored in formats like PDF, DOCX, or XLS.
• Security and Vulnerability Assessment: Helps identify exposed documents or files that might contain sensitive or confidential information.

Using the filetype: operator can streamline your search for specific types of files, making it easier to gather information or assess vulnerabilities based on file contents available on the web.

Using the link: Operator

The link: operator in Google search is used to find web pages that contain links to a specific URL or domain. This operator can be quite useful for identifying which sites are linking back to a particular page, making it valuable for tasks like backlink analysis and competitive research.

How to Use link:

To search for pages that link to a particular URL or domain, use the following format:

Example Usage

1. Finding Links to Tesla on Specific Domains:

   To find pages that link to Tesla and are hosted on a .in domain, you can use:

   link:tesla.com site:.in
   

   This query returns pages on .in domains that contain links to tesla.com.

2. Finding Bug Bounty Reports:

   To locate bug bounty reports or discussions related to Tesla on Bugcrowd, use:

   link:tesla.com site:bugcrowd.com
   

   
   This query identifies pages on Bugcrowd that reference or link to Tesla’s domain, helping you discover relevant bug reports or discussions.

How It Works

• link: Operator: Searches for web pages that include links to the specified URL or domain.
• site: Operator: Allows you to restrict the search to pages within a specific domain or domain type (e.g., .in, bugcrowd.com).

Use Cases

• SEO and Backlink Analysis: Useful for SEO professionals to identify backlinks to their website, providing insights into which domains are linking to their content and helping to assess the website’s authority.
• Competitive Research: Helps in analyzing backlinks to competitors’ sites, which can reveal their link-building strategies and areas where you might gain a competitive edge.
• Discovering References: Valuable for tracking which pages reference or cite a specific page, helping to measure the influence and reach of content.
• Bug Bounty Reconnaissance: Assists in finding bug bounty reports or discussions related to a target domain on platforms like Bugcrowd, facilitating research and vulnerability discovery.

Limitations

• Inconsistent Results: Google’s results may not be exhaustive. The link: operator might not return all relevant pages or provide a complete picture of backlinks.
• Operator Deprecation: The effectiveness of the link: operator has diminished over time, with Google reducing its functionality and coverage compared to its earlier capabilities.

By leveraging the link: operator, you can gain valuable insights into backlinks and references, although it’s important to be aware of its limitations and complement it with other tools and techniques for comprehensive analysis.

Using the inurl: Operator

The inurl: operator in Google Dorking is a powerful tool for searching pages that contain a specific term within their URL. This operator is particularly useful for discovering pages with certain directory structures, admin panels, or login pages.

Purpose

• Searches for Pages with Specific Terms in the URL: Helps find web pages where a particular term appears in the URL.

Syntax

To use the inurl: operator, use the following format:

inurl:keyword

Example Usage

1. Finding Admin Panels:

   To locate pages that likely contain admin panels by searching for URLs with the term “admin”, use:

   inurl:admin
   

   Result:
   This query will return pages where “admin” appears in the URL, such as example.com/admin or example.com/wp-admin. This can help identify administrative interfaces that might be accessible.

2. Finding Login Pages:

   To locate login pages by searching for URLs with the term “login”, use:

   inurl:login
   

   
   This query returns pages with “login” in the URL, such as example.com/login or example.com/user-login. This is useful for locating authentication pages.

Use Cases

• Finding Admin Panels: Useful for locating administrative interfaces of websites, which can be crucial for security assessments or research.
• Discovering Login Pages: Helps in identifying login pages across various websites, beneficial for penetration testing or vulnerability assessments.
• Locating Specific Directories: Useful for finding pages related to particular directory structures or file management.

Summary

• inurl: Operator: Focuses on finding pages that include a specific term within their URL, making it effective for locating pages related to admin interfaces, login pages, or specific directories.

Using the inurl: operator allows you to efficiently identify URLs that contain particular keywords, aiding in security assessments, information gathering, and research.

Here is a table with 50 Google Dorking operators and their descriptions along with example usage:

Operator	Description	Example
cache:	Shows Google’s cached version of a page	cache:nytimes.com
related:	Finds websites related to a specific domain	related:bbc.com
- (exclude)	Excludes results containing a specific word	tesla -model 3
OR	Finds pages containing either of two terms	security OR cybersecurity
* (wildcard)	Replaces unknown or variable words in a search phrase	"cybersecurity * challenges"
allintitle:	Searches for multiple words in the title	allintitle:cybersecurity attack
allinurl:	Searches for multiple words in the URL	allinurl:admin login
allintext:	Searches for multiple words in the body text	allintext:password confidential
around(x)	Finds words near each other within “x” words	cybersecurity AROUND(5) attack
define:	Displays the definition of a word	define:hacking
numrange:	Searches within a range of numbers	laptops $500..$1000
before:	Finds pages published before a specific year	cybersecurity before:2015
after:	Finds pages published after a specific year	AI after:2020
author:	Finds posts or articles by a specific author	author:john_doe
daterange:	Finds results within a specific date range (Julian dates)	daterange:2459101-2459151
info:	Provides information about a website	info:wikipedia.org
inanchor:	Searches for words in the anchor text of links	inanchor:buy books
location:	Filters news results by a specific location	location:New York
stocks:	Provides stock information about a company	stocks:AAPL
source:	Searches within a specific news source	source:bbc.com
ext:	Similar to filetype:, searches for file extensions	ext:doc confidential
map:	Finds maps related to the query	map:Paris
weather:	Displays weather results for a location	weather:London
movie:	Shows movie listings or info for a location	movie:New York
phonebook:	Searches for phone numbers (less effective now)	phonebook:John Doe
bphonebook:	Searches for business phone numbers	bphonebook:plumber
rphonebook:	Searches for residential phone numbers	rphonebook:Jane Doe
safesearch:	Forces safe search for results	safesearch:hacking
insubject:	Finds words in the subject of a webpage	insubject:AI future
sitemap:	Finds sitemap pages for a website	sitemap:wikipedia.org
group:	Restricts search to a particular Google Group	group:rec.humor.funny
cache-date:	Finds cached versions of a page from a specific date	cache-date:2022-07-15 example.com
isbn:	Searches for books using their ISBN	isbn:9780134685991
inmeta:	Searches in the metadata of a page	inmeta:author name
insubject:	Searches for words in the subject (useful in Google Groups)	insubject:cybersecurity
inbook:	Finds references within books on Google Books	inbook:machine learning
inposttitle:	Searches for words in blog post titles	inposttitle:cybersecurity tips
intags:	Searches for keywords within a site’s meta tags	intags:security
ip:	Searches for sites hosted on a specific IP address	ip:192.168.1.1
book:	Finds books related to a topic or title	book:artificial intelligence
place:	Finds places related to the query	place:restaurants
maps:	Displays results related to maps for a location	maps:Berlin
patents:	Searches for patents related to the query	patents:renewable energy
news:	Filters search results to show only news articles	news:cybersecurity

Additional Resources

For more examples and comprehensive lists of Google dorks, you can explore the following resource:

• Dorks Repository

This GitHub repository contains a collection of Google dorks and search techniques useful for various purposes, including information gathering, security assessments, and more. It’s a valuable resource for anyone looking to expand their knowledge and use of advanced search queries.

Bug Bounty Using Google Dorking

Google Dorking can be a powerful tool for bug bounty hunters, helping to uncover hidden or sensitive information that may be inadvertently exposed online. By crafting specific search queries, you can identify vulnerable systems, exposed data, or misconfigured pages. Here’s how you can use Google Dorking effectively for bug bounty reconnaissance.

Finding Apache2 Default Pages

Default pages from Apache2 installations are often targeted by bug bounty hunters because they can reveal misconfigurations or unprotected systems. Here’s how to use Google Dorking to locate these pages:

1. Basic Search:

   Start with a straightforward query to find default Apache2 pages:

   intitle:Apache2 Debian Default Page
   

   This search targets pages with “Apache2 Debian Default Page” in the title, which is a common default page for Apache2 installations on Debian systems.

   
   Search results showing pages with the default Apache2 title.

2. Refining with Quotation Marks:

   If the basic search results are limited, refine your query by using quotation marks to ensure an exact match for the phrase:

   intitle:"Apache2 Debian Default Page"
   

   Quotation marks help Google find pages with the exact title, which can yield more comprehensive results.

   
   Refined search results displaying the exact match for the title.

3. Targeting Specific Domains:

   To narrow down the search to pages within a particular domain or country code top-level domain (ccTLD), use the site: operator. For example, to find pages within the .uk domain:

   site:.uk intitle:"Apache2 Debian Default Page"
   

   This query filters results to .uk domains, which can be useful for targeting specific geographic regions.

   
   Search results limited to .uk domains.

Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

For more targeted searches, you can use country-specific top-level domains (ccTLDs). Here’s a link to a comprehensive list of ccTLDs: Wikipedia’s Country Code Top-Level Domain List.

Finding Exposed Git Files (Directory Listing)

Exposed Git files or repositories can be a significant security risk, as they may reveal source code, configuration files, or other sensitive information. Google Dorking can help you locate these exposed Git directories by searching for specific directory listings.

Search Query

To find exposed Git files or repositories through directory listings, use the following query:

intitle:"index of" inurl:.git

Explanation

• intitle:"index of": Searches for pages with “index of” in the title, which is commonly associated with directory listings on web servers.
• inurl:.git: Filters results to URLs containing “.git,” which often indicates the presence of Git repositories.

Example Result

Search results showing exposed Git directories with “index of” in the title.

Example of a directory listing page revealing exposed Git files.

Finding Configuration Files

For discovering exposed configuration files, you can use a similar approach. For example:

  intitle:"index of" inurl:config

Example of finding sensitive information like FTP configuration files with usernames and passwords, as well as database files.

Use Cases

• Security Assessment: Identifying exposed Git directories can help in assessing the security posture of a target and discovering potentially sensitive files.
• Reconnaissance: Useful for gathering information about a target’s codebase or configuration, which might be inadvertently exposed.
• Vulnerability Research: Helps in finding vulnerabilities that may be present in publicly accessible Git repositories.