I'd like to stop specific search terms (such as "gaming", "newgrounds", and "knowyourmeme") from appearing in my Google Search suggestions, since these terms tend to distract me from what I'm actually searching for. Is it possible to filter out specific terms from Google's automatic search suggestions?
asked Aug 27, 2012 at 17:05
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You don't want to disable Google's suggestions altogether?– Mr ListerCommented Aug 27, 2012 at 19:08
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No, I want to keep seeing suggestions that are relevant to certain topics (for instance, computer programming.) This is why I'd like to filter out some (but not all) search suggestions.– Anderson GreenCommented Aug 27, 2012 at 20:12
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3 Answers
If you use Firefox, you can open about:config and edit the keyword.URL preference. Set its value to https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&btnG=Google+Search&q=-gaming -newgrounds -knowyourmeme. Don't forget the trailing space! This will cause URL bar search to apply the filters you specify.
Still in Firefox, you can create a bookmark to the URL https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&btnG=Google+Search&q=-gaming -newgrounds -knowyourmeme %s and assign a keyword to it (by right-clicking the bookmark and clicking Properties). Let's say you assign the g keyword. Now if you type g my search in the URL bar, you will perform a search on "my search" with the aforementioned filters (the %s gets replaced with your query).
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Would it be better to use Google Custom Search, since it works on every browser and can do the same thing (if the list of included and omitted terms is edited for a custom search engine)? Commented Aug 31, 2012 at 19:06
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Also, do you know whether the solution that you suggested would filter the automatic search suggestions (as well as the search results)? Commented Aug 31, 2012 at 19:09
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2I imagine it would filter the search suggestions as well, since
-exclusionfilters the term "exclusion" from your search.– user13779Commented Aug 31, 2012 at 19:47
-exclude
Add a dash (-) before a word to exclude all results that include that word.
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This will filter words from the search results as well, so I appreciate this advice. Commented Oct 23, 2013 at 4:18
I'm pretty sure Google doesn't give you access to or control over this kind of thing precisely because it would diminish the ability Google currently has to use targeted advertisements and other things on/with you, which is fundamental in pretty much everything Google does.
However, if you have a specific list of such terms that you know you will (usually) want omitted, I would suggest making a text document with "-term1 -term2 ..." listed out, for the entire list, and copy-pasting that to the end of any search you do.
Depending on your browser, there may be an option to automatically add text to searches (or have default search text to which you would simply add your query text), in which case use this feature instead of having a text document.
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It might be possible to automatically add the omitted terms (for example, "-minecraft -facebook -wikipedia") using a web browser extension (or perhaps a Greasemonkey userscript.) Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 2:42
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It might be better to simply create a custom search engine: google.com/cse Commented Aug 30, 2012 at 2:55