How to Exclude Website from Google Search – 2024 Tricks

There are two sides to the question, “How to exclude website from Google search.” You may want to exclude someone else’s website from your search results. Else, you may like to hide your own website from Google. In either case, I have a few tricks that you’ll find useful in response to your need.

A. Exclude Someone Else’s Website From Google Search

There are several tricks you can use to exclude a website that’s not yours from Google’s search results. These could be done by using a query string, a browser extension or plugin, Chrome’s Settings, and Advanced Google Search.

1. Use a query string

One way to exclude a website from the Google search results is to use a query string with the word or terms you are looking for.

There are a variety of recommended query strings you can use: “-site:website_name”, “-inurl:[write URL here],” “-inurl:[write web link here]”, and “-inurl:[URL/search term]”.

What’s the difference of each string? These differ depending on the particular purpose you have in mind.

For example, you would like to search for “epic website examples.” Google will show StackExchange.Com as its top result once you type this on your browser.

Say you don’t want to see StackExchange.Com from the results. So you type “epic website examples -inurl:StackExchange.Com” to exclude that particular website from the search results.

The first two query strings operate the same, such that they will give you the same results. The first query string is just easier to remember. Should you use this one, you don’t need to separate the domain name’s wordings with an underscore.

In gist, the first two query strings are used to exclude the entire website—as in all its pages where relevant keywords are located—from Google’s search results.

But if you want to remove only a particular page from that particular website in the search results, you then use the third query string.

The final query string is used to particularly exclude a website each time you search for something online. This is often used when there is a website you do not like based on prejudices or biases.

Say, you do not like former US President Donald Trump but you’d like to search for election results on CNN.

Using the final query string, you would have to type “-inurl:CNN.com/donald_trump”. This will then provide you with information from CNN but nothing on their coverage of the former president.

Just some reminders though. The first two query strings, according to David Goffredo, work only for top-level domains (those with a.com, .org., .net suffixes).

The particular query strings do not work in filtering results for keywords or search terms leading to social media giant Facebook and travel review site TripAdvisor.

When typing the query string, make sure that there is no space between the colon (“:”) and the website name or domain name. A space in between would not make the query string work.

2. Use a browser extension or plugin

There are internet browser extensions or plugins that have been designed to specifically exclude or block a website from Google search results. Examples of such Chrome extensions are Personal Blocklist (not by Google); Paywall Label for Facebook, Twitter & Google; and Ublacklist.

A renowned Chrome extension, the Personal Blocklist(not by Google) plugin can easily exclude a website with a simple click of your mouse. It is mostly used because it allows users to import or export the list of websites blocked from Google Search.

On the other hand, the Paywall Label for Facebook, Twitter & Google is a Chrome extension that lets you categorize search results to help with your productivity. The plugin lets you label a particular website and all Twitter and Facebook feed as a paywall.

Labeling an item as a paywall will notify Google Search to lock that link and accompany it with a black padlock icon. This plugin is particularly useful if you do not wish to mistakenly click on a search result of a website with paid subscription access.

Similar to the Paywall Label for Facebook, Twitter & Google extension, Block Site and Cold Turkey prevents you from accessing particular websites when you search online. These apps block the websites but would still appear in your search results but are inaccessible.

While Ublacklist acts like a firewall based on the list of websites you would like to exclude whenever you use Google Search. This Google extension is flexible since it allows you to define the rules in the search results. It also works in other web browsers besides Google Chrome.

Choosing which plugin to you use is really dependent on your preferences and purpose for excluding a particular website from Google’s search results.

3. Use your browser’s customization features

You could always use your browser’s customization features to exclude a website from Google Search. I will particularly talk about Google Chrome and how you can set it up for this particular search trick.

Google Chrome has a built-in feature to block websites from appearing in your browser. You just have to define which websites you would like to exclude through Chrome’s settings. To do this, here’s what you need to do:

1. Click the three dots on the upper right-hand corner of Chrome to access the Menu’s options.

2. Scroll down to Settings and click it. This will open a new tab.

3. In the Settings page, choose “Site Settings”. This will open the features of the said page.

4. Scroll down to Notifications and click it.

5. In the Notifications page, choose “Don’t allow sites to send notifications.”

6. Click on “Add” to open a pop-up window where you can input the website address you wish to block. Click the “Add” button when done.

4. Use Advanced Google Search

Another way of excluding a website from your search results is through the use of Google’s Advanced Search service. This free service helps you expand or specify certain parameters for the information you need.

Google’s Advanced Search can be used to limit finding information within a particular website. The use of special characters—the hyphen, asterisk, colon, and quotation marks—together with your search terms would yield varying results.

For our purpose, we use the hyphen to exclude websites in the search results. The hyphen is read as a minus (-) sign in computer syntax or language.

While the asterisk is used more as a wildcard to reveal a host of information particularly based on the letters you used, which may be part of a longer word, phrase, or sentence. The quotation marks, meanwhile, are meant to limit a search for whatever words are included in it.

So these are the tricks on how to exclude a website from Google Search that does not belong to you. When it comes to “hiding” your website from Google’s search results, that’s a whole different story. Let me tell you next how it’s done.

B. Exclude Your Website From Google Search

The trick in hiding your website from Google Search lies in its indexible configuration. I will share how to do this for websites in WordPress, which I am most familiar with. Websites in WordPress can do this through the Account Settings.

1. From your WordPress Dashboard, click on Settings and choose General Settings. This will open the General Settings page.

2. Scroll down to the Privacy box or section and check if it is set to “Public.” If not, simply click the said option.

3. Under the Public option, tick “Discourage search engines from indexing this site.”

4. Click the “Save setting” button at the upper right-hand corner of the Privacy box or section and you are done.

This procedure will, however, be dependent on search engines if they will honor your request to “hide” your website from their results.

Another option would be to tick on the “Private” option to fully hide your website from the Public and from search engine results.

If you know how to do coding or programming, you can also modify the Meta Tag of your website. Just add “NoIndex” in the head section of the website through the script <meta name=”robots” content=”noindex”>.

Conclusion: How to Exclude Website from Google Search

Yes, there are several tricks you can use to enhance search engine efficiency. You can block someone else’s website or your own from the Google Search results using manual programming or automatic aids available online.

At the end of the day, boosting productivity and arriving with more relevant information should be the main reasons behind your decision to exclude a website from Google Search.

FAQs

Are there tricks I can use when searching for something through Google?

Yes, there are several tricks you can use to enhance search engine efficiency. You can use Google’s Advanced Search to expand or specify certain parameters for the information you need. Google’s Advanced Search can also be used to limit searches within a particular website. The feature could also be used to look for a particular page on a website.

In gist, Advanced Search is useful in eliminating information that is not relevant to your search. While the use of special characters together with your search terms—the hyphen, asterisk, colon, and quotation marks—would yield varying results.

What does strict site isolation mean?

Strict Site Isolation is an additional security feature provided by Chrome as protection from malicious websites. The features work by increasing browser protection from security vulnerabilities or defects. Strict Site Isolation particularly operates through Sandbox to ensure identity thieves using fake or malware-encrypted websites are prevented from getting your personal information.

If you have questions not listed here, feel free to message me! I’ll be glad to help you!