- At its core, search engine discovery leverages the immense power of search algorithms to extract data that may not be readily visible on websites
- Reasons why search engine discovery is crucial:
- Open source
- Breadth of info
- Ease of use
- Cost-effective
- Fast
- Search engines have built-in operators that can be harnessed for more informative searches such as:
| Operator | Operator Description | Example |
| :---------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------- |
| `site:` | Limits results to a specific website or domain. | `site:example.com` |
| `inurl:` | Finds pages with a specific term in the URL. | `inurl:login` |
| `filetype:` | Searches for files of a particular type. | `filetype:pdf` |
| `intitle:` | Finds pages with a specific term in the title. | `intitle:"confidential report"` |
| `intext:` or `inbody:` | Searches for a term within the body text of pages. | `intext:"password reset"` |
| `cache:` | Displays the cached version of a webpage (if available). | `cache:example.com` |
| `link:` | Finds pages that link to a specific webpage. | `link:example.com` |
| `related:` | Finds websites related to a specific webpage. | `related:example.com` |
| `info:` | Provides a summary of information about a webpage. | `info:example.com` |
| `define:` | Provides definitions of a word or phrase. | `define:phishing` |
| `numrange:` | Searches for numbers within a specific range. | `site:example.com numrange:1000-2000` |
| `allintext:` | Finds pages containing all specified words in the body text. | `allintext:admin password reset` |
| `allinurl:` | Finds pages containing all specified words in the URL. | `allinurl:admin panel` |
| `allintitle:` | Finds pages containing all specified words in the title. | `allintitle:confidential report 2023` |
| `AND` | Narrows results by requiring all terms to be present. | `site:example.com AND (inurl:admin OR inurl:login)` |
| `OR` | Broadens results by including pages with any of the terms. | `"linux" OR "ubuntu" OR "debian"` |
| `NOT` | Excludes results containing the specified term. | `site:bank.com NOT inurl:login` |
| `*` (wildcard) | Represents any character or word. | `site:socialnetwork.com filetype:pdf user* manual` |
| `..` (range search) | Finds results within a specified numerical range. | `site:ecommerce.com "price" 100..500` |
| `" "` (quotation marks) | Searches for exact phrases. | `"information security policy"` |
| `-` (minus sign) | Excludes terms from the search results. | `site:news.com -inurl:sports` |
# Google Dorking
- Common examples:
- Finding login pages
- `site:example.com inurl:login`
- `site:example.com (inurl:login OR inurl:admin)`
- Identifying exposed files
- - `site:example.com filetype:pdf`
- `site:example.com (filetype:xls OR filetype:docx)`
- Uncovering config files
- `site:example.com inurl:config.php`
- `site:example.com (ext:conf OR ext:cnf)`
- Locating DB backups
- `site:example.com inurl:backup`
- `site:example.com filetype:sql`