Over the last two years, Google has enhanced the display of additional knowledge around search results. This post is to bring the feature to your attention. It aids in researching topics or sites. For now, it works only in US/English searches. Press on the three dots by a Google search result to discover: “More about this source” It is useful …
X-Ray Mastery
We are lucky that Google keeps supporting its 21 advanced search operators even though most of its users never use the operators (and those who do rarely click on ads). As it is getting harder to search, particularly for requirements such as Diversity with no search filters provided by Social Networks, scraping and automation are becoming must-have skills for Sourcers. …
Search for US Voters with Custom Search Engines #OSINT
US Voters site https://voterrecords.com contains public information. Each record has the voter’s name and other info such as addresses, and, potentially, emails, phone numbers, and gender. The site has the data for sixteen US states. For many professionals who are not on LinkedIn or are barely online altogether, the voters’ info provides Sourcers with a way to reach out to …
Interesting: Two File Types in Google Images #OSINT
It is new – Google Image search responds to the filetype: operator for document types such as PDF, DOCX, or PPTX. security conference attendee list director vp filetype:pdf This is cool because Images is a separate database – its results ranking is different, and extra results may surface. And you can preview the images before opening the results. It is …
Custom Search Engines’ Filters – Gitlab Example
Gitlab, like Github, is a platform providing a Version Control System, allowing Developers to collaborate on writing code. It claims to have 30+ MLN profiles, quite comparable to Github’s 60+ MLN. There are some differences in functionality and user profiles. (If you source for Developers, the below search syntax examples might help in finding results – scroll down to see …
Enjoy the Operators While They Last #OSINT
The LinkedIn hidden search operators are back! Nobody knows for how long they will work this time (we enjoyed them for a year and a half a while ago). But they offer any LinkedIn user, whether basic or paid, significant searching power and an important filter unavailable with any subscription. LinkedIn never documented the operators, apart from the less-useful …
How to Google for Partial Words in URLs #OSINT
You cannot Google for a part of a word. (The Asterisk * means one or a few words in Google’s search syntax.) However, using the wonderful Google Custom (or Programmable) Search Engines (CSEs), you can search for partial words in the URLs. The way to do so is to take advantage of CSE URL templates. There, the Asterisk means “part …
Part of Github Just Went Private
Social Networks want to be found, so they make some information – most notably, profiles – public, visible to search engines. At the same time, they want members to join and sometimes pay for the search. They also worry about their members’ data privacy. It is a balance for each site – which pages and how much info to let …
Did You Know? Ten Google Tips for #OSINT Research
Here are ten less-known facts about Google search. (How many of these are you aware of? There are some subtleties there.) You can restrict page dates either by selecting them under “Tools” after searching or using the operators before: and after:. However, you will be missing the pages that did not clearly tell Googlebot about their dates. Lots of …
Virtual Travel for More Matching Results
Google has several location-related settings affecting the search results: It relies on your IP address to figure out your location, even if you search in incognito You can set a country (“region”) in the Advanced Search Dialog You can set a language, and if it is not English, the setting will positively affect searching in that country. (Google also has …