How to search website for a word


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Easy ways to search for a word on a website


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This wikiHow teaches you how to search for a word or phrase on a webpage. Nearly every web browser comes with a «Find» tool. This allows you to search a webpage for matching words or phrases. You can also use Google’s advanced search options to perform a search for a word or phrase on all of the pages of a specific site. You can use this in conjunction with the Find tool to locate a word anywhere on the internet.

  1. Image titled Search for a Word on a Webpage Step 14

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    Visit https://www.google.com/ in your browser. You can use Google to perform searches of all of the pages on a website. This can help you find matching words on large or complex websites.

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    Enter site: followed by the site address you want to search. For example, if you wanted to search for a word on wikiHow, you would type «site: www.wikihow.com» in the Google search bar. This tells Google to only search on the website you want to search.

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    Enter the word or phrase you want to search for after the site address. You can enter a single word or you can enter phrases. [1]

    • For example, to search wikiHow for any page that has the word «banana», you would type site:wikihow.com banana. To search wikiHow for any page that has the phrase «eat a banana», you would type site:wikihow.com eat a banana.
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    Open a page from the search results and use the Find command. Google will return any pages that match your search, but it won’t point you to the matching text once you open the page. You’ll need to use the Find tool to jump to where the word occurs on the page.

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    Tap your web browser to open it. All popular web browsers have a «Find» function. This includes Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Samsung’s «Internet» app. Tap the icon for whichever web browser you use on your iPhone or Android device to open it.

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    Navigate to the webpage you want to search. Use the address bar at the top of the web browser to enter the web address for the website you want to search. You can also Google to search for the exact webpage you want to search.

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    Tap , , or

    iPhone Blue Share

    . This opens the menu. If you are using Google Chrome, tap the icon with three dots in the upper-right corner. If you are using Firefox, tap the icon with three dots in the lower-right corner. If you are using Safari on iPhone or iPad, tap the blue square icon with an arrow pointing up in the upper-right corner. If you are using Samsung Internet, tap the icon with three lines in the lower-right corner.

  4. Image titled Search for a Word on a Webpage Step 10

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    Tap Find on Page

    Android 7 Search

    . It’s in the menu. On most web browsers, it’s next to an icon that resembles a magnifying glass. This displays the «Find» search bar.

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    Enter the word or phrase you want to search for in the search bar. The search bar will appear either at the top of the page or above the keyboard depending on which web browser you are using. This searches the webpage for words or phrases that match your search and highlights them in the text.

    • Letter case is ignored when using the Find tool.
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    Tap the Next and Previous buttons

    Android 7 Expand More
    Android 7 Expand Less

    to cycle through the search results. They are the arrows pointing up and down next to the Find search bar. The web browser will jump to each highlighted search result in the webpage.

    • On Samsung Internet, the up and down arrows appear on the right side above the keyboard.
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    Tap X to close the Find search box. When you are finished using the Find function, you can close the web page by tapping the «X» icon next to the search box.

    • If you are using Safari on iPhone or iPad, tap Done in the lower-left corner to close the search bar
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  1. Image titled Search for a Word on a Webpage Step 1

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    Open your web browser. The «Find» function is part of most popular web browsers. This includes Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge. Click the icon for which ever web browser you use to open the web browser.

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    Navigate to the webpage you want to search. Use the address bar at the top of the web browser to enter the web address for the website you want to search. You can also use Google to search for the exact webpage you want to search.

  3. Image titled Search for a Word on a Webpage Step 3

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    Press Ctrl+F on Windows or Command+F on Mac. This will open the «Find» search box in virtually any browser. Alternatively, you can click the icon with three dots or three lines in the upper-right corner to open the menu. Then click the «Find» option. It will either say Find, Find on this page or something similar..[2]

    • If you are using Safari for macOS, you can access the «Find» function by clicking Edit followed by the Find menu. Then click Find.[3]
  4. Image titled Search for a Word on a Webpage Step 4

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    Type the word or phrase that you want to find in the search box. The «Find» search box appears either at the top of the page or the bottom of the page depending on which web browser you are using. Your browser will find matches as you type and highlight them in the text.[4]

    • Letter case is ignored when using the Find tool.
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    Click the Next and Previous buttons

    Android 7 Expand More
    Android 7 Expand Less

    to cycle through the search results. They are the arrows pointing up and down next to the Find search bar. The web browser will jump to each highlighted search result in the webpage.[5]

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    Click X to close the Find search box. When you are finished using the Find function, you can close the web page by clicking the «X» icon next to the search box.

    • If you are using Safari on Mac, click Done to close the search bar.
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Add New Question

  • Question

    How can I search for a specific piece of text on a website?

    Luigi Oppido

    Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.

    Luigi Oppido

    Computer & Tech Specialist

    Expert Answer

  • Question

    What seven letter word can I make from «aelisir»?

    Community Answer

    No known 7 letter words can be made, but many six letter words can be made, such as serial and resail.

  • Question

    What tool allows you to search for information on a particular word or phrase? *

    Quify

    Just press Ctrl + F and you can search for a word and phrase.

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  • Make sure the entire web page is loaded before using the Ctrl+F function. Otherwise, it may not work properly.[6]

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About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Open the website.
2. Press Command + F (Mac) or Control + F (PC).
3. Type the word you’re looking for.
4. Press Enter or Return.

Did this summary help you?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 885,921 times.

Is this article up to date?

Usually, you can use Ctrl/Command + F

Updated on February 9, 2021

What to Know

  • Web page: press Ctrl+F (Windows and Linux) or Command+F (Mac). Enter search term and press Enter.
  • Use the Mac Menu Bar to search by selecting Edit > Find in This Page (or Find).
  • Type site followed by a colon, a website’s URL, and a search term in a browser address bar.

When you want to find something specific on a web page, you can search for it. This article explains how to search for a word using either the Find Word function found in most major web browsers or a search engine such as Google.

How to Search For a Word Using Command/Ctrl+F

The simplest way to find a word on a page is to use the Find Word function. It is available in the major web browsers, including Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Safari, and Opera.

Here’s the keyboard shortcut method:

  1. When you’re on the web page, press Ctrl+in Windows and Linux. Press Command+on a Mac.

  2. Type the word (or phrase) you want to find.

  3. Press Enter.

  4. The web page scrolls to the nearest occurrence of the word. If the word occurs more than once on the web page you’re searching, press Enter to go to the next occurrence. Or, select the arrows on the right (or left) side of the Find Word window.

How to Search for a Word With the Mac Menu Bar

Another way to search web pages is to use a relevant menu bar. On a Mac, use the following process, regardless of the browser you use. Use this process when using either Safari or Opera.

How to Search for a Word on Mac

  1. Go to the menu bar at the top of the page, then select Edit.

  2. Choose Find in This Page. Some browsers may have the option Find.

  3. Depending on the browser you use, you may have to take four steps rather than three. For example, with Google Chrome, hover the mouse cursor over Find, then select Find.

How to Search For a Word Using the Browser Controls

If you use a Windows PC or Linux, or if you want to use the web browser rather than the operating system, here’s what you do for each major browser (excluding Safari and Opera).

These instructions should work for the corresponding mobile browsers as well.

For Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge:

  1. Select the More icon (it’s located in the upper-right corner of the browser window).

  2. Choose Find or Find in This Page.

  3. Type your search term and press Enter.

How to Search for a Word Using Google

If you don’t know the specific page on which a desired word or phrase could be located, use Google to search for a certain word or phrase, and target the site you want to find it in. Google has special characters and features to narrow and control your search.

  1. Go to Google or use the browser’s search function if it’s configured to use Google as its search engine.

  2. Type site followed by a colon ( : ) and the name of the website you want to search. It should look like this:

    site:lifewire.com

  3. After that, leave a space and enter the search terms. Altogether, it should be something like this:

    site:lifewire.com Android apps

  4. Press Enter to display the search results.

  5. The search results come from the website that you entered.

  6. To narrow your search results further, enclose the search terms in quotation marks, which makes the search engine look for that exact phrase.

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If you’re a marketer at an agency or on an in-house marketing team, at one point or another you will need to search within a website for a specific word. Depending on your technical ability, you may not know where to start.

Why You May Need to Search a Site for a Specific Word

There are some very important reasons why you need to learn how to search for keywords on a webpage.

  • You’ve acquired a new business/website and need to change the brand name everywhere on the site.
  • Your business has moved locations and you need to update it everywhere it’s mentioned.
  • You’ve rebranded a popular product and need to update it across your site.
  • You suspect another website is infringing on your copyrighted material and need to search their website for it.
  • You’ve added a new page to your site and would like to link to it internally from any existing page that mentions the new topic.

Can I Search a Website for a Particular Word?

There are four common methods you can use to search for words on a website. Some of the methods are easy, but others are not. This article will teach you how to search within a website using each of the four techniques.

  1. Search and Find
  2. Website Search Bar
  3. Site Search Google Command
  4. Screaming Frog Custom Search

digital marketing packages and pricing

How to Search Within a Website

Learning how to search for words in a website can be easy. If you have limited technical ability, stick to the first three methods. The fourth method will explore a more difficult option that technical marketers may want to explore.

1. Do a Search and Find

When you need to search within a site for a certain word, use the “Search and Find” keyboard shortcuts on your Mac or PC.

PC: Press CTRL + F

Mac: Press Command + F

You can search the visible HTML on a page by doing a search and find on the standard page. However, there could be expandable fields on the page that wouldn’t get searched in this instance. To do a search of all visible and invisible HTML on a page, right-click on the page and select “View page source.” This will open the source code for your web page. Use your search and find keyboard shortcut on the source code for a more thorough search.

search for a keyword within a site

The major downside of learning how to search for keywords on a web page with this method is that you can only search one page at a time. If you’re examining a small website, with 10 pages or less, this technique will work. If you’re searching a larger site, check out the other available search methods.

2. Use the Website’s Search Bar

how to search for words on websites

This isn’t always obvious, but most sites have a search bar. It may take a minute of looking around to find it, but you can generally find a search icon in the top right of a web page. Type in your keywords of interest, then hit enter to begin your search.

While this technique can sometimes work, its success largely depends on how the website of interest has configured its search bar. Many standard search bars will only search blog posts and not pages. Other search bars limit their search to page titles and won’t search the body copy of their pages for your keyword.

Also, what if your target site doesn’t have a search bar? You’ve got to learn how to search a site without a search bar in that instance. For a more detailed search that puts the control back in your court, use methods two or three to search for a keyword within a site.

3. Use the Site Search Google Command

how to search for words in a website

We’ve covered several Google Search commands on the MARION blog before, but the Site Search Google Command is one of the most powerful. This operator lets you Google search a single website at a time.

For example, imagine you need to search marketingwebsite.com for the words “keyword search.” In the Google search bar, you would enter the following:

site:marketingwebsite.com “keyword search”

Notice, there is no space after the colon, and we put quotes around our search term of interest. By using quotations, any search term can be used to return results with an exact match of your phrase. This is great when you’re not getting the results you want, or your search is too ambiguous.

4. Use Screaming Frog to Search for a Keyword within a Site

Screaming Frog is a website crawler that extracts data and allows you to audit a site for common SEO issues. You can download the tool and crawl up to 500 URLs with the free version of the software, but you can also buy a yearly license for about $165 (which is inexpensive as far as valuable SEO tools go).

You can find the detailed Screaming Frog User Guide here, but we’re only interested in one aspect of the tool for this article.

If you navigate to Configuration > Custom > Search, you can set search conditions that will help you find a phrase across the entire site being crawled.

how to search a whole website for a word

In our example above, we specified that we wanted to search every page for the keyword, “keyword search.” Once you start your Screaming Frog crawl, it will analyze every page on the target website for that search term.

After the site has been crawled, one of the columns in the resulting “Custom Search” report will specify how many times each page used your exact phrase.

how to search for keywords on a web page

This is the most detailed example of how to search within a website for a specific word or phrase. The most advanced method would be accessing your server via a secure shell and using commands to search all your files, but most marketers will never need to get that involved.

Contact MARION for Advanced Marketing Help

As a highly-acclaimed provider of Texas marketing services for nearly 40 years, MARION has the know-how to improve your marketing performance. Our team includes professional designers and marketing strategists that can provide quality SEO services and more.

Contact us today to schedule a free consultation and learn how we can work with your organization!

About Tony Mastri

Tony Mastri, Digital Marketing Manager at MARION, is an experienced agency and in-house digital marketer. With a proven background in content strategy, relationship-based link building, and technical SEO, he makes data-informed decisions that drive client growth.


  • You can search for a word on a page using keyboard shortcuts or web browser controls.
  • You can also use Google to search for a word on specific sites or web pages. 
  • Using the search function to find specific words or phrases can help you find information faster.

The internet is vast, but sometimes you need to cut to the chase to get things done. Searching for a word on a page can drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to get the information you need. 

There are several methods you can use to search for a word on a web page, program, or website, depending on the kind of computer you have. 

Try Command+F or Control+F keyboard shortcuts

On most web pages, word processors, and other programs, you can use the keyboard shortcut Command + F on a Mac, or Control + F on Windows to find what you need.

Close-up of a Mac keyboard with Command + F keys highlighted

On a Mac computer, the keyboard shortcut is Command + F.

MacFormat Magazine / Contributor/Getty Images


A text box will then appear toward the top of the screen where you can enter the desired search term. Then, simply hit Enter to find instances of that word or phrase on the page. You can use the up and down arrows on the search box to find each instance.

Screenshot of search pop-up on Chrome

When you search for a word, every instance of that word will be highlighted on the page.

Grace Eliza Goodwin/Insider


Find your web browser controls

Browsers also come with their own built-in search functions. Here’s how to access these tools whether you’re using Google Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

1. Click the More button, which looks like three horizontal lines, located in the top-right corner of the web browser, next to the address bar.

2. Select Find or Find in This Page.

Screenshot of three-dot icon in Chrome and drop-down menu

Click the three-dot icon and select «Find» in the drop-down.

Grace Eliza Goodwin/Insider


3. In the pop-up, type in your search term or phrase and hit Enter.

Use Google to search sites 

1. Go to google.com.

2. Type site: and then the name of the website you want to search, followed by a space and then your search term or phrase.

Screenshot of Google search homepage with search query typed in

Type «site:» then the name of the website and the word you’re looking for.

Devon Delfino


3. Hit Enter. From here, you’ll be able to find all the pages on that site that include the search term or phrase you’ve specified.

Devon Delfino is a Brooklyn-based freelance journalist specializing in personal finance, culture, politics, and identity. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue, Business Insider, and CNBC. Follow her on Twitter at @devondelfino.

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Four Major Browsers: Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox Logos on Blue.

Are you looking for a specific word on a web page? If so, ease your task by using your browser’s find function to locate specific terms on the current web page. Another way to do this is to use Google Search with a custom parameter. We’ll show you both ways.

RELATED: How to Search Google Like a Pro: 11 Tricks You Have to Know

Find a Word on a Web Page in Chrome, Firefox, and Edge

To find a specific string of text or numbers on a web page, use Chrome, Firefox, or Edge’s “find on page” feature to quickly locate all occurrences of your word. You can do this in your browser’s desktop as well as mobile versions.

On Desktop

If you’re using Chrome, Firefox, or Edge on a desktop, use a keyboard shortcut to quickly locate your word on your current page.

First, in your web browser, access the web page where you want to find a word. When the page loads, press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Command+F (Mac) to invoke the find feature.

Alternatively, launch the find function in your web browser as follows:

  • Chrome: Select the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and choose “Find.”
  • Firefox: Click the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner and choose “Find in Page.”
  • Edge: Select the three dots in the top-right corner and click “Find on Page.”

Once you’ve accessed the feature using either way, you’ll see a text box on your screen. In this box, type the word you want to find on your current web page.

Type the word to find.

As you start typing the word in the box, your browser starts locating all occurrences of that word on the current page. These occurrences are highlighted so you can easily find them.

Words highlighted on a web page.

To move to the next occurrence of your word, use the up and down arrow icons beside the text box. And that’s it.

On Mobile

To search for a specific word on a web page on your phone, first, ensure the web page you want to search is open in Chrome, Firefox, or Edge on your phone.

In your web browser, tap the three dots to open the browser menu. Then select “Find in Page.”

Tap "Find in Page" in the menu.

A text box will open. Here, type the term you want to find on your current page.

Enter the word to find.

Your mobile browser will highlight all the occurrences of your entered word.

Highlighted words on a web page.

And you’re done.

Locate a Word on a Web Page in Safari

Safari’s both Mac and iPhone versions offer the ability to search for a specific word on a web page. Here’s how to use that feature on your Apple devices.

On Mac

If you’re on a Mac, first, launch Safari and access your web page.

When your web page loads, invoke the find feature by pressing Command+F. Alternatively, from Safari’s menu bar, choose Edit > Find > Find.

In the text box that opens at the top of Safari’s screen, type the word to search. Safari will highlight that word on your current web page.

Searching for a word in a web page on Safari for Mac.

On iPhone

On your iPhone, launch Safari and access your web page. Then, in Safari’s bottom bar, tap the share icon (an arrow pointing upwards from a box).

From the menu that opens, select “Find on Page.”

Tip: If you don’t find the “Find on Page” option, swipe left on the bar above the “Cancel” button.

Choose "Find on Page" from the menu.

In the search box, enter the word to find and Safari will highlight it on your current web page.

A highlighted word on a web page.

You’re all set.

Use Google Search to Locate a Specific Word on a Web Page

If you can’t (or don’t want to) open a web page to find a word on it, use Google Search to locate a specific word on any web page and see the result right on Google’s search results page.

To do that, first, open your web browser and launch Google.

In Google’s search bar, use the following search term to look for a word on a web page. In this query, you’ll replace word with the word you want to locate and URL with the full URL of the web page you want to run a search on.

word site:URL

For example, to search for the word shortcut on the following web page:

https://www.howtogeek.com/810270/the-fastest-ways-to-search-the-web-in-chrome/

You’ll type the following query in Google’s search bar and press Enter:

shortcut site:https://www.howtogeek.com/810270/the-fastest-ways-to-search-the-web-in-chrome/

Enter the word query on Google Search.

When the search results appear, you’ll find a brief snippet from the specified web page highlighting your searched word. You can visit the actual full web page by clicking this search result, but note that your searched word won’t be highlighted on that page.

Results page on Google Search.

And that’s how you find out if a specific word or number exists on a web page using both your web browsers as well as Google Search. Very useful!


If you use Chrome, did you know you can create links that direct readers to specific text on a web page? Check out our guide to learn how to make those links.

RELATED: How to Create a Link to Selected Text in Chrome

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