# Question about the Google search engine **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 9, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-google-search-engine/108022 "2002-05-09T03:52:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-google-search-engine/108022/1 "2002-05-09T03:52:40Z")
The logical operator OR means either/or, so why does using OR in the Google search engine limit my results. For instance, if I have it search for “House”, I get 48,100,000 results. If I type in “Apartment”, I get 6,610,000 results. But if I type “House OR Apartment” I only get 5,690,000 results. ---
**Author:** ![honkytonkwillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@honkytonkwillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkytonkwillie)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-google-search-engine/108022/2 "2002-05-09T07:35:44Z")
Are you using quotation marks in Google like you are here? Quotes make a big difference. ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-google-search-engine/108022/3 "2002-05-09T07:47:03Z")
Use the “help” link, it tells you how to type in stuff so it’s more or less specific, or use the Advanced search help. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-google-search-engine/108022/4 "2002-05-09T16:50:32Z")
I repeated **Joel** ’s search (but using “snafu” and “fubar”): Even using the advanced search’s “with at least one of the words” you do indeed get fewer results. Definitely a snafu, I hope this doesn’t mean that Google is getting fubarred! Note that “snafu or fubar” (without quotes) to the regular search searches for pages that contain all three words. So far fewer hits. I wonder if, for large hit numbers, Google is guesstimating hits? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-google-search-engine/108022/5 "2002-05-09T19:29:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by honkytonkwillie \* > \*\*Are you using quotation marks in Google like you are here? Quotes make a big difference. \*\* No, I just used the quotes for this thread. I didn’t use them in the Google test search. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-google-search-engine/108022/6 "2002-05-09T22:52:00Z")
If you type in _house or apartment_, won’t it search for pages that contain the word “house” **and** the word “or” **and** the word “apartment”? ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-google-search-engine/108022/7 "2002-05-09T23:52:51Z")
c&p from Google’s page itself… Searched the web for **house**. Results 1 - 10 of about 48,200,000. Search took 0.21 seconds. Searched the web for **apartment**. Results 1 - 10 of about 6,630,000. Search took 0.14 seconds. Searched the web for **house** OR **apartment**. Results 1 - 10 of about 6,070,000. Search took 0.08 seconds. And just one more example that it doesn’t search on the OR operand: Searched the web for **house** || **apartment**. Results 1 - 10 of about 6,070,000. Search took 0.08 seconds. On a whim: Searched the web for **house** && **apartment**. Results 1 - 10 of about 5,390. Search took 0.39 seconds. My diagnosis? I’ve sent an email to Google saying “wtf” but in nicer terms. Hopefully I’ll hear back soon. And **Arnold**? If you search with capitalized OR or AND, it will use those operands logically. If you search with lowercase ‘or’ or ‘and’, it’ll strip those words as they’re incredibly common. If you want to force it to search on those words anyway, you could override that by adding a + prior to the word. So, _house +or apartment_ would search on all three, _house or apartment_ would search on just the first and last, and _house OR apartment_ would search on either the first or last. And then just to muddy the waters further: Searched the web for **house apartment**. Results 1 - 10 of about 1,560,000. Search took 0.18 seconds. and that’s not searching on the phrase, either, as: Searched the web for **“house apartment”**. Results 1 - 10 of about 20,600. Search took 0.27 seconds. So, I guess I should have asked Google why _house apartment_ found different results than _house OR apartment_, _“house apartment”_, or _house AND apartment_. It found the same as _house or apartment_ as that ‘or’ was stripped out. I need a hobby.