How to improve job search using Google
If you understand how Google parses queries, you can turn it into a lightweight recruitment or job-discovery engine.
Let’s break down an example query:
(site:careers OR inurl:careers OR inurl:join-us)
("frontend engineer" OR "front end engineer" OR "frontend developer")
("remote" OR "work from home")
("India")
Now, we will analyze:
- What each part does
- Why it works
- How to systematically improve it
Query Structure Breakdown
Google supports Boolean operators and search operators. This query combines:
site:→ Restricts search to specific domains or subdomainsinurl:→ Matches keywords in the URL path""→ Exact phrase matchOR→ Logical union- Parentheses → Grouping
Now let’s evaluate each clause.
A. Careers Page Targeting
(site:careers OR inurl:careers OR inurl:join-us)
What it tries to do:
Our aim to directly target companies. We don't want to have job portals like LinkedIn, Naukri, Indeed, and others to show up. Hence, we limit results to company career pages.
site:careersit matches domains likecareers.company.com, but not/careerspaths.inurl:careerscatches URLs like:company.com/careerscompany.com/careers/frontend-engineer
inurl:join-uscaptures startup-style URLs.
B. Role Filtering
("frontend engineer" OR "front end engineer" OR "frontend developer")
Why quotes matter:
Without quotes, Google may match pages where:
- "frontend" appears somewhere
- "engineer" appears elsewhere
Quotes force phrase-level precision i.e. we want those pages where "frontend engineer" appears as a phrase, not individual words appearing separately on the page.
C. Remote Constraint
("remote" OR "work from home")
This ensures work-mode filtering. We are currently searching remote jobs. Hence, the filter. You can extend it futher like:
- "India - Remote"
- "Remote (India)"
- "Distributed"
- "Anywhere in India"
D. Location Constraint
("India")
This ensures:
- Job listing explicitly mentions India. It can be extended to:
- "Bangalore (Remote)"
- "Remote - APAC"
- "Remote - Asia"
Why This Query Works
It combines:
- Structural filtering (URL-based)
- Semantic filtering (role + remote + location)
- Phrase precision (quotes)
- Logical grouping (parentheses)
This reduces noise significantly compared to:
frontend engineer remote india
Let us discuss some improvements
We optimize along the following axes:
- Expand role vocabulary
- Expand remote vocabulary
- Improve careers page targeting
- Remove aggregators
Excluding Job Portals (Cleaner Results)
("frontend engineer" OR "frontend developer")
("remote" AND "India")
(inurl:careers OR inurl:jobs)
-site:linkedin.com -site:indeed.com -site:naukri.com -site:glassdoor.com
This forces company-owned pages by using -site: filter.
ATS Targeted Version (Recruiter-Level Precision)
If you want to target companies using ATS platforms such as:
- Greenhouse Software
- Lever
- Ashby
You can target them directly:
site:boards.greenhouse.io "frontend engineer" "India" "remote"
site:jobs.lever.co "frontend engineer" "India" "remote"
Structural Template You Can Reuse
Here’s a reusable architecture:
(CAREERS_PAGE_FILTER)
(ROLE_SYNONYMS)
(LOCATION_FILTER)
(WORK_MODE_FILTER)
-AGGREGATOR_SITES
Think of it like writing a SQL WHERE clause.
Searching Based on Intent
If You Want Product Companies Only
Exclude outsourcing giants:
-Infosys -TCS -Wipro -Cognizant
(Used as negative keywords.)
If You Want 3–7 Year Roles
("3+ years" OR "4+ years" OR "5+ years")
If You Want React-Specific
("React" OR "Next.js" OR "TypeScript")
Ready To Use Query
It targets career pages of companies that offer remote frontend engineer roles and excludes recuriting websites.
(inurl:careers OR inurl:jobs OR inurl:join-us)
("frontend engineer" OR "frontend developer" OR "ui engineer")
("remote" OR "Remote (India)" OR "India - Remote")
("India")
-site:linkedin.com -site:indeed.com -site:naukri.com -site:glassdoor.com
Interview Preparation
If you are preparing for interviews or planning a switch in the near future, consider exploring devtools.tech. It provides access to 250+ company-tagged real interview questions, learning resources, a frontend system design guide, structured study plans, curated focus areas, and more.




