How to Search a Website for a Specific Words

Tyler Clay

Sep 16th4 min read

A Quick Intro:

Ever needed to search a website for a word, but didn’t know where to start? Things are a bit easier if you know the exact page on the website you want to search for the word, but we still have solutions if you don’t know the exact page on the website to scan. We don’t want to make this too complicated for you so we have compiled a list of some of the easiest ways to find a word on a website, whether or not you are technical.

Why would you need to search a website for a word in the first place?

There are many reasons you would need to search a website for a word. I have frequently needed to do this throughout my career for a variety of reasons. Usually, it is to ensure a certain phrasing no longer exists on my websites. Some examples of why you could need to do this include:

You are rebranding your website and need to quickly find all instances of the old name to replace with your new name.
Your business address or contact information has changed and you need to ensure you change it across the entire website.
You could be searching for old URLs that are now broken and need to be fixed.
You could be analyzing a competitor's website for certain keywords or mentions of your business.
You could need assurance that you didn’t accidentally leave that edgy draft joke on your site that will get you canceled.
You could need to do post-rant damage control and quickly find that late-night blog you published while gone off the Henny (haha let us live a little).

No matter the reason why you need to search for words on a website we have you covered. Without wasting any more of your time let's jump into your best options to find that word you are looking for!

Our Methods to Search a Website for a Specific Word

Method 1: Using “Find” (CTRL+F or Command+F) ⌨️

Every browser has a find command that will allow you to search a single page for a word. This works best when you know the exact page on the website you would like to search for the word. The method to open the find tool differs between devices but is usually quite similar between browsers.

Desktop 🖥️

Google Chrome: CTRL + F (Windows/Linux), Command + F (Mac), or Menu > “Find”

Mozilla Firefox: CTRL + F (Windows/Linux), Command + F (Mac), or Menu > “Find in Page”
Microsoft Edge: CTRL + F (Windows), Command + F (Mac), or Menu > “Find on Page”
Safari: Command + F (Mac), or Edit > “Find” > “Find…”
Opera: CTRL + F (Windows/Linux), Command + F (Mac), or Menu > “Find in Page”
Brave: CTRL + F (Windows/Linux), Command + F (Mac), or Menu > “Find in Page”

Input the text you would like the search in this small input that pops up in the top right of your screen.

The “1/5” in this screenshot communicates that we are looking at the first instance of five found on the page. You can use the down caret arrow to jump to the next instance and the up caret to jump to the previous instance.

Mobile 📱

Google Chrome: Menu > “Find in Page”
Mozilla Firefox: Menu > “Find in Page”
Safari: Share Button > “Find on Page”
Microsoft Edge: Menu > “Find in Page”
Opera: “O” Menu > “Find in Page”
Brave: Menu > “Find in Page”

Method 1.5: View Page Source and Search ℹ️

Some pages hide content behind an expandable, drop-down, or other interactive element. This could make it difficult for you to find the word on the page using the search tool.

This method only works on desktops but try right-clicking anywhere in the page and clicking “View Page Source”. You can then use the find tool from step 1 to search through the page source. This can help you find content that is hidden until you interact with the page.

This method can reveal hidden content but is not very newbie-friendly.

Method 2: Use the Websites Search (if it exists) 🔎

This may be a no-brainer but if the website has a search tool use it! The search tool can help you to find content that exists on all pages. Keep in mind it is up to the website owner how well the global search works. Website owners can choose to exclude certain pages and terms from their global search function. The search bar on websites is usually located at the top of the page but you could also use option #1 and search for the word “Search” for help locating it. This option usually is perfect for searching through many pages on a website for a keyword. Some sites will not have a search option or will have a non-functioning search option.

Method 3: Use our Free Site-Wide Search Tool

To make things easier we created a site-wide search tool you can use to help you locate words and phrases on the website. This tool is limited to scanning 300 URLs so this might not be an option for really large websites. It is free, user-friendly, and mobile responsive. It has limitations compared to paid solutions, but it also doesn’t require you to download anything to use it. How to use the tool:

Enter the domain name of the website you want to search for the keyword on. If you have a specific page you can use that URL so the crawler knows where to start its search. The crawler will start by searching the page you entered for the keyword then move on to other pages on the website to search.
Specify the search term you would like to search for.
Hit the start search button and await magic 😎

4. Use Google Site Search

Another option at your disposal is to use Google to search for the word you are looking for. Keep in mind this will only work for pages that have been indexed by Google. Site owners have ways they can prevent a webpage from being indexed by Google so this is also not a perfect solution. To search for a specific keyword on a website, follow this format:

site:example.com "keyword"

An example of using this is if I wanted to find the word “Tyler” on the Candy Creative website my search query would look like this:

site:candycreative.digital "tyler"

This search query tells Google to only return search results from https://candycreative.digital that contain the phrase “tyler”. Once you find the pages with your word listed you can then use method #1 to find the word on the page.

Option 5: Use Advanced Paid SEO Tools (Screaming Frog)

If all of the previous methods failed you Screaming Frog is an advanced search tool that will work for almost all websites. The free version of Screaming Frog is limited to 500 pages also, so you may need to pay for the tool if you want to search more pages. In my usage, the free version of the tool works great, and most smaller websites will not have over 500 pages. One downside to this method is that you will need a desktop computer and will need to install the application on your computer to run scans. This tool is better suited for massive website audits and SEO research, but you will need to pay for some of the advanced features as well as the ability to scan more than 500 pages.

Link to Screaming Frog

*No this is not an affiliate link and no I am not getting paid when you click it

In Conclusion

There are many methods you can use to find words on a website. The methods range from easy to more difficult and some of them are even paid solutions. You now know many different methods to help you find words on a website. Share the knowledge with your friends and family. As always stay sweet!