Six years ago, Google dropped some of its search tools date filters and then added new search operators for before: and after: that let you filter content by specific dates. Well, six years later, that feature is still in beta.
The before/after operators are fun to use, I use them fairly often. But I had no clue they were still in beta - I mean, six years later...
Danny Sullivan, the Google Search Liaison, wrote on Bluesky, "We have before: and after: operators that are still in beta."
He then explained how they work, which most of you probably know, since it has been out for years. But he said:
You must provide year-month-day dates or only a year. You can combine both. For example:
[avengers endgame before:2019]
[avengers endgame after:2019-04-01]
[avengers endgame after:2019-03-01 before:2019-03-05]
Just keep in mind it can be difficult for us to know the exact date of a document for a variety of reasons. There’s no standard way that all site owners use to indicate a publishing or republishing date. Some provide no dates at all on web pages. Some might not indicate if an older page is updated.
Yes, Google has issues understanding when content was first posted and that is not new either.
But the operator can still be useful for certain power searches.
Forum discussion at Bluesky.
