How to Use the related: Operator in Google Search to Find Similar Websites and Competitors

When conducting competitive market research, looking for alternative software tools, or discovering niche blogs and industry journals similar to publications you already admire, entering standard keywords into Google often delivers repetitive, brand-dominated search results. Rather than relying on third-party marketing databases or sponsored directories, you can leverage Google’s native related: search operator to surface semantically linked websites directly from Google’s algorithmic knowledge graph.

What is the related: Search Operator?

The related: modifier is an advanced Google Search operator designed to evaluate domain categorisation, topical relevance, backlink profiles, and audience overlap. When you append a domain name to the operator, Google bypasses traditional keyword matching and instead queries its entity index to identify other websites that operate within the exact same thematic or commercial ecosystem.

Why Use the related: Operator?

Employing this targeted search modifier delivers notable practical advantages:

• Competitive Intelligence: Identify direct and indirect business competitors in your commercial sector without paying for expensive SEO subscription suites.
• Software and Tool Discovery: Find lightweight or open-source alternatives to enterprise software suites (such as discovering alternatives to Trello, Asana, or Photoshop).
• Curated Reading Expansion: Locate high-authority blogs, academic repositories, or news portals focusing on the same technical specialisms as your favourite publications.
• E-Commerce Comparison: Discover specialty online retailers and boutique vendors that offer similar merchandise to large departmental stores.

Syntax and Formatting Rules for related:

To ensure Google interprets your query as an active operator rather than a general text search, follow these strict syntax rules:

• No Spaces After the Colon: Always attach the domain directly to the colon. Entering related: nytimes.com will fail; write related:nytimes.com instead.
• Omit Protocols: Do not include https:// or http:// in the query. Use clean domain strings such as related:theguardian.com or related:github.com.
• Domain-Level Queries Work Best: While Google accepts deep sub-page URLs in some instances, the related: operator operates most reliably when targeted at root domain addresses (e.g. related:coursera.org rather than specific course sub-directories).

Practical Examples of related: Queries

1. Discovering Competitors in E-Commerce

To find online retailers that share product taxonomy, customer demographics, and brand positioning with an established store:

related:etsy.com

Google will return artisanal marketplaces, craft platforms, and creative e-commerce hubs like Uncommon Goods, Society6, and Redbubble.

2. Finding Technology News and Media Alternatives

If you enjoy reading a specific tech editorial and want comparable independent coverage:

related:arstechnica.com

This query prompts Google to return respected technical analysis publications such as AnandTech, Tom’s Hardware, and The Verge.

3. Locating Open-Source and Development Platforms

To find alternative version-control repositories and coding ecosystems:

related:gitlab.com

Google will surface development hubs including GitHub, Bitbucket, SourceForge, and Codeberg.

Troubleshooting Common related: Search Limitations

• No Results Returned for Niche or New Sites: Google’s entity graph requires a substantial volume of crawled backlinks, audience traffic, and categorisation signals to compute semantic similarity. Brand-new websites, personal blogs, or hyper-local business domains may return an empty search result page.
• Irrelevant Industry Overlaps: Very large conglomerate websites (such as Amazon or Microsoft) span dozens of diverse industries. Querying related:amazon.com may return a blend of retail stores, cloud hosting providers, and digital streaming platforms simultaneously.
• Operator Disabled on Certain Regional Indexes: In select geographic regions or restricted search interfaces, Google occasionally deprioritises advanced operators. If the operator fails, combine Google search with comparative queries such as "similar to [domain]" or "alternatives to [service]".