As I reported at Search Engine Land via Google Operating System – Google has decommissioned the tilde (i.e. ~) search operator from working.

Google’s Dan Russell, a Search Research Scientist, said it was removed because of lack of use. Similar to when Google dropped dozens of other search features and interfaces (to name a few).

Dan from Google told Alex from GOS blog:

Some folks are upset by the featuring going away – it was a great way to do keyword research for many marketers.

Forum discussion at Google+.

Update: Matt Cutts shared another reason why this was removed.