What is a Boolean search?
Boolean logic can be used for more than just Google searching; becoming a Boolean master can help you return the best results through most social listening and media monitoring platforms. Using Boolean search, you can create custom queries to refine searches and find the exact keywords or phrases you need. For example, say you want to find media coverage about the Philadelphia Flower Show, but you only want to read mentions that also cover the Butterflies Live exhibit. Or you’d like to exclude mentions about the Flowers After Hours exhibit. Read on to learn how you can implement Boolean logic to narrow your search.
Basic Boolean Operators
Boolean operators are simple words or symbols that allow you to expand or refine your search. The most commonly used Boolean operators are AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks, and parentheses. Here are the best ways to use each of these.
Quotation Marks: Use quotation marks when searching an exact phrase or term with two or more words.
Example: “Philadelphia Flower Show”
If you were to omit the quotations, your search would show you every mention containing the word “Philadelphia,” every mention containing the word “flower,” and every mention containing the word “show.” That would bring back millions of results! With quotations, you limit it to just the specific phrase, “Philadelphia Flower Show.”
AND: AND is used to narrow results by only showing you mentions that include both search terms.
Example: “Philadelphia Flower Show” AND “Butterflies Live”
This will show you mentions that only include both the terms Philadelphia Flower Show and Butterflies Live in the same context.
OR: OR is used to broaden searches by showing you at least one of the search terms you list. The OR operator can also be replaced by just using spaces.
Example #1: “Philadelphia Flower Show” OR “Portland Rose Festival”
This will show you all mentions about either the Philadelphia Flower Show or the Portland Rose Festival.
Example #2: “Philadelphia Flower Show” “Portland Rose Festival”
This will provide you the same results as example #1, showing you all mentions about either the Philadelphia Flower Show or the Portland Rose Festival.
NOT: NOT is used to exclude certain keywords from a search.
Example: “Philadelphia Flower Show” NOT “Flowers After Hours”
This will show you mentions about the Philadelphia Flower Show, but will exclude any stories or posts that also mention the Flowers After Hours exhibit.
Parentheses: Use parentheses when making complex search strings that combine operators.
Example: (“Philadelphia Flower Show” AND “Butterflies Live”) NOT “Flowers After Hours”
This will show you mentions about the Philadelphia Flower Show and Butterflies Live in the same context, but will exclude any stories that also mention the Flowers After Hours exhibit.
There are additional more advanced Boolean operators available to further refine searches, however most searches can be completed with the above operators. It can take time to learn Boolean syntax and figure out the exact combinations you need for your intended search. Most systems will alert you with an error message if a search is incorrect.
Boolean searches are especially helpful for hunting down stories about widely covered clients or dealing with crisis situations. By learning Boolean search syntax, you’ll be able to optimize your searches in no time!