LinkedIn’s keyword search function is essential, especially if you’re seeking something specific. However, the fact that users are not utilizing LinkedIn search effectively could account for half of the problem.
So, if you’re not using LinkedIn’s Boolean search functionality, you’re missing out on a critical social selling tool. It unlocks a whole new universe of opportunities and insights when done correctly.
This article will look at how to use LinkedIn’s Boolean search. Additionally, we’ll use these abilities to improve and increase sales targeting.
What is LinkedIn Boolean Search?
When using the Boolean operators [“, “AND, NOT, OR, ()] to narrow, broaden, or more precisely describe your search, you are using LinkedIn’s Boolean search technique. It helps to provide more accurate and relevant results and enables you to browse relevant leads while ignoring irrelevant ones.
You can conduct targeted and complex searches on LinkedIn using Boolean search strings. They make it easier to stay organized when searching and produce much more accurate results than those you would obtain from any other method.
The logic-based LinkedIn Boolean search function applies to LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and Recruiter filters. It’s noteworthy that LinkedIn’s Basic and Premium Business filters do not support longer searches.
Related articles: LinkedIn Account Types and LinkedIn Sales Navigator vs LinkedIn Premium
Boolean search only functions if you adhere to these crucial guidelines:
- The Boolean search operators AND, OR, and NOT all require capital letters. For instance, content OR copywriting
- If your search query consists of multiple words, it must be in quotation marks. For instance, “Content writer” AND “copywriter.”
- When combining Boolean search phrases, enclose your query in parenthesis. Instead of “content manager,” use “content writer” OR “copywriter.”
What Does a LinkedIn Boolean Search Accomplish?
Using LinkedIn’s Boolean search feature, you may quickly locate the most relevant individuals by focusing on their job titles, organizations, regions, areas of specialization, and talents.
Users can add numerous keywords to a single search query and filter the results using those keywords.
And employing Boolean operators will enable you to achieve it. On LinkedIn, search queries can contain more complicated search phrases by using Boolean operators.
These operators apply to all search fields, such as titles, profiles, company names, groups, etc.
Filtering Options vs. Boolean Searches
Even without Sales Navigator, Boolean searches are an effective technique to locate suitable individuals or prospects. However, if you have Sales Navigator, you can discover people using their more detailed criteria, right?
In Sales Navigator, you can access much more powerful searching tools, but the filters only search those particular fields, whereas a Boolean string would search all of the users’ profiles for the phrase or keywords you specify.
If you perform a keyword search in Sales Navigator’s “Job Title” field, it will only return results for LinkedIn users with this keyword in their job title. However, if you perform a Boolean search, you will see results for users with that keyword mentioned anywhere on their profile.
There are several combinations and ways to employ the operators in Boolean searches, and they can become pretty complex. You may quickly and easily uncover relevant content by using these strings in Google (this is very helpful for adjusting Google Alerts). However, there are minor differences between the operators you can use on Google and LinkedIn.
This blog will provide examples of constructing a Boolean search string and cover the fundamentals to get you started.
The Boolean Search Terms
Finding good sources, determining the applicability of your research topic, and developing great research questions can all be made much easier if you know how to use Boolean operators successfully. It might be pretty beneficial when conducting a systematic or literature review.
The Quotations Operator
You can use this function to order the results based on the most specific request. The phrase between the quotations in this query formulation will exactly match. You can be sure that the results won’t include an irrelevant profile without the desired word.
Quotes can contain both symbols and numerous words. The algorithm will look for each of these terms separately throughout the profile texts if you don’t enclose the keyphrase in quotation marks. It might not be appropriate for your needs in locating clients or contacts.
For instance, the system will interpret the request as a search for “photography” and “assistant” if we enter both phrases in the search field and ask for a photography assistant. Consequently, irrelevant assistants may show up in the results. As a result, we enclose the entire sentence in quotation marks, and the search results only show profiles whose content uses these terms adjacent to one another.
The And Operator
The symbol AND means that at least two keywords or phrases must appear in the search results.
When searching for something that matches two or more characteristics, it is helpful to be able to search for numerous items at once.
Let’s continue using the growth hacker keyword phrase as an example.
Let’s say you’re looking for an influencer growth hacker. Finding folks who are both growth hackers and influencers is what you desire; neither one is enough.
Instead of writing one or the other and attempting to determine whether they meet both of your standards, you can write:
- Growth hacker AND influencer
As a result, a list of outcomes will now appear that satisfy two or more of your criteria.
The OR Operator
The OR modifier extends search results rather than narrowing them, which is the exact reverse of what AND accomplishes. Consider hiring Boston-based salespeople with a background in cold calling. However, suppose you are an experienced sales recruiter. In that case, you likely already know that sales reps can have a variety of job titles, some of which don’t even contain the term “sales,” such as “account executive.” The OR modifier can help you improve your search in this situation. Look at this:
You can broaden the search to include any profiles that include “sales representative” or “account executive” in addition to “cold calling” by adding the OR operator.
The NOT Operator
The NOT operator instructs the search engine to omit particular words from the results list. Unlike other operators, it must come before the term you want to exclude. It is necessary to place the NOT before each phrase if you wish to omit more than one.
For instance, if you look for content instead of a copywriter on LinkedIn, it will only return profiles with the term content and exclude any profiles with the phrase copywriter. You should write your query as content, NOT editor, NOT copywriter, if you also want to exclude editors.
The Parentheses [()] Operator
Parentheses are a good idea when you start constructing more intricate Boolean strings. It instructs the search engine on how to handle your query. It becomes much more crucial when utilizing numerous operators as it reflects the search’s priority order.
Parenthesis aren’t necessary for simple strings when looking for two variables with an operator in between (such as “Marketing Manager” AND SAAS), but what if you want to search more broadly? For instance, what if you search for various job roles in a particular industry? In this scenario, it’s ideal to use parentheses.
What if you’re looking for senior marketers in the SaaS sector but also want to ensure you get people whose profiles might use the phrase “Software as a Service”?They may go by other work titles; thus, we want to provide a few possibilities. You can use the following string to search:
“Head of Marketing” OR “Marketing Director” AND “Software as a service” OR SaaS
However, by using parentheses in the search, LinkedIn can understand that it must locate users who fulfill at least one of the criteria in the first set of parentheses and that these users must also mention one of the criteria in the second set of parentheses.
(“Head of Marketing” OR “Marketing Director”) AND (“Software as a service” OR SaaS )
The Asterisk (“The Wild Card”) Operator
Finally, the asterisk is a recruiter’s best buddy when creating extensive Boolean queries. An asterisk (it won’t work with a phrase) following a word serves as a placeholder for any phrases containing that word.
For instance, a search for micro* would reveal any profiles, including information about Microsoft, microscopes, microbiology, etc.
Try including the “?” symbol at the end of words as a bonus. Question marks function like a “wild card,” except they only allow one letter to finish a word rather than several. In other words, stor? would produce results for stork, story, storm, etc.
Six Tips for LinkedIn Boolean Search
When using Boolean Search, one must remember the valuable tips mentioned below:
Target Important Sales Trigger Words
With Boolean search terms that concentrate on potential customers that are actively exhibiting the top sales triggers, for instance:
(starting OR seeking OR recruiting OR developing OR building OR aiming)
Learn From the Profiles of Your Prospects
Take note of how your ideal customers characterize their business and experience. Look for phrases with semantic connections, business jargon, and common technical words.
Save And Share Your Searches
People frequently store their searches and then forget about them. Sharing your achievements and disappointments will enable you to learn from one other and achieve your shared objectives. Moreover, maintain a database of guiding principles that have been refined via repeated testing of your queries!
Be Descriptive
Verify that your keywords accurately reflect the data you are attempting to find. Use specific titles, certifications, or places in your search if you are looking for talent for a role.
Use Boolean Generators
You can create a “Boolean string” or search phrase using the free Boolean generators available on many websites. It is helpful if you frequently conduct various searches. The online tools allow you to enter search-relevant information, and the system then creates a Boolean string that is usable on Google or other related websites, such as Linked In, etc.
Save Your Strings
Create a collection of unique Boolean strings for yourself. As your talent hunt evolves, you can utilize and modify them in the future. You may organize which searches produced the best results more quickly by creating a personal database of Boolean expressions.
Related article: How to Use LinkedIn X-Ray Search Correctly
How to Use Search Results?
LinkedIn Boolean search tool lets users quickly create customized lists of potential customers on LinkedIn. The tool will automatically build the correct Boolean search string if you enter all the data about your target audience. After pasting it into the LinkedIn search field, you acquire a list of your target audience for a specific campaign. How do you use LinkedIn’s Boolean search?
- Launch the webpage and complete each line with the necessary data.
- You’ll get the appropriate Boolean search string.
- Copy the website address and enter it in the LinkedIn search box.
- Then, to focus your search, use any proper LinkedIn filters, including those based on region and others.
Therefore, before starting any sales prospecting on LinkedIn, remember that identifying and engaging with specific prospects is essential for every organization. It is effective to use a Boolean search on LinkedIn. A Boolean search can help you focus your target audience, which can improve the success of your sales efforts.
What Does LinkedIn Search Do for Your Business?
LinkedIn isn’t just for job seekers and professionals. You may use LinkedIn to build your business in addition to the millions of professionals who use it daily to expand their networks and careers. With this social media platform, you may reach millions of connections for your company and yourself, which you can use to develop connections with people and other businesses to strengthen your brand.
LinkedIn is primarily a social network for professionals. It’s all about professional relationships, industry conversations, and other business-related events for career growth. On LinkedIn, you may find partners, employees, and clients.
Given this, it is no surprise that 79 percent of marketers believe LinkedIn to be an excellent source of leads and that 43% claim to have acquired at least one client via the site.
You can use commands and modifiers in Boolean Search to precisely filter your search results based on your input. This procedure excludes candidate profiles irrelevant to your search criteria and only shows you the results you wish to see.
LinkedIn Boolean String Examples
Let’s develop a few Boolean string formulas to help you understand the Boolean principle and how to apply it to produce more relevant and accurate results. Here are three examples to help you understand the usage of Boolean Search Strings.
Example 1
Using the LinkedIn or job title filter, we can use this formula (Recruiter and Sales Navigator). Use it to search and eliminate many job titles at once if you have a LinkedIn Basic or LinkedIn Premium plan.
You can also use the employment period in your search if you have a Recruiter and Sales Navigator. The essential advantage of these plans is an exclusion option in Recruiter and Sales Navigator, so it is not always necessary to filter terms through Boolean search.
Related article: LinkedIn Recruiter Lite vs Recruiter
The Job title filter considers various employment periods in this manner.
- CURRENT: profiles that list one of the jobs above as their current occupation.
- PAST: Displaying profiles identifying one or both occupations above as their prior employment, regardless of their present status.
- CURRENT OR PAST: Displays profiles that indicate any of the above-mentioned positions as their current or previous employment.
- PAST NOT CURRENT: displays profiles that indicate one or both of the occupations mentioned above as past employment but do not now hold them.
Example
(Head OR VPOR Chief) AND (MarketingORSales) NOT (Intern OR ConsultantOR Assistant OR Growth)
Here, the search engine will return members whose profiles contain one of the terms listed below:
- Chief of Sales
- Head of Sales
- VP of Sales
- Chief of Marketing
- Head of Marketing
- VP of Marketing
Additionally, it will eliminate any profile that contains the words “intern,” “assistant,” “consultant,” or “progress.”
Example 2
If there are specific titles you are looking for in your perfect lead, use the Boolean string to specify them. As was already noted, the advantages of this kind of Boolean string vary based on whether you’re utilizing Recruiter, Sales Navigator, or LinkedIn. Regarding the Title filter on LinkedIn, you cannot have multiple entries or omit specific titles. However, Sales Navigator and Recruiter provide extra options for deciding which job period you wish to apply for this search.
Formula
Title AND (title OR title) NOT title
Example
Owner AND (“chief executive officer” OR CEO) NOT Founder
For instance, you may have seen that many CEOs and Owners are also the Founders of their firms, but these individuals may not be your focus. Exclude businesses where the founders also serve as the owner and CEO.
Example 3
To target or exclude leads from a specific specialist industry, use the Boolean search.
Formula
Area of expertise AND (keyword OR keyword OR keyword) keyword NOT
Example
“Medical Practice” as an example (sports OR wellness OR nutrition), NOT injury
The Keywords filter contained this Boolean string. The results of this search should include LinkedIn profiles with keywords like “medical practice” plus one or more of the terms in the parenthesis (or all of them) stated on their profile. LinkedIn will remove these users from the search results if a particular keyword, such as injury, is not your objective.
Additionally, we used a straightforward Boolean search phrase for the Job title to obtain an even more focused list of leads.
Formula
Title OR title OR title
Example
“Sales specialist” OR “Sales Representative” OR “Sales Manager”
Conclusion
At first, LinkedIn’s Boolean searches could seem intimidating, but after a few weeks, you can refine your search terms and begin generating focused connections. To access the specific data collection you’re seeking, you need a distinct language that the computer can understand. Therefore, LinkedIn Boolean will help narrow your search and provide accurate results to save time.
Furthermore, using Boolean search, employers can quickly locate potential candidates and shortlist them for the job. Moreover, Boolean search allows LinkedIn users to target the right audience efficiently.