If you have any experience with social networks tracking platforms, you understand that getting exact results may be challenging at times: Apps can reveal a lot of sound for brand names with common names or, quite the contrary, miss some important data behind due to the restrictive filters.

That’s when Boolean search fits in perfectly.

Boolean search meaning

In a broad sense, a Boolean search is a type of search that combines terms with operators. It’s used in social listening tools, search engines, and other apps. It lets you find specifically what you’re looking for, and omit what you’re not. I have to discuss that not all social listening tools offer Boolean abilities, but some platforms such as Awario, SproutSocial, or Google Alerts do let you test it before starting your membership.

Dealing with those Boolean queries might look intimidating initially if you aren’t acquainted with programs. However the bright side is that to start with, not everybody needs Boolean: If you’re monitoring distinct keywords, you’ll be alright with a routine search mode. And secondly, mastering the essentials of developing Boolean inquiries doesn’t require any technical background at all.

Boolean terms discussed

Prior to creating your first inquiry, you should get comfortable with significant Boolean operators, such as “AND”, “OR”, “AND NOT” (which is in some cases used as “NOT” or just “-“).

AND

This one narrows your search to find outcomes of both keywords or groups of keywords within one post, so the query like ” Prince William” AND “Duchess Kate” will reveal us results where both names are discussed:

OR

OR broadens the search to find outcomes where any term is pointed out. This can be great for misspellings, typos, and options of the exact same term. For instance ” Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge” OR “Duchess Kate” will show mentions with any variation of her name:

AND NOT

AND NOT lets you leave out terms you don’t desire to appear in your search outcomes. If you don’t wish to get mentions about Prince William’s 37 th birthday, (” Prince William” AND NOT birthday) will assist you get appropriate discusses:

The list of Boolean operators and their logic differs on different tools: a few of them, such as Google Alerts, has a pretty standard set (which suffices for the most part though) which consists of “OR”, “-“, “site”, quotation marks, and an asterisk. Others, like Brandwatch, offer advanced operators, such as “NEAR/n”, “raw”, “nation”, and more.

Where and how to utilize Boolean?

Boolean search applies in several scenarios, but I ‘d like to focus more on the cases where this mode is essential. So listed below you can find the cases when a few lines of code can conserve you heaps of time on cutting through the sound.

Save time on inputting all trademark name options

This is a time-saving method that lets you produce a query utilizing just a couple of lines of code instead of getting in all possible brand alternatives. Works best for three-word names or more.

Let’s state there’s a brand name that’s called C.S. Johnson & Sons. This trademark name can be spelled in a number of ways:

But if you have access to Boolean search, you can produce the following inquiry:

Gain control over acronyms or brands with typical names

As in the previous case, you can apply the power of grouping words for searching brands with common or uncertain names. And there are two methods of treating those cases.

To Start With, you can omit irrelevant results by including a group of unfavorable keywords, which are terms you don’t want to be used in your outcomes:

Second of all, you can include some terms to be used with the brand to ensure you find outcomes that matter to your organisation.

On the screenshot above, at the top, you can find a social media deal with and a website that will bring relevant results per se. They’re followed by the brand that can be utilized in numerous cases, however we narrow it down to the relevant case just.

And lastly, often it makes best sense to use both “AND” and “AND NOT” operators:

This inquiry shows just relevant outcomes because the entire question is supported by unfavorable terms.

Discover linkless pages for link-building functions

Boolean search lets you easily develop inquiries which contain only mentions of a specific brand or market and don’t have links to this brand name. It works finest for news posts and other web pages, so note that you’ll require a tool that monitors those sources as well:

This inquiry will provide all web pages that point out JIRA online and don’t have links to their site. So our job here is to connect to site owners to turn those pages into backlinks.

Display mentions from specific areas

This technique works for international companies. You can establish an alert that will provide pertinent points out to a person in charge of the company unit from a specific geographical location.

You can utilize the nation operator to limit the search to a specific area that’s provided by social networks. And in addition to that, you can create another group of keywords that will supply search results page for your keywords with area names. By doing this, the tool will cover points out where people utilize the names of appropriate locations in the text of a post.

The example above searches for points out published in the United States along with all the mentions where area keywords are utilized within a post.

Uncover dissatisfied consumers

This one is excellent for crisis supervisors in a company. Boolean search lets you produce questions that search for posts containing troublesome terms.

To utilize this, you’ll require the distance operator near/n that will let you specify the optimum distance between the name of a business and a word or phrase generally utilized to grumble about something online:

Produce new leads

The other case where Boolean search comes in helpful is lead generation. To establish a search, you’ll need to come up with a couple of expressions that people usually use to ask about services online, such as “I’m looking for”, “I require”, “suggest me”, and similar search queries.

By using the near/n proximity operator, you can define the range of those phrases from your target keywords:

This inquiry will keep an eye on social platforms for all brand-new posts where people look for web designers. All you require to do is interact with those posts internally from the tool (if it has the capability to do so) or externally from a social networks platform.

Inspect texts for plagiarism

And the last one I ‘d like to tell you about is checking texts for copyright violation. All you require to do is add a couple of pieces of material to the alert (don’t forget to quote it to search for the specific match).

The app will search for matches of those pieces on social networks platforms and the web and inform you each time someone’s benefiting from your work without permission.

Last words

Utilizing Boolean for social networks tracking is a great way to cut through numerous mentions to discover those gems that let you comprehend your audience better and reach your social networks marketing goals.

So when you go shopping for a social networks tracking tool, make certain it’s geared up with a Boolean search mode.

Aleh is the Founder and CMO at SEO PowerSuite and Awario. He can be found on Twitter at @ab80