The first article, in this series of three, introduced us to Boolean search logic. Now we are going to build on our knowledge by introducing additional operators, as well as some content-specific syntax that will come in handy 💫.
Boolean Operators Explained
|
OPERATOR |
APPLICATION |
EXAMPLE |
RESULT |
|
AND |
When you want two keywords to appear in the same document. |
Apple AND watch |
Both keywords are found in each document. |
|
OR |
When you want at least one keyword to appear in a document. |
Apple OR iPhone |
At least one of the keywords are found in each document. |
|
NOT |
When you want to exclude documents that contain the keyword. |
Apple NOT “apple juice” |
All documents contain apple but none include apple juice. |
|
NEAR |
When you want two keywords to appear in close proximity (same context) in an article. |
Apple NEAR watch |
Both keywords are found in each document, and with no more than 4 words between each other. |
|
NEAR/N |
Same as NEAR but you want to allow for more distance between the two words. |
Apple NEAR/10 watch |
Both keywords are found in each document, and with no more than 10 words between each other. |
|
AND/OR |
When you want to broaden the results by allowing for multiple qualifiers. |
Apple AND (watch OR iWatch) |
All documents include Apple and either watch or iwatch. |
|
ONEAR |
Same as NEAR and adds sequence logic. Use this when you’d like a document to have two words in close proximity to one another and in the same order. |
Apple ONEAR watch |
Both Apple and watch are in the document with no more than 4 words between them, and Apple needs to be mentioned before watch. |
|
ONEAR/N |
Same as ONEAR but you want to allow for more distance between the two words. Use this when keywords need to be within a specific distance of one another and in the same order |
Apple ONEAR/10 watch |
Both keywords are found in each document, and with no more than 10 words between Apple and watch, and Apple needs to be mentioned before watch. |
|
WORD FREQUENCY |
Use this syntax when you want results to include a keyword several times. |
Apple{3,} |
All documents must include Apple at least 3 times. Learn more about Frequency. |
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Special Syntax for Searching NEWS Content
Boolean helps you define what you want to search for with a great deal of specificity. You can extend this by specifying elements of an article you want to search (e.g. the title of the article or the opening text/ingress). This syntax doesn’t apply to social content.
title:”Apple” AND (watch or iwatch)
Search results will be constrained to articles where Apple is mentioned in the title of the article, and watch or iWatch are also mentioned anywhere in the article.
ingress:”Apple” AND (watch or iwatch)
Search results will be constrained to articles where Apple is mentioned in the opening text/ingress of the article, and watch or iWatch are also mentioned anywhere in the article.
🛑Note: title and ingress syntax require the use of quotation marks " " around keywords (even though it's a single word).
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Special Syntax for Searching SOCIAL Content
We help you easily follow a hashtag; find content created by a specific influencer; or content that mentions a thought leader or executive of interest.
author:”tim_cook” OR author:”Tim Cook” - returns posts by Tim Cook
mention:”tim_cook” - returns posts about or mentioning Tim Cook
“tim_cook” - returns posts containing @tim_cook but not content by @tim_cook, unless “@tim_cook” is also mentioned in the post
hashtag:"applewatch" returns posts containing the hashtag
In our final article in this series, we'll cover how you can ensure that your search results are displayed in an optimal way for consumption.
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Other Articles in this Series
How to Master Boolean Search (1/3)
How to Master Boolean Search (3/3)
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Thank you for reading. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to us via Live Chat!
Team Meltwater