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Boolean Search

Use Boolean search to improve your keyword search results in Muck Rack and beyond!

Nick Lemen avatar
Written by Nick Lemen
Updated yesterday

Boolean Search

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Boolean search allows you to combine keywords and operators to refine your search queries and obtain more accurate and relevant results. By utilizing Boolean operators such as "AND," "OR," and "NOT," you can specify the relationships between keywords and customize their searches to meet specific criteria.

This precise control makes Boolean search an essential tool for efficiently locating relevant data, whether you're a researcher, professional, or anyone working with large datasets.

Learn about the benefits of Boolean Search versus traditional keyword searching in the video below:

Learn More in Muck Rack Academy

Want to learn more about Boolean search? Muck Rack's Become a Boolean Expert course will provide hands-on search education.


Boolean Operators

Boolean search combines keywords and operators to refine online searches and get more accurate results. The three basic operators used in Boolean search are "AND," "OR," and "NOT," but there are more operators in advanced iterations.

Shows an infographic illustrating the basic Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) and the most common Modifiers (Quotation Marks, Parentheses, and Asterisks)

Boolean Operator Definitions

Operator

Function

AND or +

Using AND between keywords narrows down the search, as it tells the search engine to find results that include all of the specified keywords.

For example, searching for:

cats AND dogs

or

cats + dogs

will show results that mention both cats and dogs.

OR or ,

Using OR broadens the search, as it tells the search engine to find results that include any of the specified keywords. For example, searching for:

cats OR dogs

or

Cats, dogs


will show results that mention either cats or dogs.

NOT or -

Using NOT excludes specific keywords from the search results. For example, searching for:

cats NOT dogs

or

cats - dogs


will show results that mention cats but exclude any mention of dogs, including those that mention cats if the keyword dog is also present.

Matchcase

Matchcase is a search feature that allows you to specify a phrase or word. When Matchcase is used, the search engine will only find results that match the specified keywords' capitalization. For example:

matchcase: Cat

You may also use the matchcase operator to create a search string using common boolean operators or their respective shorthand, for example:​

matchcase:(Domino’s OR "Ian’s Pizza")

Strict

To avoid having prefixes, suffixes, punctuation, spaces, or different capitalization added to your terms, include strict: and enclose your key words in quotes. For example:

strict:"Legal Finance"


This will ensure that results will not include versions of this term, such as:


"legal finance"

"legal financers"

"Legal, Finance"

etc.

You may also use the strict operator to create a search string using common boolean operators or their respective shorthand, for example:

strict:("Pizza chain" AND "Pizza restaurant")

Asterisk

An asterisk can be used to search for any variation of a root word truncated by the asterisk. For example:

walk*

which will return results for walk, walking, walker, etc.

NEAR

A NEAR operator is an AND operator where you can control the distance between the words. You can vary the distance by adding a forward slash and a number between 0-99, as shown in the example:

Dog NEAR/10 Cat


This will return results for the keyword Dog, which appears within 10 words of the keyword Cat.

Headline and Body

Specify whether a keyword must appear in an article's headline or body. For example:

headline: Cat and body: Food


This search would return results with the word Cat in the headline and the word Food in the body of the article.

Keyword Frequency

Use curly brackets and numbers to specify how many times a particular keyword should appear in your results. For example:

cat{2,5}

This will return results that include the anywhere from 2 to 5 mentions of the keyword “cat.”

If you'd like to search for 2 or more mentions of the keyword "cat," you can format your query this way:

cat{2,}


Using Quotation Marks

Quotation marks must be used when searching for exact phrases of more than one word. For example: "Persian Cats" will only return mentions of "Persian Cats" where these words appear together.

Shows an illustrated example of a search result with the keyword "Persian Cats"

However, if you search for Persian Cats without quotation marks, Muck Rack will split up the words Persian and Cats and highlight them as relevant matches even when not mentioned as an exact phrase.

Shows illustrated examples of search results that include variations of keywords that include Persian Cats combined and separate


Combining Boolean Operators

Boolean operators are powerful on their own, but combining them with parentheses creates even more targeted search results. Use parentheses to refine your queries and specify exactly what you’re looking for. Watch the video below to learn how:


Searching for Backlinks

Articles often link to websites, product pages, or press hits without mentioning certain keywords, which means key placements can fly under the radar. With Backlink searching, your team can effectively understand where your press hits are online.

For example, search Link:muckrack.com to locate articles that contain a hyperlink to any page on muckrack.com embedded in the article text:

To search for backlinks navigate to the search bar on the Article tab. Type Link: followed by all or part of the URL you are searching for.


Get Help

For additional help, contact support by choosing the chat icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen and selecting Messages > Send us a message.


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