A lot of people rely solely on LinkedIn’s filters to find prospects—but they’re missing out on a much better tool: Boolean search. It’s one of LinkedIn’s best-kept secrets, often overlooked but incredibly effective once you know how to use it.
Boolean search helps you dig deeper than LinkedIn’s filters ever could. With the right search strings, you can find decision-makers in niche industries, connect with ideal prospects, and track down the exact people you need, whether it’s for sales, recruiting, or growing your network.
What is LinkedIn Boolean Search?
Boolean search uses logical operators and keywords to create advanced search queries. Each of these operators uses logic to filter out search results. There are five operators you need to learn if you want to use Boolean on LinkedIn:
- AND: Requires all keywords to be present in the search result.
- OR: Results should contain at least one of the keywords.
- NOT: Excludes keywords from the search results.
- Quotation “ ”: Looks for an exact search phrase.
- Parenthesis ( ): Used to group search terms together.
Recruiter and Recruiter Lite accounts have no limits on the Boolean operators you can use in a single search. However, Sales Navigator accounts can’t use more than 15 in one search query.
How to Use Boolean Search on LinkedIn
Boolean operators work directly on LinkedIn’s search bar. Remember to use ALL CAPS for AND, OR, and NOT operations. Here’s what they look like in action.
Quotation Mark Operator
If you’re looking for a tech recruiter, search results could show recruiters, people in tech, or recruiters with “passionate about new tech” in their summary. To specify what you’re looking for, you need to use quotation marks so LinkedIn returns profiles with the exact string of words.
For example, the results for tech recruiter, without quotation marks, gave over 395,000 profiles.
But the search results for “tech recruiter” only returned 73,000.
AND Boolean Operator
The AND operator returns profiles that contain all keywords in the search query. If you look for people in marketing AND sales, you’ll get marketers who also work in sales.
So, how about we get specific about what type of sales, say tech sales? You want to send a sales message about an automation tool to marketers and people in tech sales.
Note: You need to use the quotation mark because we’re looking for an exact string of words.
The number of profiles returned dropped from over 7.6 million results to 7,900. But if you noticed, the second result, Kevin, doesn’t have marketing in his roles or summary snippet.
However, if you go to his profile, you’ll see that Sales and Marketing are listed as one of his top skills. He also took a marketing course in college.
OR Boolean Operator
The OR operator returns profiles with either of the keywords included. Let’s use tech sales and marketing again as an example. Instead of getting people working as marketers and tech sales, you’ll get people in either marketing OR tech sales.
The results jumped from 7,900 to 14.7 million. That’s because the OR operator has a broader scope. It’s best used when you’re trying to expand your search.
NOT Boolean Operator
The NOT operator excludes keywords from the search results. It’s best used in industries where skills and positions overlap. In this example, let’s find people in Marketing. We’ll use this as our baseline.
The results came back with 14.7 million profiles. But when scrolling down, there were many associates or interns. If you want to find somebody with experience, you can include NOT associate or NOT intern.
The results dropped to 10.9 million. But filtering 10 million profiles would take forever. If you want to streamline the process, you can combine the boolean search operators to zero in on your perfect prospect.
Parenthesis
The parenthesis groups boolean search queries together if you use multiple operators. Let’s say you wanted to find SaaS founders.
The results returned 1.8 million profiles. Let’s trim it down using parenthesis and all the boolean operators we’ve learned. In this example, let’s use the search query: SaaS AND Founder NOT (copywriting OR agencies OR Marketing OR Sales). Here are the results:
Now, that’s a more manageable lead list. The best part is that you can still use LinkedIn’s filters to segment your list further. For example, adding a location filter in the San Francisco Bay Area reduced the results to 4,000 leads.
But 4,000 leads is still a big number, especially if you want to connect with them manually. To save time and resources, you’d want to automate LinkedIn outreach.
Botdog does that for you. All you need to do is copy the search URL of your boolean search, and Botdog will automate the connection requests and message sequences.
Best Way to Improve Boolean Search Queries
The goal is to zero in on the perfect prospects, so you’ll need a solid ideal customer profile (ICP) or target audience. This is how you generate more quality leads. But remember, Boolean search is an iterative process. Here’s what you can do to improve results fast:
Look at the Search Results
If you’re not getting what you want, try looking at the profiles in the search results. For example, earlier, we looked for people in Marketing. But as we scrolled, we found that there were interns and associates. So, we included the NOT operator to exclude both.
Another thing to note is that boolean search also accounts for keywords included in a profile’s skills, about section, past work experiences, and education.
Define Lead Qualifications
Boolean search only works well if you know who you’re looking for. That’s LinkedIn outreach 101. Before running a search, get clear on details like:
- Job titles: Are you targeting decision-makers, influencers, or individual contributors?
- Industry keywords: What common terms are used in their industry?
- Experience level: Do you need someone senior, mid-level, or entry-level?
- Skills & expertise: What specific skills or certifications should they have? ("SEO Specialist" AND ("Google Analytics" OR "Ahrefs")
- Education & certifications: Does your ideal prospect need a particular degree or certification? ("Cybersecurity Analyst" AND ("CISSP" OR "CEH"))
Use Synonyms or Alternative Job Titles
Not everyone lists their job title the same way. So, expanding your search with synonyms and alternative titles helps you catch more relevant profiles. For example, if you’re searching for an SEO expert, some might list their title as:
- "SEO Specialist"
- "SEO Manager"
- "Search Engine Optimization Expert"
- "Technical SEO Consultant"
Key Takeaways
Boolean search is one of the best tools for pinpointing your target audience. To recap, the five operators you’ll need to do a Boolean search include:
- Quotation marks: Returns profiles with the specific string of keywords in the query
- AND operator: Shows profiles with all keywords in the query
- OR operator: Gives profiles with either of the keywords used
- NOT operator: Excludes profiles with specific keywords
- Parenthesis: Used to combine multiple Boolean operators
Finding the right prospects is only half the battle. You still need to connect with these people on LinkedIn, build rapport, and nurture the relationship to turn a connection into an opportunity.
If you want to automate this process, keep your account safe, and ensure every message remains personalized and authentic, there’s no better tool than Botdog. Try it for free today!
