Finding the right news quickly is essential for every PR professional, especially when you’re sifting through vast amounts of data. That’s why we’ve upgraded our explore feature to include advanced search options. In this blog, we’ll walk you through how to make the most of this powerful tool with simple tips and examples.

Using Double Quotes for Exact Phrases

If you’re looking for news that contains a specific phrase, you’ll want to use double quotes. This tells the search engine to find articles where the words appear exactly as you’ve written them, in the same order.

Example:

• Searching for “product launch” will only show results where “product” and “launch” appear together as a phrase, not just anywhere in the text.

Boolean Operators: AND, OR, NOT

Boolean operators are simple words (AND, OR, NOT) used as conjunctions to combine or exclude keywords in a search, leading to more precise results.

1. AND: Narrow Down Your Search

Use AND between keywords to ensure that all the terms you’re searching for appear in the results. This is useful when you want to find articles that mention multiple topics.

Example:

• “AI” AND “PR” will show articles that mention both AI and PR.

2. OR: Broaden Your Search

Use OR to find articles that contain any of the words you’re interested in. This helps when you want to search for related terms or synonyms.

Example:

• “Marketing” OR “Advertising” will return results that mention either marketing or advertising, or both.

3. NOT: Exclude Unwanted Results

Use NOT to exclude certain terms from your search. This is helpful when you want to filter out results that aren’t relevant.

Example:

• “Technology” NOT “Blockchain” will show articles that mention technology but exclude any that talk about blockchain.

Combining Operators for Powerful Searches

You can combine these operators to create complex searches and fine-tune your results.

Example:

• “Digital Marketing” AND (SEO OR “Content Strategy”) NOT Ads will return articles that mention digital marketing and either SEO or content strategy, but exclude those that talk about ads.

Parentheses: Organize Your Search

Parentheses are useful when you’re using multiple operators in one search. They help the search engine understand how you want to structure your search.

Example:

• (AI OR “Machine Learning”) AND “Healthcare” ensures that the search includes either AI or machine learning, along with healthcare.

Ready to Try It Out?

With these simple tips, you can now perform advanced searches that save you time and get you exactly the news results you need. Try it out in our new explore feature and see how much more effective your searches can be!

Click here to start searching with advanced features.