How to Use LinkedIn Boolean Search (with Examples)
If you’re using LinkedIn to find leads or recruit talent, you’ve likely faced one of these frustrations:
- Sifting through pages of irrelevant profiles
- Struggling to find niche roles or industries
- Missing out on ideal candidates or prospects
The truth is, LinkedIn’s basic keyword search alone won’t cut it. To consistently surface the right people faster, you need to master LinkedIn Boolean search.
In this guide, you’ll learn exactly how Boolean search works on LinkedIn, how to use it for sales, recruiting, and marketing, and see real examples that you can copy and adapt. Plus, we’ll show you how tools like SnitchFeed can help you automate all of this and give you live alerts on new relevant posts on LinkedIn within minutes of them being posted!
Table of Contents
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How to Combine Boolean Operators on LinkedIn for Precise Results
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Step-by-Step: Running Boolean Searches in LinkedIn Advanced Search
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How SnitchFeed Helps You Automate Finding the right posts on LinkedIn
What Is LinkedIn Boolean Search?
LinkedIn Boolean search is a way of using specific logic-based keywords to refine your search results. By combining terms with Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT, you can control exactly what profiles appear in your search.
Boolean search works in keyword-based fields on LinkedIn, such as:
- Job title
- Current company
- Skills
- Keywords in profile descriptions
- Location
By using Boolean logic, you go far beyond LinkedIn’s default filters and surface more accurate, relevant results—faster.
Boolean Search for Sales, Recruiting, and Marketing
If you’re in sales, recruiting, or marketing, your results depend on how well you can identify and reach the right people. Boolean search helps solve major targeting pain points:
Sales Prospecting
- Identify decision-makers by title, region, or industry
- Skip irrelevant profiles and focus on high-intent leads
- Save time by pre-qualifying leads through job descriptions
Marketing & Audience Research
- Discover niche audiences for campaigns or content
- Understand how your ICP labels themselves (job titles, industries)
- Build targeted segments for ABM or outreach
Recruiting
- Search for candidates with specific skills or certifications
- Exclude interns, juniors, or unrelated fields
- Find qualified talent faster without scrolling endlessly
In short, Boolean search on LinkedIn helps eliminate guesswork and wasted time.
Core Boolean Operators (and How They Work on LinkedIn)
Here are the essential Boolean search operators to know and how they function on LinkedIn.
AND Operator
Use AND to include multiple required terms. This narrows your results.
Example:
sales AND SaaS AND director
Returns profiles that include all three terms.
OR Operator
Use OR to include any of the listed terms. This broadens your results.
Example:
recruiter OR sourcer OR "talent acquisition"
Returns profiles that match any of these titles.
NOT Operator
Use NOT to exclude unwanted terms from your results.
Example:
marketing NOT intern
Excludes profiles that mention intern.
Quotation Marks (" ")
Use quotes to search for exact phrases or multi-word titles.
Example:
"business development manager"
Returns profiles with that exact job title.
Parentheses ( )
Use parentheses to group terms and control the order of operations.
Example:
("account executive" OR "sales manager") AND SaaS
Returns profiles matching either title, but only if SaaS is also present.
How to Combine Boolean Operators on LinkedIn for Precise Results
To build powerful search strings, you’ll need to combine these operators strategically.
LinkedIn reads Boolean searches left to right but gives priority to:
- Quotation marks
- Parentheses
- AND
- OR
- NOT
Here’s a basic template you can use:
("job title 1" OR "job title 2") AND industry AND location NOT undesired term
Example:
("head of marketing" OR "growth lead") AND fintech AND location:London NOT intern
This structure ensures you get relevant results while filtering out what you don’t want.
Boolean Search LinkedIn Examples by Use Case
For Sales Prospecting
Goal: Find SaaS decision-makers in the Bay Area.
Example Boolean Search:
("head of sales" OR "sales director") AND SaaS AND "location:San Francisco"
Use this in the keyword field of LinkedIn’s search bar, then refine with filters.
For Recruitment
Goal: Source software engineers with Python skills, excluding interns.
Example Boolean Search:
("software engineer" OR developer) AND Python NOT intern
Use this to find qualified engineers faster without entry-level noise.
For B2B Marketing & Audience Research
Goal: Identify marketing leads in fintech companies in the UK.
Example Boolean Search:
("marketing manager" OR "demand generation") AND fintech AND location:UK
Perfect for building B2B audience lists for campaigns or content targeting.
Step-by-Step: Running Boolean Searches in LinkedIn Advanced Search
- Go to LinkedIn and click on the search bar.
- Enter your Boolean string in the main search field.
- Choose “People” from the dropdown.
- Use filters (location, industry, current company, etc.) to narrow results.
- For more precision, use LinkedIn Sales Navigator for deeper filtering and saved searches.
Use SnitchFeed fully automate your searches and get live alerts when matching posts are created on the platform.
Best Practices for High-Impact LinkedIn Boolean Searches
- Start broad. Begin with a wide search string and narrow down based on early results.
- Use synonyms. Try variations of job titles and skills to expand reach.
- Iterate. Tweak your strings based on what’s working or not.
- Keep a swipe file. Save effective search strings for future use.
- Check syntax. A missing quote or parentheses can break your query.
Pro tip: Combine Boolean with LinkedIn filters for maximum precision.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- ❌ Forgetting quotation marks around multi-word titles like
"product manager" - ❌ Overusing NOT and excluding too many matches
- ❌ Omitting parentheses when combining OR and AND
- ❌ Ignoring LinkedIn’s character limits (max 2,000 characters per field)
Fixing these issues can instantly improve your search results.
How SnitchFeed Helps You Automate Finding the right posts on LinkedIn
🎯 Want to save time by getting alerts when a post matching your search is posted? Try SnitchFeed.
SnitchFeed helps sales, marketing, and recruiting teams listen to specific search queries on LinkedIn, saving a bunch of time and headache of having to manually go through 10s of pages. SnitchFeed does this for you in real time (and not just on LinkedIn, we listen on all of these platforms!)
Whether you’re an SDR targeting SaaS buyers or a recruiter sourcing engineers, SnitchFeed helps you find the right people, faster.
Use LinkedIn as a High-ROI Lead Generation Tool
Learning how to use LinkedIn Boolean search is one of the quickest ways to improve your lead generation, recruitment, and market research efforts. By mastering Boolean operators and combining them strategically, you can surface higher-quality profiles and eliminate wasted time.
Want to level up your LinkedIn targeting? Try SnitchFeed free for 14 days and fully automate your searches today!