Have you ever wanted to get more connections or sales on LinkedIn?
There are many different ways to reach other people on this platform.
You could pay for ads, go through LinkedIn groups, or message connections — but what if there was another way?
A Boolean search on LinkedIn is one of the most powerful tools for salespeople that can help you find the right prospects quickly.
Using it wisely can save you hundreds of hours.
But when used poorly, it can waste hundreds of hours.
So what’s the right way to use it?
In today’s article, we’ll explain what LinkedIn Boolean search is and how you can use it to improve sales prospecting and save a lot of time and effort in that process.
So let’s dive into it.
What is Boolean Search on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn Boolean Search is a powerful technique that allows you to easily find the most relevant people by targeting their job titles, companies, locations, industry expertise, and skills on LinkedIn.
It allows users to input multiple keywords into one search query and narrow their results based on those keywords.
And you can do that by using Boolean operators. Boolean operators on Linkedin are used to specify more complex search terms when writing search queries.
You can use these operators in all search fields, including titles, company names, profiles, groups, etc.
For example, if you want to find prospects who work at a company named “Google” and have the keyword “Sales” in their profile, you would do this:
As a result, you would get the results of people with those two words in their first line.
So let’s check what LinkedIn Boolean search operators exist that we can use for our purposes.
What Are the Common LinkedIn Boolean Search Operators
LinkedIn Boolean search supports the following 5 operators:
- Quoted searches
- NOT searches
- OR searches
- AND searches
- Parenthetical searches
Before we get into explaining each of those, you should have in mind the prioritization order of these operators:
1. Quotes (“”)
2. Parentheses [()]
3. NOT
4. AND
5. OR
Now, let’s explain them all.
1. Quoted Searches
If you need to get an exact phrase in your search or a multi-word title of the personas you’re looking for, you have to use quotation marks in the search bar.
For example, type “Product Owner” in a LinkedIn search field to receive a list of Product Owners.
Note: You should have in mind that LinkedIn recognizes standard straight quotation marks only (”).
Curly quotation marks (“), also known as smart quotes or typographer’s quotes, aren’t supported by LinkedIn.
In addition, to optimize your overall search results, make sure not to use words such as “by,” “in,” “with” and others.
2. NOT Searches
If you want any term to be excluded from your search results, just type “NOT” before a search term, or you can also type a minus sign (–) instead of NOT to achieve the same goal.
But for more accurate results, we suggest using the term “NOT.”
For example, type: Owner NOT “Product Owner.”
This way, you will receive a list of people who don’t have “Product Owner” in their headline but just “Owner” as you can see in the image results.
3. OR Searches
If you need results that include one or more items in a list, you can type “OR” between two words of your search.
This way, you’ll receive broader search results from either one or the other term you searched for.
For example, type: Founder OR CEO
Here, you will get a list of people with the “CEO” or “Founder” terms in their headlines, as shown in the image above.
4. AND Searches
In case you want to receive results that include two terms, you should use “AND” between the two terms you’re looking for.
For example, type: Founder AND CEO
See how the results are different in comparison to using OR in your search.
In this case, you got a list of people who are at the same time Founders and CEOs of a company.
Note: In case your search has two or more terms, it’s not necessary to use the term “AND”, you’ll, either way, get results that include both of those terms.
Extra tip: You can also use “+” instead of AND as a part of your Boolean search to achieve the same result, but you’ll get more precise results using the AND operator.
5. Parenthetical Searches
To do a bit more complex search, what you can do is combine the terms by using parentheses.
This way, the terms you enter in the search bar will be considered as a single term.
For example: “CTO AND (Founder OR Owner).”
In this case, you will get results from people who are CTO+Founder or CTO+Owner.
Using these 5 LinkedIn Boolean search operators can help you create lists of your prospects easier, but it would be great to use them in combination with the LinkedIn filters.
How to Use Boolean Search and Filters on LinkedIn for Sales Prospecting
Boolean search on LinkedIn is similar to using Google AdWords or any other platform. The way you use it makes all the difference in the world.
So, here’s how to use it in combination with filters:
1. Click the search bar, enter the terms you’re looking for in combination with the Boolean search to find the right prospects, and then hit enter.
It will give you all types of results, such as people, jobs, posts, groups, etc.
2. Now choose the People option
Now only people are there.
3. Choose the All filters option, and then adjust the filters you want to apply to your search. For example, 2nd-degree connections from the United States.
After you’ve done it, click “Show Results.” As a result, we’ve got CTOs and Founders or Owners from the United States who are our 2nd connections.
4. Identify who you want to connect with, and open their LinkedIn profile in a new tab. Click on the mutual connection to determine if someone can introduce you to your targeted prospect.
5. Choose someone you know and send an introduction request.
In case you need inspiration, some of our proven LinkedIn InMail templates might be helpful.
Congrats! You’ve successfully contacted your targeted prospect using the Boolean search to find them.
So let’s summarize how to effectively use LinkedIn Boolean Search for sales prospecting:
1) Use Boolean search query correctly
2) Use filters to narrow down the right people
3) Choose the ones that fit you
4) Connect with them and use your mutual connections to introduce you
Looking to Unlock the Power of LinkedIn For Your Business?
Using a LinkedIn Boolean search, you can get a more precise list of your target audience to make your LinkedIn networking and sales activities more effective.
Using a LinkedIn Boolean search option can also be useful if you want to find the 1st-degree connections you want to reach.
That’s why we created LeadDelta to help you with that part.
With the customizable tags that LeadDelta offers, you can easily categorize and organize your connections to send personalized messages to a narrowly targeted group of people.
You can even use our ready-to-go templates or LinkedIn-proven messages with personalization tokens.
Using it for inbox management purposes can help you easily view your LinkedIn connections, find and organize them and sort them in a way that fits you best.
Just choose any parameters you want to filter them by, and enter what you’re looking for.
Let’s say I want to filter my connections in the sales industry. Just enter “Sales” in the headline segment or the job title, and it will automatically give you the results you’re looking for.
With LeadDelta, you can use numerous filter options to filter your connections, such as:
- Last messaged date
- Date connected
- Industry
- Company
- Location
- The ones with or without contact info, and so on.
You can also save your complex filters, so you don’t have to enter them each time you need them. Instead, click “Save Filters” in the upper left corner, enter the name and hit “Save filters.”
To access it anytime, click the arrow button next to the “Filter” and choose the one you want to apply within your search.
You can also tag your LinkedIn connections within the LeadDelta, so you can access the ones you tagged whenever you want.
This way of segmenting your connections can help you organize them, know who your connections are at every moment, and make it easy to contact them whenever you need them.
So, whether you’re looking to get in touch and engage with your prospect or simply organize your connections, LeadDelta can help you improve your connection overview and make the most out of your network.
Download LeadDelta extension for free, and get ready to improve your LinkedIn search and connections game.
