Did you know the world’s third most ranking social site “Facebook” can also be used as a search tool? Not just that, it’s also quite powerful. Facebook search operators help you find 100% legit online search results in one go.
According to the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook will be competent in providing question answers and research service one step ahead of any other search engine in the next ten years. We’ve learned that many people are not familiar with what search operators are; on that note, we put together the information into a useful blog.
Before we dive deep into this subject, we will first start with the basics. We’ll also learn about the advanced features of Facebook search operators, how to use them, their types, reasons, and benefits.
Table of Contents
- What is Facebook Search Operators?
- 7 Advanced Facebook Search Operators in 2022 (+ Benefits)
- 1. Basic Boolean Facebook Search:
- 2. Boolean Facebook Search for Two Words
- 3. Boolean Facebook Search for One of Two Words:
- 4. Boolean Facebook Search For Results that You Don’t Need:
- 5. Boolean Facebook Search for Exact Wording:
- 6. Boolean Facebook Search For Local Small Businesses
- 7. Fill-in-the-Blanks Facebook Search Operator
- Reasons Why Should You Use Facebook Search Operators:
- How To Effectively Use Facebook Search Operators To Grow Your Business?
- Can You Use Facebook Search Operators For Facebook Marketplace?
- Do Boolean Operators Work On Facebook Search Box?
- Conclusion:
What is Facebook Search Operators?
Facebook search operators, driven by the Boolean search technique, are commands and special characters that assist users in filtering search results based on what they are interested to see and whatnot. The results are highly targeted by using a phrase from a relevant search.
With the rapid growth of the user base and the platform’s functionality, Facebook’s search engine possesses some top-notch features that can beat mainstream search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing in near future.
Facebook used graph search before it introduced the Boolean search operators. So not many people are aware of how boolean search works.
What does Boolean Search Do?
Boolean search enables users to filter, enhance, or specify their search by combining words and phrases with the keywords AND, OR, and NOT (known as Boolean operators). To use a Boolean search, you will have to use quotation marks to let the search algorithm know to only find exact matches to the query.
For instance, you can look for Facebook users who: Live in “Dallas, Texas” “Preston Hollow, Dallas,” “Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas,” or “Seattle, Washington,”
Or
Attended “Southern Methodist University,” “The University of Dallas,” “Caltech,” or “Dallas Baptist University”
Or
Work for Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com, or Twitter.
Most people believe Boolean Search isn’t practically possible until you invest in some pricey tools. But it is possible, but while it’s slightly limited, there are clearly solid obvious benefits for it.
Back in 2013, Facebook used the Graph search which did not show precise results and focused more on natural language results for users. There’s a myth that graph search does not support Boolean search but it’s quite possible.
7 Advanced Facebook Search Operators in 2022 (+ Benefits)
Facebook uses boolean operators to find search results through Facebook search operators to perform the Facebook site search. We’ll be discussing in detail seven advanced operators.
Boolean operators are basic words like (AND, OR, NOT AND NOT). They help combine or exclude in keyword searching, used as a conjunction. Boolean operators focus more on targeted results.
1. Basic Boolean Facebook Search:
Using the google site, we can search any page on Facebook with its name, and Boolean helps specify content.
How to use it?
If we want to search for any organization on Facebook, Google will only display results about that organization related to groups or posts.
Website+website or page
site:facebook.com United Nations
You can search various other websites by putting in the website’s url and then the product name.
site:channel.com handbags:
Benefit
So this search isn’t restricted to Facebook searches only. You can access specific products and websites using Boolean’s basic Facebook search.
2. Boolean Facebook Search for Two Words
We can simultaneously search for two things at once by using conjunction, for example ‘and’, in this search operator type. By giving this command, google will show search results just accordingly.
How to use it?
Website’s name+term1+and+term2.
site:facebook.com creative and content marketing:
Benefit
Boolean Facebook Search supports research for a specific niche, directing to an audience on Facebook. This search will even take you to Facebook spots where your demographic hangs out for a competitive business model.
3. Boolean Facebook Search for One of Two Words:
This Facebook search operator allows you to browse either one term or another. Unlike the AND functionality that needs particular terminology to search. You’ll use the ‘OR’ command for comparative SERPs. This way, google will only show you results for both the search terms.
How to use it?
Website+term1+OR+term2
site:facebook.com blog OR article:
Benefit
The list of search results is talking about both the terms. You can use this search operator to get information about your and your competitor’s brand to fill the gaps and outrun others in the market.
4. Boolean Facebook Search For Results that You Don’t Need:
At times, we get unnecessary and irrelevant searches. You want Nike’s kicks but Google keeps showing you Adidas. You can use the command ‘NOT’ to avoid that. This Facebook search operator will help exclude any unconnected searches hence saving effort.
How to use it?
Website+term1+NOT+term2
site:facebook.com digital marketer NOT content marketers.
Benefit:
Facebook’s ‘unnecessary word excluding’ search operator helps in removing extra content and is more refining. Using this Facebook search, we can narrow the geographical locations or celebrities’ names with the same meaning or similar spelling.
5. Boolean Facebook Search for Exact Wording:
With the time being, Facebook and Google Search have gotten smarter in finding any particular location. Still, we cannot find results close to the right answers but we can use the same wordings to operators to generate desired results.
How to use it?
Website+name+location
site:facebook.com “pan-Asian restaurant in south London’’
Benefit
We use Quotation as a command to function the match wordings to use this Facebook search. This Facebook search is for an exact match. This Facebook Search also helps in finding User Generated Content.
6. Boolean Facebook Search For Local Small Businesses
Facebook plays a vital role in local marketing businesses. Surplus 90 million small businesses use Facebook and its related products for marketing and advertising.
How to use it?
Website+service+location
site:facebook.com Dry Cleaners in San Francisco.
Benefit
Using this Facebook search operator, it becomes easier to track local businesses in the market. For instance, if someone is interested in starting a venture in his town and wants to get updated on already existing businesses, this search operator will do the job.
7. Fill-in-the-Blanks Facebook Search Operator
Let’s assume you forgot the name of a restaurant or celebrity or any organization that you need to remember. You only remember the first or last term but can’t recall the rest. There swoops in Fill in Blanks Facebook search operator. It fills in the gap and provides us with similar search results.
How to use it?
Website+terms you remember+asterisk+term2
site:facebook.com burger * restaurant California
Benefit
The fill-in-blanks search operator works best when you are unable to write the correct spelling of a word. You’ll also find legit sources with the search terms so it’ll be easier to pick out what you were looking for in the first place.
Reasons Why Should You Use Facebook Search Operators:
According to the latest Facebook stats, October 2021 with over 2.910 billion monthly active users. Facebook is the worlds’ most popular social media platform, particularly for marketing. With maximum numbers of businesses having Facebook pages, it becomes easier to monitor your competitors’ efforts.
Search operators can greatly benefit in digital marketing, helps in refined targeting, and improves productivity by saving time, search operators help drive business moving forwards.
Below, we’ll be sharing some reasons that can help marketers grow their business and benefit from Facebook search operators’ usage.
Analyze Your Rivals:
Using Facebook Search Operators, we can locate our competitors on Facebook already existing in our geographical area, and can easily analyze their work model so we can improve ours. Search Operators will help in figuring out relevant content, ideas, and even websites.
Find Targeted Content Matter:
If you are a content creator (blogger, vlogger, writer or other), you’d love Facebook search operators. It helps you save time and land directly on what you are looking for so you can build an engaging interaction with your audience.
Connect to Your Demographic
To get more traffic, leads and sales we do need user-generated content extracted through Facebook search operators. It helps in tracking a record of who is quoting your brand name, or promoting or giving a review about the brand, your services, or products, either by tagging us or not Facebook search operators does that all.
Improve Your Business:
By using Facebook search operators, you’ll be able to know your customers well. Using Facebook Search Operator you can search specific phrases.
This way, you’ll build a strong connection with your audience by identifying what your followers usually appreciate in a product or service like yours.
How To Effectively Use Facebook Search Operators To Grow Your Business?
Facebook, being one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, hosts millions of businesses from all around the world. But since Facebook isn’t only a business hosting platform like LinkedIn, Facebook also hosts billions of customers of these businesses on its platform.
This means that an effective business can use Facebook’s advanced search techniques for market research and can significantly benefit from it.
How To Analyze Your Competitors Using Facebook Search Operators
Facebook search operators help business owners identify the list of their competitors found on Facebook in many ways.
If you’re a burger joint owner, for instance, here’s what you can do to analyze your competition on the platform.
- If you’re a local business, the first thing you need to do is to perform a location-based search to get a list of your competitors that work around your location.
Example: site:facebook.com burgers in New York. (if you’re situated in New York)
- If that’s a broad search and you want to filter this out using keywords that relate to your business, use the AND operator.
Example: site:facebook.com burgers in New York AND small businesses.
- If your niche isn’t only defined by a single keyword, use the OR operator to search for more keywords.
Example: site:facebook.com burgers in New York OR fast food restaurants in New York
Using these search operators, you can find a list of businesses that are your competitors in the niche. From here on, you can visit their Facebook profiles and analyze their marketing and engagement strategies. You can also view the response they get on their posts to understand what works and what does not.
Use this to your advantage by studying your competitors and implementing their best strategies for your own business.
How To Analyze Your Target Market And Feedback Using Facebook Search Operators
There are two ways to analyze your target market on Facebook.
The first way is to follow the steps mentioned above, find your competitors, and visit their profiles to see how customers react to their pages. This should get you a good idea of their likes and dislikes.
The second way is to use Facebook search operators and find out what customers are saying about your own brand.
Simply do a google search of site:facebook.com [brand name] and you should see all the posts Facebook users made that feature your brand’s name, even if they didn’t tag your business page on their posts.
This should provide you with honest feedback that could be used to your own marketing advantage.
Can You Use Facebook Search Operators For Facebook Marketplace?
Unfortunately, even though Facebook Marketplace is the biggest online marketplace in the world, it still doesn’t feature any use of search operators or keywords to help buyers find their targetted searches.
You can only use Facebook Marketplace’s own filters to conduct an advanced search.
I tried this out myself. First, I used different keyword searches on Facebook Marketplace itself. Next, I relied on Google and Facebook’s search operators to help me find targeted products. No matter what I tried, the results were always random.
I even searched for the exact title of a product that was listed on the Marketplace and the results still only offered me random products relating to the niche.
The lack of search operators or keywords on Facebook Marketplace doesn’t only restrict buyers from finding products easily but also restricts sellers from finding ways to improve their product listing rankings by using popular keyword searches.
Do Boolean Operators Work On Facebook Search Box?
No. Boolean operators only work on Google’s search engine.
You can do an advanced search on Facebook by using the command site:facebook.com followed by your search query.
This works for all sites on the internet. If I wanted to search for content writing content that is on my own website, I’d google search site:digitalmarketingstreak.com content writing.
Conclusion:
There is no shortcut to success on social media platforms like Facebook. You’ll have to pull your socks up and work harder if you want to stand out. You’ll have to do a lot of research and analysis.
Thus, Facebook can do wonders for you in terms of business competition, quick analysis, growth, tracking, and generating leads sales. Facebook Search Operators are of great help in Facebook Marketing.
