Brandwatch Masterclass: Basic Query Writing

Brandwatch Masterclass/Basic Query Writing
Alyssa Edelman
brains@brandwatch.com | Brandwatch Masterclass | May 2014

Agenda
© 2013 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com 2
•Introduction to Queries
•Introduction to Boolean Search
•“Home Base” Operators
•Other Useful Operators
•Query Writing Game!

3
The Brandwatch
Query
© 2013 Brandwatch | www.brandwatch.com

What is a Query?
Queries are specialized Web
searches. They rely on Boolean
Operators to link together keywords.
Queries return mentions, which can
be a Tweet, Facebook post, blog
post, forum post, or any other Web-
based post that matches your search.
These mentions, once pulled in to
Brandwatch with a query, can be
visualized on a dashboard.
Queries are always running in the
background, bringing new data in to
the app as new content is created
and made public across the Web.

Defining
Boolean
Operators

Boolean 101
“A type of search allowing users to
combine keywords with operators such
as AND, NOT, and OR to further
produce more relevant results.”
Boolean operators help limit a search
to help find the information that’s most
meaningful. Think of them as
conjunctions.
Did you know? You can use Boolean
search terms on Google!

Basic Operators

What are your Go-To Operators?
These are your most basic operators: AND, OR, and NOT
These must be capitalized to work within a query.
To use these as an actual keyword in your search, they must be in
quotes or you’ll receive an error message.

AND

AND
Linking search terms with an AND operator will look for mentions
that include both the first term and the second term anywhere within
the mention.
Always use the Test Query button to preview the results the query,
as written, will return.

OR

OR
Linking search terms with an OR operator will look for mentions that
include either the first term or the second term.

NOT

NOT
Linking search terms with a NOT operator will look for mentions that
include the first term, but not the second term.

Using Quotes
and
Parentheses

Quotes and Parentheses (Brackets)
Quotes are used to group together two or more words that should
be searched for together as part of a phrase.
• “corgi puppies” will search for mentions of corgi puppies
• corgi puppies will be recognized as corgi AND puppies
Parentheses are used to group together search terms and
operators to created more sophisticated, targeted queries.

Other Useful
Operators

NEAR/x and
NEAR/xf

NEAR/x and NEAR/xf
The NEAR operator is used to find keywords within x number of
words of each other.
Adding a lowercase f at the end searches for the keywords in the
order you’ve written them.
This leads to more targeted results than the AND operator.

raw:

raw:
The raw: operator is used in front of a keyword versus between
keywords (as is any operator with a :).
Any search terms written after a raw: operator will be searched for
exactly as written, so if symbols ($, %, !) or letter case (a versus A)
are important to your search, use it!
You can use parentheses with an OR operator between keywords to
link together keywords you’re searching for:
raw:(LOVE OR HATE OR FastPass OR iPhone)

hashtags:

hashtags:
This is one of the newest operators at Brandwatch!
The hashtags: operator will search for any keywords you put after it
that are preceded by a # symbol.
You do not need to write the # symbol when using the hashtags:
operator.
You can use parentheses with an OR operator between keywords to
link together hashtags you’re searching for:
hashtags:(puppies OR corgis OR ilovepuppies)

Wildcards

Wildcards: * and ?
Adding a * to the end of a keyword will add any appropriate suffixes
to the keyword when searching:
pupp* would search for puppy, puppies, puppying?
The ? wildcard is used within a word to account for spelling
variations and common misspellings:
prioriti?e would search for prioritize and prioritise

Location

Location
Narrow down your results to continent, country, city, state, or county
Use the Locations drop-down to search for the abbreviation and
copy/paste into your query

Recap

Key Takeaways
•Queries are elaborate Web searches
•AND, OR, and NOT are your go-to operators
•Use quotation marks around search terms that
are more than one word, and parenthesis to
group together search terms
•Clicking “List of Operators” will open a handy
quick-reference guide

Query Writing
Game!

Write a query that searches for both
strawberries and Florida oranges.
Write a query that looks for
strawberries and oranges, but not
bananas.
Write a query that searches for
people who HATE bananas.
Write a query that searches for
people who are talking about picking
strawberries (or strawberry picking) in
Florida. (use location filter or keyword
search)
Write a query that looks for
#strawberry, #floridaorange, or
#banana, but not #gross or #ew

Write a query that searches for both
strawberries and Florida oranges.
strawberries AND “florida oranges”

Write a query that looks for strawberries and
oranges, but not bananas.
(strawberries AND oranges) NOT bananas

Write a query that searches for people who
HATE bananas.
bananas AND raw:HATE

Write a query that searches for people who
are talking about picking strawberries (or
strawberry picking) in Florida.
(“picking strawberries” OR “strawberry picking”) AND florida
(“picking strawberries” OR “strawberry picking”) AND state:flof
((strawberry OR strawberries) NEAR/0 picking) AND florida
((strawberry OR strawberries) NEAR/0 picking) AND state:flof
((strawberr*) NEAR/0 picking) AND (state:flof OR florida)

Write a query that looks for #strawberry,
#floridaorange, and #banana, but not #gross
or #ew.
(hashtags:(strawberry OR floridaorange OR banana)) NOT
hashtags:ew

Brandwatch Masterclass: Basic Query Writing

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