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How to Leverage LinkedIn Search Operators for B2B Prospecting
September 27, 2021

LinkedIn search operators are a fundamental âtoolâ for any sales rep prospecting on LinkedIn.
The reason is simple. They allow you to perform effective searches in a short period of time. They empower you to get granular while at the same time considering multiple scenarios for the different profiles you want to gather in one search.
Hereâs an example of what would take you at least 8 different searches to achieve the same result with only one:

This article will walk through it all; weâll start with the basics and work up to sophisticated use cases that will take your LinkedIn prospecting to the next level. Weâll also explore the general rules of how they work and provide lots of inspiration for you to try âat homeâ.
Hope youâre excited because weâre getting started đ¤
What are the available LinkedIn Search Operators?
For those who arenât familiar with LinkedInâs search operators, hereâs the formal presentation of each one. They function as boolean logic operators, there are 5 in total, and are always written in capital letters:
- âWrite anything you wantâ (Quotation marks): For an exact match, enclose the phrase in quotation marks. For example, type "product manager" to find someone with a multi-word title.
- NOT: Type the word NOT immediately before a search term to exclude it from your search results. This typically limits your search results. For example, the results for "programmer NOT manager" will include all profiles with programmer in the title and exclude those with the word manager, even if programmer is included.
- AND: Type the word AND between keywords to see results that include all items in a list. This typically limits your search results. For example, the results for "senior AND manager" only include profiles that have both accountant and manager in their profile.
Note: On a simple search, you don't need to use AND. If your search has two or more terms, you'll automatically see results that include all of them. Weâll show you how to use it later.
- OR: Type the word OR to see results that include one or more items in a list. This typically broadens your search results. For example, the results for "sales OR marketingâ include all profiles with one of the two keywords.
- () (Parenthesis): To do a complex search, you can combine terms using parentheses. For example, to find people who have "VP" in their profiles, but exclude "assistant to VP" or SVPs, type âVP NOT (assistant OR SVP)â. Youâll see below how this is extremely helpful!
How can you use LinkedIn Search Operators?
A few rules to use the operators:
- Always write them in uppercase
- Separate them from the keywords with one space
- You can use multiple operators at the same time (see below for examples)
- Use them on keyword filters such as title, company name, and school on LinkedIn
Examples to leverage for B2B prospecting:
The search operators are meant to make your job easier and more effective when doing B2B prospecting on LinkedIn.
For context, imagine youâre running a campaign for an audience thatâs attending an online event on LinkedIn. To do this, you open the LinkedIn event, click to attend, and then you have access to the entire list of attendees.
Of course, not all the event attendees will be a good fit for your outbound sales approach. This is where the search operators come in handy.
With only one search, you can narrow the audience to the titles youâre looking for and even exclude some companies you already know are a bad fit.
So, how do you use the operators? Letâs take a look at some examples you can use in the title keyword search.
Wait... Where? Here đ

Basic Examples
- Use case 1: âVice President of Salesâ NOT (âRegionalâ)
Use the operator NOT to exclude profiles that contain certain keywords that make them unqualified for your approach. In this example, weâre excluding all Regional VPs of Sales from our search.
- Use case 2: âVice President of Salesâ OR âHead of Salesâ OR âDirector of Salesâ
Use the operator OR to broaden your titles. This search would be the equivalent of running 3 different searches, one for each different title.
- Use case 3: âFounderâ AND âChiefâ
Use the AND operator to make sure two keywords are included. Alternatively, you can use quotation marks if youâre looking for an exact title search such as: âFounder and Chief Operating Officerâ.
Advanced Examples đ§
- Use case 1: (âVice President of Salesâ OR âHead of Salesâ OR âDirector of Salesâ) NOT (âRegionalâ)

Use combinations of different operators to be extra granular in your approach. Here we use the parenthesis to select any VP, Head, or Director of Sales, then add at the end of the search the NOT operator, to exclude all profiles with âregionalâ in the title.
- Use case 2: (âSalesâ OR âMarketingâ) AND (âVice Presidentâ OR âHeadâ OR âDirectorâ)

Use the AND operator with parentheses to create combinations with Job function + Seniority. On the left, list all the job functions you want to target. On the right, list all the seniorities you want to target.
Youâll get results for any VP, Head, or Director of the Sales or Marketing departments in any organization.
- Use case 3: ( (âSalesâ OR âMarketingâ) AND (âHeadâ OR âDirectorâ) ) NOT (âRegionalâ)

You can even combine the previous example with the NOT operator, excluding all the profiles with âregionalâ in the title.
- Use case 4:
- Title keyword search: (âSalesâ OR âMarketingâ) AND (âVice Presidentâ OR âHeadâ OR âDirectorâ)
- Company keyword search: NOT (âcompetitor 1â OR âcompetitor 2â)

In addition to title searches, you can add an extra layer of filters in the company keyword search. After narrowing down to the titles you want, add the operator NOT to the company keyword search filter to exclude some of your competitors that could appear in your search.
This way you minimize the risk of collecting bad fits to your outbound sales approach.
Note: LinkedIn allows a max of 6 operators per search query.
Wrapping Up
In this article, weâve shared useful tips and use cases you can apply today when prospecting new leads on LinkedIn.
Search operators are a great skill any salesperson should be able to leverage. If you want to keep learning, we wrote a piece about search operators on Google:
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