# LinkedIn Boolean Search: Operators, Examples, and How to Run Searches at Scale (2026)

LinkedIn boolean search explained – the operators (AND, OR, NOT, quotes, parentheses), copy-paste examples, and how to run your search at scale via API.

LinkedIn boolean search combines keywords with a handful of operators – quotation marks for exact phrases, and **AND, OR, and NOT (typed in uppercase)** plus parentheses for grouping – to build precise searches for people and companies. It works in the standard search bar, in LinkedIn Recruiter, and in Sales Navigator, though each puts boolean in slightly different fields. This guide covers the operators with copy-paste examples, the differences between the three surfaces, the mistakes and limits that trip people up, and the part most boolean guides skip: how to run the same search programmatically at scale.

> **The short version.** Five operators do the work: `"exact phrase"`, and **AND / OR / NOT in uppercase** plus **parentheses** to group. They go inside the field you're searching – the standard search box, or the Keywords/Title/Company fields in Recruiter and Sales Navigator – not as `title:`-style commands (those don't work). To run a search at scale, you build it in LinkedIn's interface, copy the results URL, and hand that URL to a search API. It runs the search you built – it is not a raw boolean engine, and it returns profile data, not emails.

## The LinkedIn boolean operators

There are five, and they are the same across LinkedIn's search surfaces. (Reference: LinkedIn's own [Use Boolean search on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a524335).)

| Operator | What it does | Example | Rule |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Quotation marks | Matches an exact phrase | `"product manager"` | LinkedIn ignores common words (and, or, the, by, in, with); quote a phrase to force them in |
| AND | Requires all terms (narrows) | `finance AND CPA` | Type it in UPPERCASE |
| OR | Matches any term (broadens) | `sales OR marketing` | Type it in UPPERCASE |
| NOT | Excludes a term (narrows) | `developer NOT manager` | UPPERCASE, immediately before the term |
| Parentheses | Groups logic, evaluated first | `VP NOT (assistant OR SVP)` | The only grouping symbol LinkedIn recognizes |

Two rules save most of the headaches. First, **AND, OR, and NOT must be uppercase** – written in lowercase, LinkedIn reads them as ordinary keywords. Second, when you mix operators, LinkedIn evaluates them in a fixed order: **quotes, then parentheses, then NOT, then AND, then OR**. When in doubt, add parentheses to make your intent explicit.

LinkedIn does **not** support wildcards (`*`), curly, square, or angle brackets, or the `+`/`-` operators – use AND and NOT instead.

## Where boolean search works: standard search, Recruiter, and Sales Navigator

Boolean behaves the same, but *where* you type it differs by product.

| Surface | Where boolean goes | Structured filters |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Standard search | The single search box at the top | Minimal; most advanced filters are gated behind Premium |
| Recruiter / Recruiter Lite | The Keywords field, plus filter fields like Job titles, Location, Companies, Schools, Skills, Industries, and Spoken languages | 20+ filters |
| Sales Navigator | The Keywords, Title, and Company fields | 30+ Lead and Account filters |

One correction, because a lot of older guides get it wrong: **colon field-commands like `title:`, `company:`, or `school:` are not documented by LinkedIn and do not work** in standard search. Boolean today goes *inside* the named field you want to search – the Keywords box, or the dedicated Title, Company, and School fields in [Recruiter](https://www.linkedin.com/help/recruiter/answer/a415295) and Sales Navigator – not as a `field:value` prefix. LinkedIn's [Sales Navigator help](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a168061) confirms boolean in its Company, Title, and Keyword fields (that page is a few years old, so treat the finer field details as a guide rather than gospel).

The practical takeaway: in the standard search bar you lean on boolean; in Recruiter and Sales Navigator you keep the boolean simple and let the structured filters do the heavy lifting.

## Boolean search examples you can copy

Here are six strings that follow the rules above. Adapt the roles to your target; keep the syntax.

- **Backend engineers, excluding recruiters** (tech recruiting):
  `"software engineer" AND (Java OR Kotlin OR Scala) AND (backend OR "back end") NOT recruiter`
- **Sales VPs at software companies, minus junior roles** (SaaS prospecting):
  `("VP of Sales" OR "Vice President of Sales" OR "VP Sales") AND (SaaS OR software) NOT (assistant OR intern)`
- **Individual-contributor developers only** (IC sourcing):
  `developer NOT (manager OR director OR contractor)`
- **Advanced-degree data/ML people who use Python or R** (DS/ML recruiting):
  `("data scientist" OR "machine learning engineer" OR "ML engineer") AND (Python OR R) AND (PhD OR "Master's")`
- **Marketing leaders in fintech, excluding freelancers** (exec prospecting):
  `(CMO OR "Chief Marketing Officer" OR "VP Marketing") AND (fintech OR "financial services") NOT freelance`
- **ICU nurses, excluding students and retirees** (healthcare recruiting):
  `("registered nurse" OR RN) AND (ICU OR "intensive care") NOT (student OR retired)`

Notice the pattern: quotes lock multi-word titles together, parentheses hold a group of synonyms joined by OR, and NOT trims out the roles you never want to see.

## Common boolean mistakes (and LinkedIn's limits)

- **Lowercase operators.** `java and python` searches for the word "and." Capitalize AND, OR, NOT.
- **Forgetting quotes on phrases.** `product manager` can match "product" and "manager" separately, and LinkedIn drops the stop words in between; `"product manager"` keeps it exact.
- **Expecting field-commands to work.** `title:CMO` does nothing useful in standard search. Put the term in the Keywords box, or use the Title field in Recruiter or Sales Navigator.
- **Hitting the Commercial Use Limit.** On a free account, LinkedIn caps how much you can search each month once your activity looks like hiring or prospecting. Per LinkedIn's [help page](https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a564226), it does not display the exact number of searches you have left, and the limit resets at the start of each calendar month. Recruiter and Sales Navigator raise or remove that ceiling.
- **Expecting boolean in every filter.** Boolean only works in the fields that accept free text (Keywords, Title, Company). The dropdown and checkbox filters use their own logic.

## From boolean to scale: run your search via API

A boolean search is a one-off in the browser. When you want to run it repeatedly, feed the results into a workflow, or search on behalf of a product, you move it to an API – and the clean way to do that is to **build the search in LinkedIn, then hand over its URL**. LinkedIn encodes your whole query (keywords, boolean, and filters) into the search results URL; [Linked API](/guides/linkedin-scraper-api) takes that URL as `customSearchUrl` and runs the same search on your own authenticated account.

```typescript
import LinkedApi from '@linkedapi/node';

const linkedapi = new LinkedApi({
  linkedApiToken: process.env.LINKED_API_TOKEN,
  identificationToken: process.env.IDENTIFICATION_TOKEN,
});

// Build the boolean search in LinkedIn, copy the results URL, and run it at scale.
// customSearchUrl runs exactly that search (it overrides term and filter).
const search = await linkedapi.searchPeople.execute({
  customSearchUrl:
    'https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?keywords=%22software%20engineer%22%20AND%20(Java%20OR%20Kotlin)',
  limit: 25,
});

const { data: people } = await linkedapi.searchPeople.result(search.workflowId);
for (const person of people ?? []) {
  console.log(person.name, person.headline, person.publicUrl);
}
```

```python
from linkedapi import LinkedApi, LinkedApiConfig, SearchPeopleParams

linkedapi = LinkedApi(
    LinkedApiConfig(
        linked_api_token="your-linked-api-token",
        identification_token="your-identification-token",
    )
)

search = linkedapi.search_people.execute(
    SearchPeopleParams(
        custom_search_url="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?keywords=%22software%20engineer%22%20AND%20(Java%20OR%20Kotlin)",
        limit=25,
    )
)

people = linkedapi.search_people.result(search.workflow_id).data
for person in people or []:
    print(person.name, person.headline, person.public_url)
```

If you would rather describe the search in code than build it in the UI, use structured filters instead. One rule to know: a request needs **either a `term` or a `customSearchUrl`** – a `filter`-only call is rejected – so pass a keyword `term` alongside your `filter`:

```typescript
const search = await linkedapi.searchPeople.execute({
  term: 'engineer',
  filter: {
    position: 'Software Engineer',
    locations: ['United States'],
    industries: ['Software Development'],
  },
  limit: 25,
});
```

```python
search = linkedapi.search_people.execute(
    SearchPeopleParams(
        term="engineer",
        filter={
            "position": "Software Engineer",
            "locations": ["United States"],
            "industries": ["Software Development"],
        },
        limit=25,
    )
)
```

The [people search](/docs/searching-for-people) and [company search](/docs/searching-for-companies) endpoints work the same way, and the [Sales Navigator variants](/guides/linkedin-sales-navigator-api) (`nvSearchPeople`, `nvSearchCompanies`) add filters like years of experience and company revenue. Two honest limits: `term` is plain keyword text, not a boolean parser – for real boolean, use `customSearchUrl`; and results come back at your account's safe pace with profile URL, name, headline, and location, **not emails**. From a returned profile you can go deeper with the [profile scraper](/guides/linkedin-profile-scraper) or turn matches into [outreach](/guides/linkedin-cold-outreach-strategies-2026), always [within your account's limits](/safety).

![Diagram: build a boolean or filtered search in LinkedIn's standard search, Recruiter, or Sales Navigator, then copy the search results URL, pass it to the API as customSearchUrl, and receive structured JSON results (name, profile URL, headline, location) at your account's pace. A note reads: the API runs the search you built, not a raw boolean-string engine, and returns profiles, not emails.](/images/guides/linkedin-boolean-search-to-api.webp)

## Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

#### What is boolean search on LinkedIn?

It is a way to combine keywords with operators – quotation marks for exact phrases, and AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses – to build a precise search for people or companies instead of a single loose keyword.

#### What boolean operators does LinkedIn support?

Quotation marks for exact phrases, and AND, OR, and NOT (typed in uppercase) plus parentheses for grouping. LinkedIn does not support wildcards (`*`), brackets of any kind, or the `+`/`-` operators.

#### Do field commands like `title:` still work on LinkedIn?

No. LinkedIn does not document colon field-commands, and they do not work in standard search. Type your boolean inside the named field instead – the Keywords box in standard search, or the dedicated Title, Company, and School fields in Recruiter and Sales Navigator.

#### Does boolean search work in Sales Navigator and Recruiter?

Yes. Recruiter accepts boolean in its Keywords field and several filter fields; Sales Navigator accepts boolean in its Keywords, Title, and Company fields, layered on top of its structured filters. In both, keep the boolean simple and let the filters narrow the rest.

#### Why did my LinkedIn search stop showing results?

Free accounts hit a monthly Commercial Use Limit once your searching looks like hiring or prospecting. LinkedIn does not state the exact number and it resets at the start of each calendar month. Recruiter and Sales Navigator raise or remove that limit.

#### Can I run a LinkedIn boolean search programmatically?

Yes. Build the search in LinkedIn's interface and pass its results URL to a search API – Linked API's `searchPeople` and `searchCompanies` accept it as `customSearchUrl` – or describe the search with structured filters plus a keyword term. It runs the search you built on your own account and returns profile data, not emails, and it is not a raw boolean-string engine.

#### Is boolean search free on LinkedIn?

In the standard search bar, yes, subject to the monthly commercial use limit. Recruiter and Sales Navigator add more boolean-capable fields and structured filters on their paid plans.

---

Built the perfect boolean search and want to run it every day, at scale, from your own account? [Start with Linked API](/pricing) – paste your LinkedIn search URL, get clean JSON for every match, and wire it into your stack through the [API and SDKs](/sdks/installation), [CLI](/cli/getting-started), [MCP](/mcp/overview), and [skills](/skills).