Improve your search

I was recently contacted by a subscriber who had a long complicated search string and she wanted some tips on improving it. The string looked something like this:

(Acme AND (camping OR adventure OR yacht)) OR Acme Outboards OR (ABC AND camping) and Acme World Yacht Race

To improve her search, we gave her the following advice:

Keep it simple: one idea per tracking folder: If you have enough tracking folders, set up a folder for each idea you searching for – try to avoid combining keywords or issues in the same string, unless you feel very confident about creating boolean strings. In this case, she could have set up four tracking folders, one for each of the ideas she was tracking:

Acme AND (camping OR adventure OR yacht)
Acme Outboards
ABC AND camping
Acme World Yacht Race

Stick with the search string builder: if you’re unsure about how to build boolean strings, it’s best to stick with the search string builder. The search string builder was specifically designed to help people who had never built search strings. The search string builder will also ask you qualifying questions to ensure Slice knows exactly what you want to track.

Use brackets: If you do feel confident about using the free text box, build each of your ideas separately first, bracket each idea, then combine them. The original string would then look like this:

(Acme AND (camping OR adventure OR outdoor)) OR (Acme Outdoors) OR
(ABC AND camping) OR (Acme World Yacht Race)

Download the help document: after you have logged in to the site, a comprehensive help document about setting up your search strings is available for you to read on screen, or download as a pdf. This is handy to have by your side when setting up your strings.