I’ve been doing some basic (read “free”) monitoring for one of our clients, Southern Sun. It turns out that there is also a track by famous DJ/Producer, Paul Oakenfold called Southern Sun and of course my watches (Technorati, Icerocket etc) are also pulling these.

So I turned to one of my favourite advanced search operators, the minus or (-) to solve the problem. Using Technorati I changed my watch from (“southern sun” ) to (“southern sun” -oakenfold) and wam bam, no more classic house tracks in my feed.

By continuously adding these filters to your watches you can refine what they pick up and in the process save yourself a lot of time in the sifting. This is particularly useful when tracking brands or people that are either generic or household names.

Here’s an example of tracking famous brands/names (…it’s a bit like ordering steak)

I’ll have one "Tom Cruise" with Suri but without "Nicole Kidman", with "Katie Holmes" but without "scientology". And the answer would be…

"tom cruise"  +suri  -"nicole kidman"  +"katie holmes"  -scientology
(try this one out for yourself…)

Here are some helpful techniques on how to easily add, subtract and multiply your way into more effective searches.

Symbols and Semantics

Boolean search commands have been used by professionals for years. Search Engine Operators provide the same basic functionality as Boolean techniques, and some people find this method easier. If you are already using Boolean techniques and this is comfortable for you, then let it be. Both methods are illustrated below.

Boolean logic consists of three logical operators:
OR
AND
NOT

Some search engines or blog/memetrackers do not recognise Boolean techniques, preferring search engine operators like:
+ plus sign
-  minus sign
() parenthesis
" "quotation marks

So my top 5 search operators are...

1. Quotation marks " "

Phrase searching through use of  " " quotation marks is an important technique. Here’s a good example: If I search for comments on our company Quirk eMarketing without using quotation marks. The magazine Quirk’s Marketing Review almost always comes up somewhere.

Quotation marks around "Quirk eMarketing" enable a search on the exact phrase and just the phrase. This brings us to the crux of the matter, the more specific your search, the more likely you will find what you want. Ah, but this is where it gets interesting… It seems I need to narrow my search even further.

2. NOT & the minus sign (-)

IncuBeta Holdings, has just bought a strategic stake in Quirk eMarketing collectively making them the largest online marketing group in South Africa. So now every time I search for "Quirk eMarketing" I also pick up mentions on incuBeta and their founder Vinny Lingham. But I just want to see mentions on Quirk eMarketing, so I need to refine my search. I do NOT want searches that include ‘Vinny’ or ‘incuBeta’. To do this effectively, simply begin subtracting (-) terms you know are not of interest, and you should get better results. Since not all search engines support the Boolean technique NOT, we often use the minus sign instead.

"Quirk eMarketing"  -incuBeta   -"vinny lingham"

Another pertinent example: I’m searching for comments on Tony Blair’s final speech as leader of British Labour. I’m aware that in the last weeks/months most articles/comments containing “Tony Blair” have also contained reference to his potential successor ‘gordon brown’ and the ‘politics’ within the labour party. I’ve read this. I do not want to receive it so how do I search? I use NOT (that’s NOT what I want) or (-).

"tony blair" NOT "gordon brown"

"tony blair" - "gordon brown"
   

3. AND & the plus sign (+)

If I was wanting Gordon Brown’s comments on Tony Blair. I would reverse the process.

"tony blair" AND "gordon brown"

The Boolean AND command is used in order that both search terms be present on all the web pages listed in results. It does not retrieve any records of the singular words (i.e. webpages containing just ‘Tony Blair’). It’s a Match All search. In the same way, the (+) sign can replace the AND command to retrieve the same results.

4. OR

"tony blair" OR "gordon brown"

OR logic is most commonly used to search for synonymous terms or concepts. This is described as a Match Any search. OR logic collates the results to retrieve all the unique records containing one term, the other or both.

5. () Nesting

Nesting ( ) allows you to build complex queries. You nest queries using parenthesis, like this:

Quirk + ("search status" OR searchstatus)

I’m using the SEO tool SearchStatus as an example because its correct spelling is SearchStatus but comments on blogs often refer to two separate words “Search Status”. Also SearchStatus is such a cult product that the term is often bandied about on blogs without mentioning the company that it originates from. I’m looking for specific comments where I can see how often Quirk is actually mentioned together with the product. 

Clicks2Customers: Search Status Toolbar
"I finally landed on Quirk's company website and had the search status toolbar installed almost instantly. Finally today at a company function, ..."

Use of parenthesis in this search is known as forcing the order of processing. The OR words are surrounded with parentheses so that the two related terms will be processed first. This result will then be combined with the last part of the search that involves the second concept. Using this method, the semantically-related OR terms are kept together as a logical unit.

Remember these 5 TECHNIQUES: “” (-) (+) OR ( ) and tattoo them if you have to. They are your tools for successful reputation monitoring. Below is a table illustrating which search engines accept which techniques:



Well those are my Top 5, what are your favourite operators?