X (Twitter) Advanced Search: Everything You Need to Know
Did you know X (formerly Twitter) can serve as a search engine? Yes, you read that right. X can be a powerful source of information — when used right.
Thanks to X Advanced Search, you don’t have to manually review posts to find out what your target audience is talking about or what they’re saying about you. The innovative feature lets you filter conversations, surfacing what matters the most to you. Of course, how you use this feature will determine how beneficial it is.
If you’re new to X/Twitter Advanced Search, you may find it a little complicated. But not to worry. In this guide, we dive into this search tool, exploring what it is, its components, and how to leverage it to improve your position both on and off the platform.
What Is X Advanced Search?
X Advanced Search is a search tool that lets you narrow down search results by specific words, phrases, accounts, hashtags, and even date ranges.
It’s not to be confused with the standard X search bar. While the standard search tool surfaces general results, X Advanced Search provides results specific to your search criteria. If you filter your search by account name, for example, the advanced search tool cuts through the constant flow of tweets and shows only results linked to the specified account. It’s essentially a feature that lets you cut through the noise on X.
How to Find X Advanced Search
To access the Advanced Search feature:
- Log in to your X account.
- Tap the “Search” magnifying glass icon.
- Enter your search into the search bar. This will provide basic search results and options to further filter your search.
- Select Advanced Search — you’ll find it in the Search filters drop-down menu. Alternatively, tap More options (the three dots on the right side of the page) and then Advanced Search.
- Choose your desired search parameters (more on this below)
- Tap Search to get optimized results.
Using X Advanced Search
The X search engine provides various parameters for running targeted searches (as you’ll see when you click on Advanced Search). Here’s a quick breakdown of what they entail:
Words
This section lets you refine your search by specific keywords, phrases, and hashtags. It contains various fields, including:
- All of these words: If you enter a phrase like “latest news,” your results will include all posts with these words, regardless of their position.
- This exact phrase: This parameter lets you narrow your search. If you search “latest news,” you’ll get results with that specific wording.
- Any of these words: It surfaces posts with either “latest” or “news.”
- None of these words: This parameter allows you to exclude posts with specific words. For example, if you want “latest news” posts that don’t involve politics, enter “politics” in this box.
- These hashtags: This box lets you target specific hashtags. For example, you could search for posts with #breakingnews.
- Language: This parameter helps you focus on posts in a specific language. It’s valuable if your search terms could be used by people who speak different languages.
Accounts
This section contains three parameters:
- From these accounts: Surfaces posts sent by your target account.
- To these accounts: Highlights posts sent as replies to your target account.
- Mentioning these accounts: Shows you all posts that mention your target account. This is valuable when you want to see what people are saying about a specific X user.
Filters
X Advanced Search gives you even more control over your search results by letting you choose whether to see posts’ replies. If you do, leave the Replies button toggled on. Then, select whether you want to see both replies and original posts or replies alone.
Still in this section, you can choose whether to see all tweets or only those with links. As with Replies, leave the Links button toggled on, and select either “Include posts with links” or “only show posts with links”.
Engagement
Let’s be honest: going through all tweets, especially if your target keyword or account yields a high volume of search results, is an incredibly taxing task. Fortunately, you don’t have to review them all.
The Engagement section includes fields that let you set minimum engagement thresholds, such as:
- Minimum replies
- Minimum likes
- Minimum reposts
Dates
Your search is bound to provide results from different periods. While this is great when assessing an account’s performance, topics, or industry trends over time, it can make your work harder if you have a specific timeframe in mind.
Luckily, X Advanced Search lets you filter results by date — you can see posts within a specific date frame by choosing your desired month, day, and year.
Combining these Advanced Search fields allows you to tailor search results to your specific needs. This can cut down tasks that could take days to complete to just a few hours.
Ways to Leverage X Advanced Search
If you play your cards right, the Advanced Search feature can help you get the most out of X. Here are some ways to use it to help push your brand forward:
Track Industry Trends
The key to maintaining high engagement on any social media platform is to stay up to date with the latest trends. X Advanced Search can help you do just that. It enables you to monitor conversations in your industry, so you can engage with topics that matter most to your target audience.
To track trends, search for hashtags related to your industry or interests and use the date filter to get the most recent results.
Improve Customer Service
We know what you’re thinking: how can a search engine help you improve customer service? It’s actually quite handy — you just need to know what to search.
Filter your search results to show posts that reply to or mention your X account, and add terms that your audience would typically use to give their feedback. For example, you could search for words like “support,” “help,” or “experience” along with your account name to see what people are saying about your customer service.
Their posts can help you identify what you’re doing right and what you need to improve. With 70% of customers saying they’re willing to switch brands after only two negative experiences, this isn’t a feature you want to pass on.
Conduct Competitor Analyses
Thanks to features like X Advanced Search, you don’t need to buy competitors’ products or send in mystery shoppers to help you gather competitor intelligence; you can monitor what their actual customers are saying about them online.
Use the Accounts section to filter search results so you can see what your competitors are posting and what people are talking about. This can help you identify opportunities that might give you a competitive advantage. For example, if your search yields many requests for a specific feature that your product offers but your competitor lacks, you could highlight it in your marketing campaign to let people know you have it.
Find Potential Brand Ambassadors
The X Advanced Search feature can help you find suitable brand ambassadors and influencers by highlighting people who already talk about your brand or industry. To find potential brand partners:
- Filter search results by keywords that apply to your industry.
- Refine the results even further by finding posts that mention your account.
- Look for tweets with high engagement numbers. For example, you can set thresholds of at least 1,000 likes, 200 replies, and 100 reposts.
Identify Top Posts
Wondering what type of content drives the highest engagement from your audience? You don’t have to manually scroll through hundreds of tweets to find out.
You can filter search results by setting minimum engagement thresholds for likes, replies, and reposts. If you want to see which of your content has received the most engagement, filter results even further by searching for posts from your X account.
Insights from your search reduce the need for trial-and-error when determining which content to focus on in future posts.
Track Campaign Performance
With marketing budgets declining since 2022, many marketers can’t afford to spend money on strategies that don’t work. The X Advanced Search feature can reduce your risk of doing so by showing you what resonates with your target audience and what doesn’t.
To track campaigns, use relevant keywords (or hashtags) in your search and refine results by setting engagement thresholds. This way, you’ll see what to focus on to improve your overall campaign performance.
Say you find that explainer videos receive the most engagement. You can confidently invest more in this type of video.
Monitor Brand Mentions
Filter search results to show posts that mention your brand in the Accounts section. This is a great way to understand the overall sentiment around your brand.
Search results will likely include positive comments, showing you what you’re doing right, as well as people’s concerns or opinions, highlighting what you need to do to better meet your target audience’s needs.
Make the Most Out of X Advanced Search Today
X is more than just a space for engaging with your target audience; it can also be one of your most valuable sources of information. Use the platform’s Advanced Search feature to find out what people are saying about your brand, what they’re currently interested in, how your competitors are performing, and who can make excellent brand ambassadors.
Luckily, this feature is free. But you have to be logged into your X account to access it.
If you manage multiple accounts and are looking for a convenient way to access and leverage the search feature, GeeLark can help. You can create a cloud phone profile for each account, eliminating the need to constantly log in and out.
What’s more, with GeeLark, you can automate posting on X once you find out which type of content drives the most engagement. All you need to do is log into GeeLark, go to Automation, search for the “Publish content on X(Twitter)” template, add your content, and schedule your post.
