How do you ensure that an exact phrase gets searched for in a search stream, rather than the individual words in the phrase?
- Ampersands before the phrase
- Boolean operators after the phrase
- Asterisks around the phrase
- Quotation marks around the phrase
To ensure that an exact phrase gets searched for in a search stream, rather than the individual words in the phrase, you can typically use quotation marks (” “) around the phrase. This method tells the search engine to look for the exact sequence of words enclosed within the quotation marks.
For example, if you want to search for the phrase “social media marketing” as a whole and not the individual words, you would input it as:
Including the phrase within quotation marks instructs the search engine to retrieve results containing that specific sequence of words, rather than any instance of the individual words “social,” “media,” and “marketing” scattered throughout the text.
Most search engines and social media monitoring tools, including those within Hootsuite, recognize this convention for conducting exact phrase searches. Using quotation marks ensures more precise and targeted results for your search queries.