Advanced Keyword Matching

Overview

TickerTrends lets you build powerful searches to find exactly the posts and comments you're looking for. Instead of typing a single word, you can use special symbols and keywords to combine terms, catch typos, exclude noise, and more — all in one search.

This guide explains every tool available to you, with plain-English examples.

Quick Reference

Symbol/Word	Example	What it does
(space)	running shoes	Finds those two words right next to each other, in that order
AND	running AND shoes	Finds posts that contain both words, anywhere
OR	running OR shoes	Finds posts that contain either word
NOT	NOT duolingo	Leaves out any post that mentions that word
-	-duolingo	Same as NOT — a quicker way to write it
~	~duolingo	Also finds common misspellings of that word
"..."	"running shoes"	Treats everything inside the quotes as one phrase
(...)	(running OR jogging)	Groups part of your search together
*	run*	Matches any word that starts with those letters
title: or body:	title:duolingo	Only searches in the title (or body) of a post

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How Each Tool Works

Typing Two Words Side by Side

When you type two words with just a space between them, TickerTrends looks for those words sitting right next to each other, in that exact order.

• running shoes ✅ finds "I bought running shoes today"

• running shoes ❌ does not find "shoes for running" — wrong order

• running shoes ❌ does not find "running old shoes" — not right next to each other

AND — Both Words, Anywhere

Use AND when you want both words to appear in a post, but you don't care where they show up.

• running AND shoes ✅ finds "I wear shoes when running"

• running AND shoes ❌ does not find "I love running" — the word "shoes" is missing

OR — Either Word Works

Use OR when you're happy finding posts that mention one thing or another.

• duolingo OR babbel ✅ finds posts mentioning Duolingo, Babbel, or both

NOT and - — Leave Something Out

Use NOT (or the minus sign - right before a word) to filter out posts that mention something you don't want.

• duolingo -subscription ✅ finds "Duolingo is great"

• duolingo -subscription ❌ filters out "Duolingo subscription cancelled"

• NOT duolingo and -duolingo do the exact same thing — pick whichever feels easier

Parentheses — Grouping Things Together

Parentheses work just like they do in math: whatever's inside gets handled first. Use them to combine ideas without confusion.

• (duolingo OR babbel) AND subscription ✅ finds posts about either app that also mention subscriptions

• Without the parentheses, your search might not behave the way you expect

Quotes — Searching for an Exact Phrase

Wrapping words in quotes tells TickerTrends to treat them as a single phrase. This is most useful when combining with other tools like ~ (see below).

• "running shoes" behaves the same as typing running shoes — but you can then put a ~ in front of it to fuzzy-match the whole phrase

~ — Catching Typos and Misspellings

Putting a ~ in front of a word tells TickerTrends: "also find posts where someone misspelled this word." It automatically catches one-letter mistakes — a missing letter, a swapped letter, an extra space, or a number substituted for a letter.

• ~duolingo ✅ finds: duolingo, dulingo, doulingo, "duo lingo", du0lingo

Fuzzy on a whole phrase: Put ~ in front of a quoted phrase and it applies to every word in it.

• ~"running shoes" ✅ finds: "running shoes", "runing shoes", "running shoez"

• ~"running shoes" ❌ still won't find "shoes running" — order still matters

Fuzzy on just one word: ~ only affects the word right after it. The next word stays exact.

• ~running shoes — "running" allows typos, "shoes" must be spelled perfectly

• This means ~running shoez would not be found

Fuzzy on multiple words in a row:

• ~running ~shoes — both words allow typos, and they still need to appear next to each other

Fuzzy combined with AND:

• ~duolingo AND subscription — finds posts where "duolingo" (or a misspelling) appears anywhere, and "subscription" also appears anywhere

One important limit: You can't put ~ in front of a group in parentheses.

• ~(duolingo OR babbel) ❌ This won't work

• Instead write: ~duolingo OR ~babbel ✅

* — Searching by Word Beginnings

The * symbol is a wildcard that matches any word starting with the letters you type.

• run* ✅ finds: running, runner, runs, rundown

• run* ❌ does not find "rerun" — it doesn't start with "run"

This is useful when a topic shows up in multiple word forms.

title: and body: — Searching in a Specific Place

By default, TickerTrends searches both the title and body of a post. You can narrow it down using title: or body: to only look in one place.

• title:"running shoes" — only finds posts where "running shoes" appears in the title

• title:duolingo -body:sponsored — finds posts about Duolingo in the title, but filters out any post whose body mentions "sponsored"

How Searches Are Evaluated (Order of Operations)

When you combine multiple tools in one search, TickerTrends processes them in this order:

1. ~ and - are applied to their word first

2. Words sitting side by side (adjacency) are grouped next

3. AND is applied after that

4. OR is applied last

Example: ~running shoes AND jackets OR boots is actually read as: first find fuzzy "running" next to "shoes", then require "jackets" to also be present, then include anything mentioning "boots" as a separate option.

If that's not what you want, use parentheses to be explicit: ~running AND (shoes OR jackets OR boots)

Real-World Search Examples

What you're trying to find	Search to use
Mentions of a brand, including typos, with no ads	~duolingo -ad -sponsored -affiliate
Posts about either of two apps that also discuss pricing	(duolingo OR babbel) AND (price OR cost OR subscription)
Complaints about a specific product, by title	title:"duolingo plus" AND (cancelled OR refund OR broken OR bug)
A brand name (with typos) mentioned alongside a topic	~duolingo streak
Language learning posts, excluding a specific brand	~"language learning" -duolingo
Any form of "learn" paired with a language name	learn* AND (spanish OR french OR german)