If you’ve ever typed a few words into LinkedIn and felt disappointed by the results, you’re not alone. Many users don’t realize that LinkedIn search supports Boolean logic. Once you understand how it works, you gain far more control over what appears on your screen. This article explains how to use or in LinkedIn search and how to combine it with other operators to get sharper, more relevant results. Below, everything comes directly from LinkedIn’s own search rules, explained in plain language.
How LinkedIn Boolean search really works
You can run a Boolean search on LinkedIn.com by typing your Boolean string directly into the main search bar at the top of the page. There’s no separate advanced search field needed. Boolean search lets you combine keywords with specific operators. These operators tell LinkedIn whether you want to broaden, narrow, or exclude results. To work properly, all Boolean operators must be typed in uppercase letters. LinkedIn supports:
- AND
- OR
- NOT
- Quotation marks ” “
- Parentheses ( )
Other symbols like brackets, braces, angle brackets, or wildcards are not supported.
How to use OR in LinkedIn search
The OR operator is one of the most useful tools in LinkedIn search. It allows you to see results that include one or more terms from a list. This makes OR ideal when people might use different words for the same role or skill. How to use or in LinkedIn search? For example:
sales OR marketing OR advertising
This search shows profiles that contain at least one of those words. Using OR typically broadens your search results. If you’re learning how to use or in LinkedIn search, remember two rules:
- OR must be typed in all caps.
- OR has the lowest priority in LinkedIn’s order of precedence, meaning other operators are processed first.
Using AND to narrow your results
AND works in the opposite way of OR. It limits results by requiring that all listed terms appear. For example:
accountant AND finance AND CPA
This search returns only profiles that contain every term. AND is helpful when you want very specific matches. Like OR, AND must be typed in uppercase letters for LinkedIn to recognize it correctly.
Excluding results with NOT
NOT lets you remove unwanted terms from your search results. It’s placed immediately before the word you want to exclude. For example:
programmer NOT manager
This returns profiles that mention programmer but do not include manager. NOT usually reduces the number of results and helps clean up irrelevant matches.
Quoted searches for exact phrases
Quotation marks force LinkedIn to look for an exact phrase rather than individual words. For example:
"product manager"
This is useful for job titles or multi-word phrases. Without quotes, LinkedIn may split the words and return broader results. One important detail: LinkedIn ignores common stop words like “by”, “in”, and “with” to improve performance. Even inside quotes, those words may not affect the results.
Combining terms with parentheses
Parentheses allow you to group terms and build more complex searches. LinkedIn only recognizes parentheses for grouping. Other symbols are treated as regular characters. For example:
VP NOT (assistant OR SVP)
This search excludes both assistant and SVP while keeping VP. Parentheses make sure LinkedIn processes the grouped terms together before applying other logic.
Understanding LinkedIn’s order of precedence
Knowing the order LinkedIn follows when processing searches helps avoid confusion, especially when combining multiple operators. The order of precedence is:
- Quotation marks ” “
- Parentheses ( )
- NOT
- AND
- OR
This means exact phrases are handled first, grouped expressions next, then exclusions, followed by narrowing, and finally broadening with OR.
What LinkedIn does not support
LinkedIn Boolean search has clear limits. It does not support:
- Braces { }
- Brackets [ ]
- Angle brackets < >
- Wildcards like *
While + and – may seem to work sometimes, they are not officially supported. LinkedIn recommends using AND instead of + and NOT instead of – to keep searches readable and reliable.
Final thoughts on smarter LinkedIn searches
Learning how to use or in LinkedIn search is a simple step that can dramatically improve your results. When combined with AND, NOT, quotes, and parentheses, OR helps you control both the size and relevance of your search. The key is precision. Use uppercase operators, group terms carefully, and rely only on the symbols LinkedIn actually supports. Once you do, LinkedIn search stops feeling random and starts working the way you expect.
