Writing monitoring searches

A monitoring search is a short text that tells aclipp which articles to find. You write it in the editor on the Monitoring tab of your project, and every matching article becomes a clipping. This page explains the syntax, shows examples, and gives tips for searches that find what you need without flooding you with noise.

The basics#

A search is made of terms joined by operators.

• A term is a word or phrase in quotes, like "tibber" or "tibber strom". Always write terms in quotes. Upper and lower case do not matter.
• OR finds articles that contain any of the terms: "tibber" OR "rabot energy".
• AND finds articles that contain all of them: "orange" AND "mobilfunk".
• NOT leaves out articles that contain a term: "mercedes" AND NOT "mercedes cup".
• Brackets group terms: ("a" OR "b") AND "c".

Operators must be written in capital letters. If you mix OR and AND, always use brackets, so it is clear what belongs together. Without them OR binds loosest, then AND, then NOT, which is rarely what you mean. This matters most for NOT: "a" OR "b" AND NOT "c" only excludes c from the last part. To exclude something from the whole list, write ("a" OR "b") AND NOT "c".

More precise matching#

Distance with NEAR#

"adidas" NEAR/10 "sponsoring" finds articles where both terms stand at most 10 words apart, in either order. The distance can be 1 to 50. NEAR connects exactly two single terms. To connect one term to several, repeat the pair: ("adidas" NEAR/10 "sponsoring") OR ("adidas" NEAR/10 "kollektion").

Wildcards#

A star at the end of a word matches any ending: "tibber*" finds tibber, tibbers and tibber-strom. A question mark stands for exactly one character: "tibb?r". The part before the star needs at least 3 characters, and a word cannot start with a star. Use wildcards for distinctive names and avoid them for short or common words.

Headlines with title:#

title:"adidas" only matches articles with the term in the headline. That is a strong sign that the article is about the brand, but it misses articles that mention the brand only in the text. You can also write title:("a" OR "b").

What not to write in a search#

Do not write lang:, sourcecountry: or site:. Languages, countries and excluded domains have their own fields in the editor, and aclipp applies them to every search.

Limits#

• Up to 10 searches per monitoring, each with a name of up to 60 characters.
• Up to 50 terms in one search. Every quoted phrase counts, whether it is in an OR, an AND, a NOT or a NEAR.
• Up to 100 different terms across all searches together. A term that appears in several searches counts once, and terms under NOT do not count.
• Brackets can be nested up to 6 levels deep.

The editor shows how many terms you have used and refuses to save when you are over a limit.

How to build a good search#

Start with the names. Use the names the press uses, and a second name only when it is really different, such as a former name or a local-language name. A longer form of a name you already list adds nothing: an article that contains "adidas ag" also contains "adidas", so "adidas" alone finds both.

Keep it simple. A search you understand at a glance is better than a long one. For a distinctive brand, a plain list of its names is a complete search:

"deutsche telekom" OR "t-mobile"

"deutsche telekom" OR "t-mobile"

Make ambiguous names precise. If the name is a common word, a surname or shared with something else, a bare name finds lots of unrelated articles. Add one context group that real coverage contains:

"orange" AND ("mobilfunk" OR "telekom" OR "netz")

"orange" AND ("mobilfunk" OR "telekom" OR "netz")

Leave out a named source of noise. Add NOT when you can name something that keeps showing up and does not belong. Use a phrase that names the other thing, not a single common word:

"dyson" AND ("staubsauger*" OR "haartrockner*") AND NOT "freeman dyson"

"dyson" AND ("staubsauger*" OR "haartrockner*") AND NOT "freeman dyson"

Put products in the same search. Add distinctive product names to the same search as the brand's names, instead of creating a separate search for them:

"sennheiser" OR "momentum 4" OR "ambeo"

"sennheiser" OR "momentum 4" OR "ambeo"

Build competitor searches the same way. If your brand search has a context group, use the same one for each competitor and change only the names. Then the results are comparable.

Common mistakes#

• Too broad: a generic word on its own, such as "software", finds far too much. Combine it with a name.
• Too complex: many NEAR pairs, a long NOT and a context group in one search are hard to read and hard to fix. Split the idea or cut it back.
• Repeating yourself: listing "adidas", "adidas ag" and "adidas group" together uses terms for nothing.
• Stock coverage: if your brand is listed on a stock exchange, terms like "aktie" or "kurs" bring in market news. Only add them if you want investor coverage.
• Missing brackets: "a" OR "b" AND "c" does not mean ("a" OR "b") AND "c".

Check your search#

While you edit a search, the preview next to the editor shows sample results for it. Look at the first results: if many are about something else, make the search more precise. If articles you expect are missing, check the spelling of your terms and whether a NOT or a context group is too strict.

Related#

• aclipp Monitoring
• Integrations