Free Boolean search generator, with strings you can copy
The Cognitive's free Boolean search generator turns a short role brief into up to 4 checked strings: LinkedIn Recruiter, the LinkedIn search bar, Google X-ray and GitHub. No sign-up. Below: how it builds each string, how it compares with 5 other generators, the operators it uses and strings by role.
What is Boolean search?
Boolean search The Boolean search meaning in one line: a search combining keywords with AND, OR and NOT, plus quotes and parentheses, to narrow, widen or exclude results. The finished Boolean query is also called a Boolean string. Named after George Boole.
You type ("java developer" OR "backend engineer") AND Spring NOT recruiter into LinkedIn, a resume database or your ATS. Only the profiles that satisfy that logic come back, in whatever order the platform ranks them.
How the free Boolean search generator works
The Cognitive's Boolean string generator is free on the website, with no sign-up. You describe the role in a few lines and get back up to 4 strings, each checked before you see it.
- Paste a short role brief One line each for the title, must-have skills, nice-to-haves, location, seniority and anything to exclude. You do not need to know any Boolean syntax. Senior Backend Engineer. Python, Go, Kubernetes. Nice to have: Rust. New York or Remote. Exclude: consulting firms.
- A model proposes the vocabulary It lists 3 to 6 real title variants, a synonym group for each requirement and exclusions specific to the role. It never writes the finished string.
- Code assembles each string Code builds the strings from that list. It ANDs at most 3 requirement groups, leaves nice-to-haves out of the string, and folds seniority into the titles instead of ANDing it alone.
- Every string is checked Each one is tested for balanced brackets, closed quotes, doubled or dangling operators and empty groups. A string that fails is dropped. Long ones lose whole terms, never half a word.
- Copy the version for your engine Tabs cover LinkedIn Recruiter, the LinkedIn search bar and Google X-ray, plus GitHub user search for engineering roles. The X-ray string uses the LinkedIn country subdomain for your location.
How does it compare with other Boolean generators?
Five other tools write Boolean strings, each read on its own website on 3 October 2026. SocialTalent's old SourceHub builder no longer loads, so its current generator is listed instead.
| Generator | What you give it | Where the strings run | Who supplies the synonyms | Cost to start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cognitive's free generator | A short role brief | LinkedIn Recruiter, the LinkedIn search bar, Google X-ray and GitHub | A model suggests 3 to 6 titles and the synonyms. Code writes the string and checks it. | Free, no sign-up |
| SocialTalent Boolean String Generator | Titles, must-haves, nice-to-haves, location and exclusions, in separate fields | LinkedIn, Google X-ray, a job board, and GitHub through X-ray | You do. The page states no AI expansion, and it runs in your browser. | Free, no sign-up. SocialTalent sells training. |
| Recruit'em | Form fields, or a pasted job ad | Google, with tabs for 11 sites | Its Job Ad mode suggests synonyms and related terms | Free, no registration |
| Recruitment Geek | Skills and a location in one box | Google. Premium adds Twitter, Dribbble, Xing and Stack Overflow. | You do, on the free tier | Free tier. Premium is a monthly subscription. |
| hireEZ Boolean Builder | A job description or a job title | hireEZ search, its Chrome extension and your ATS candidate pool | hireEZ's AI extracts keywords from the job description or predicts them from the title | Inside a paid hireEZ account. The solo plan has a 7-day free trial. |
| ChatGPT | Any prompt | Wherever you paste it | It does, and nothing checks the string against the platform you paste it into | Free plan available |
Pricing model only; we do not repeat vendor price figures. hireEZ's builder is a feature inside its product, not a public page you can type into.
How to do a Boolean search in 6 steps
How to Boolean search on any platform with a search box, and how to do Boolean search well: build the string in layers, and run it before it is finished.
- Write the role in one plain sentence Say who you want in normal words first, including the location and the one thing they must have done. Everything after this is translation. "A Java developer in Berlin who has shipped Spring Boot services."
- Collect the titles people actually use Nobody agrees on titles. List every variant you have seen on real profiles, quote the multi-word ones, and join them with OR inside brackets. ("java developer" OR "java engineer" OR "backend engineer")
- Pick at most 3 true requirements AND only the things that would fail a screen. Give each one its own OR group of synonyms. Our generator caps a string at 3 ANDed groups, and it is a habit worth copying. AND (Java OR J2EE) AND ("spring boot" OR Spring)
- Quote every phrase, capitalise every operator Two words that belong together need quotes. AND, OR and NOT need capitals. Check that brackets and quotes are balanced before you run it.
- Add NOT only for noise you have seen Run the string first, read what comes back, then exclude the pattern that keeps appearing. NOT is for tidying real results, not for repairing a vague search. NOT (recruiter OR intern OR trainer)
- Read the first 20 results, then change one thing Widen or tighten a single group per run, so you know what caused the change. Keep the version that worked, with the date and the platform.
The 5 core Boolean search operators, plus Google's minus sign
AND, OR, NOT, quotes and parentheses do the work in almost every search box. Google adds the minus sign. The last column is where recruiters lose good candidates without noticing.
| Operator | What it does | Example | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AND | Both terms must appear on the profile. | accountant AND finance | All or nothing. Anyone who never wrote the second word is deleted from your results. |
| OR | Any one of the terms is enough. | sales OR marketing OR advertising | Without brackets around the group, the OR can change what the whole string means. |
| NOT | Removes profiles containing the term. | programmer NOT manager | It can remove the person you wanted. LinkedIn advises being inclusive rather than exclusive. |
| " " quotes | Treats several words as one exact phrase. | "product manager" | Unquoted, the words are searched separately and you get any product and any manager. |
| ( ) parentheses | Groups a set of alternatives so it is read as one unit. | VP NOT (assistant OR SVP) | Every opening bracket needs a closing one. An unbalanced string fails silently. |
| minus sign | Google's version of NOT, written with no space before the word. | jaguar speed -car | Google's operator. LinkedIn says plus and minus are not officially supported, so use NOT there. |
Type AND, OR and NOT in capitals. LinkedIn reads quotes, parentheses, NOT, AND, then OR, so write (backend OR platform) AND Python, never backend OR platform AND Python.
A Boolean string skeleton you can fill in
Replace the capitals. The first line works in a LinkedIn or resume database search box, the second is the Google X-ray version of the same search.
SEARCH BOX (LinkedIn, Dice, Naukri Resdex, your ATS)
("TITLE 1" OR "TITLE 2" OR "TITLE 3") AND (SKILL OR SYNONYM) AND (SECOND SKILL OR SYNONYM) NOT (recruiter OR intern)
GOOGLE X-RAY (public profile pages)
site:linkedin.com/in/ ("TITLE 1" OR "TITLE 2") (SKILL OR SYNONYM) "CITY" -recruiter -jobs
FILLING IT IN
1. Titles: 3 variants is usually enough. Quote anything longer than one word.
2. Skills: 2 groups, not 5. Each extra AND removes people who simply never wrote the word.
3. Exclusions: add them after your first run, once you can see the noise.
Boolean search strings examples by role and engine
Copy-paste Boolean strings recruiters reuse most. Each card names the role and the engine it is written for, and the first thing to loosen when a search returns almost nobody.
("java developer" OR "java engineer" OR "backend engineer") AND Java AND ("spring boot" OR Spring) AND (microservices OR "REST API") NOT (recruiter OR intern OR trainer)
A Boolean search for Java developer roles: 3 title variants, the language, the framework and an architecture signal. NOT strips recruiters, interns and trainers.
Drop the microservices group first. It is the requirement least likely to be written on a profile.
("registered nurse" OR RN) AND (ICU OR "intensive care" OR "critical care") NOT (student OR "travel nurse")
Abbreviation and full title together, and 3 ways people write the same unit on a profile.
Remove "travel nurse" from the NOT group if contract staff are acceptable for this role.
("account executive" OR "enterprise sales" OR "sales executive") AND (SaaS OR "B2B software") AND (enterprise OR "mid-market") NOT (recruiter OR SDR)
Title drift in sales covered with OR, and the segment kept as its own group so it can be loosened on its own.
Widen the title group with "senior account executive" or "regional sales manager".
site:linkedin.com/in/ ("data engineer" OR "analytics engineer") (Spark OR Snowflake OR Databricks) "Berlin" -recruiter -jobs
A Google X-ray search of public LinkedIn profile pages. Spaces act as AND, and the minus sign excludes.
Swap the city for a wider region, or use de.linkedin.com/in/ to hold the country instead.
location:Berlin language:go followers:>20 type:user
GitHub's own user search qualifiers rather than classic Boolean. It finds people whose repositories are mostly Go.
Lower the followers number first. If you start adding NOT, GitHub caps a query at 5 such operators and 256 characters.
(Java OR J2EE) AND ("spring boot" OR Hibernate) AND (Bengaluru OR Bangalore) NOT fresher
The same logic for a resume database. Both Dice and Naukri Resdex document AND, OR and NOT in their own help pages.
On Naukri, switch the Boolean option on in the search form first, and test the grouped version against a flat one.
Boolean search guides for recruiters
What is Boolean search? 12 operators · Boolean search in recruitment · 51 Boolean string examples · LinkedIn Boolean search, plan by plan
Boolean search in recruitment: where it runs
Boolean search recruiting runs the same logic in the LinkedIn search bar, in LinkedIn Recruiter, in resume databases such as Dice and Naukri Resdex, in your ATS, in GitHub user search and in Google. What changes is the syntax each one documents, so a string that works in one box can quietly return nothing in another.
In Recruiter and Recruiter Lite, the Must have, Can have and Doesn't have dropdowns are AND, OR and NOT wearing a friendlier name. LinkedIn's help lists the filters that accept Boolean, including job titles, companies, skills, schools, industries and spoken languages, and says the Project filter does not.
Which operators work on which platform
Every cell below comes from the platform's own documentation. Where a platform is silent, this table says so rather than guessing.
| Platform | Documented operators | Not supported or not documented | Where to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn search bar | Quotes, parentheses, AND, OR, NOT, in uppercase. | Wildcards, braces, brackets, angle brackets. Plus and minus are not officially supported. | LinkedIn Help, using Boolean search on LinkedIn. |
| LinkedIn Recruiter | Boolean in job titles, companies, skills, schools, industries, languages. Must have, Can have, Doesn't have map to AND, OR, NOT. | The Project filter does not support Boolean. No published character limit. | LinkedIn Help, Boolean search in Recruiter. |
| Google X-ray | Quotes, site:, minus to exclude, OR in capitals, filetype:, before:, after:, and 2 periods for a number range. | intitle:, inurl:, wildcards and parentheses are not on Google's current operator help page. | Google Search Help, refine web searches. |
| GitHub user search | Qualifiers: type:user, location:, language:, followers:, repos:, created:, in:name. NOT and a leading hyphen exclude. | Queries over 256 characters, and more than 5 AND, OR or NOT operators. | GitHub Docs, searching users and search syntax. |
| Dice | AND, OR, NOT, and parentheses for sub-queries such as Java (UNIX OR C++). IntelliSearch also takes a pasted job description. | No published limit on string length. | Dice career advice, Boolean search. |
| Boolean search in Naukri Resdex | AND, OR, NOT, with multi-word phrases in quotes. Boolean is a setting you switch on in the search form. | Parentheses are not mentioned in Naukri's Resdex FAQ, so test a grouped string against a flat one. | Naukri recruiter FAQ, Resdex. |
| Indeed resume search | Indeed's employer guide teaches AND, OR, NOT, quotes and parentheses. | Indeed does not publish a syntax reference for resume search. Test in your own account. | Indeed employer hub, what is Boolean search. |
| Your ATS | Varies by vendor. Most support AND, OR, NOT over resume text. | Grouping, wildcards and field prefixes differ in every system. | Your ATS vendor's help centre. |
Checked against each platform's own help pages on 19 Sep 2026. Platforms change their syntax without notice.
What is X-ray search?
X-ray search is a Boolean search for finding people online: you run a normal Google query but restrict it to one site with the site: operator, so the results are public profile pages instead of the whole web. Google is the X-ray search engine most sourcers use, and a LinkedIn X-ray search is simply site:linkedin.com/in/ followed by your terms.
It sees less than you think. LinkedIn's help describes a public profile as a simplified version of the full profile, the member chooses which sections appear in it, and search engines can take weeks or months to pick up a change. Google also says its operators are bound by indexing limits, so a result count is never a measure of the talent market.
On etiquette: running a Google search by hand is ordinary searching. LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits scraping or copying the service with software, scripts, bots, crawlers or browser plugins, so do not pipe X-ray results into an automated collector. Read the agreement yourself before you build anything on top of it.
Google X-ray search: the rules that matter
Eight habits that decide whether a Google xray search returns people or returns noise. The same rules hold for an xray search on LinkedIn.
- Leave no space after site: or the operator is read as a word
- Point at linkedin.com/in/ to get people, not company pages or job ads
- Skip AND entirely. On Google a space already means AND
- Write OR in capitals between alternatives
- Exclude with a minus sign, not with NOT
- Quote exact titles and city names so they stay together
- intitle: and inurl: are not on Google's current operator list, so test them first
- Scope to a country subdomain such as uk.linkedin.com/in/ to hold a location
Boolean search query optimization techniques
Do
- Widen the title group before you add another skill
- Change one group per run so you know what moved the results
- Keep strings short. Too many facets can break a LinkedIn search
- Keep the strings that worked, with the date and the platform
- Re-read the first 20 results after every edit
Do not
- ANDing a nice-to-have, which silently deletes people who have it
- Using NOT to repair a search that was vague to begin with
- Pasting a LinkedIn string into Google unchanged
- Trusting asterisk wildcards on LinkedIn, which does not support them
- Reading a result count as the size of the talent market
Where Boolean search stops
- It matches words on a page, not what a person can actually do
- AND is all or nothing, so an optional skill written as AND removes good people
- A keyword cannot tell a person's own skill from their employer's stack
- Every platform needs its own version of the same string
When you don't need a Boolean string
You need a string wherever the search box belongs to someone else: LinkedIn, LinkedIn Recruiter, Dice, Naukri Resdex, Indeed, your ATS and Google. None of them reads a sentence the way a recruiter means it, so Boolean stays the skill to keep sharp on those platforms.
Inside The Cognitive you can skip the syntax. I run The Cognitive, so weigh this with that in mind. You write the hire as a plain-English brief, it is read into filters you can edit, and the search runs across ~900M public profiles. In our own test, "Remote EU" came back as Germany plus 7 other countries, an OR list nobody enjoys typing.
It does not replace your strings. It cannot search your LinkedIn Recruiter seat, your job board accounts or your own ATS history. Use a brief to open a role fast, and keep Boolean for the platforms you already pay for.
The same control without the syntax
One result card in The Cognitive. The "Why this match" line gives 1 or 2 reasons traced to the person's profile.
Describe the hire in one plain-English line and it is read into filters you can edit. Every person is judged against the must-haves in your brief. Anyone who misses one drops below the people who meet them, and nobody is removed. Each card opens with a "Why this match" line.
Boolean string or plain-English brief?
Both are ways of saying who you want. They fail in different places, so most sourcers end up using both.
| Boolean search string | Plain-English brief in The Cognitive | |
|---|---|---|
| What you write | Operators, quotes and brackets around the exact words you expect. | One line describing the hire, parsed into structured filters. |
| Works in | Any search box that documents the syntax, including LinkedIn, job boards and your ATS. | Only inside The Cognitive, across ~900M public profiles. |
| A missed requirement | AND deletes anyone who never wrote the word, so optional skills get left out or OR-ed in. | The person drops below everyone who meets your must-haves. Nobody is removed. |
| Why someone matched | Not shown. You open each profile to find the word that matched. | A "Why this match" line with 1 or 2 reasons traced to the profile. |
| When results are thin | You rewrite the string and run it again. | The search relaxes its softest filters and tells you what it broadened. |
| Best for | Exact exclusions, titles you already know, and platforms you already pay for. | Opening a role across ~900M public profiles when you do not know the vocabulary yet. |
The Boolean search generator is a free website tool. The app itself takes a brief, not a Boolean string.
Keep going
LinkedIn X-ray search · X-ray search beyond LinkedIn · AI candidate sourcing · What is candidate sourcing? · Free recruiting tools · Passive candidate sourcing
Frequently asked questions
What is a Boolean search?
A Boolean search combines keywords with the operators AND, OR and NOT, plus quotation marks for phrases and parentheses for groups, so the database returns only records that fit your logic. A short one looks like ("java developer" OR "java engineer") AND Spring. The Cognitive's free Boolean search generator writes one for you from a short role brief.
What is Boolean search in recruitment?
It is the same logic applied to candidate databases: the LinkedIn search bar, LinkedIn Recruiter, resume databases such as Dice and Naukri Resdex, your ATS, and Google X-ray search. Recruiters need it because titles vary so much. An OR group of 3 or 4 title variants catches the people a single job title would miss.
How do you do a Boolean search?
Write the role in one plain sentence first. Turn the job titles into an OR group in brackets, then AND at most 3 real requirements, each as its own OR group of synonyms. Quote every multi-word phrase and capitalise the operators. Run it, read the first 20 results, then widen or tighten one group at a time.
How do I use Boolean search on LinkedIn?
Type the string straight into the main search bar. LinkedIn's help says AND, OR and NOT must be uppercase, phrases go in quotes and groups go in parentheses. It does not support wildcards, braces or brackets, and plus and minus are not official, so use AND and NOT. In Recruiter, the Must have, Can have and Doesn't have dropdowns do the same job.
What is X-ray search?
X-ray search means running a Google query restricted to one website with the site: operator, so you see public profile pages rather than the whole web. A LinkedIn X-ray search starts with site:linkedin.com/in/ and then your terms. A Google X-ray search uses Google's syntax, so spaces act as AND and a minus sign excludes.
Is a LinkedIn X-ray search allowed?
Searching Google by hand shows you the public version of a profile, which the member has chosen to make public and which LinkedIn describes as a simplified version of the full profile. LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits scraping or copying the service with software, scripts, bots, crawlers or plugins. Read the agreement before automating anything. This is not legal advice.
What is a Boolean string?
A Boolean string is the finished query, the line you paste into a search box. The usual shape is ("TITLE 1" OR "TITLE 2") AND (SKILL OR SYNONYM) NOT (recruiter OR intern). A Boolean query and a Boolean search string mean the same thing. Balanced brackets and closed quotes matter more than length.
Is there a free Boolean search tool or generator?
Yes. The Cognitive's Boolean search generator is free on the website with no sign-up: paste a short role brief and it returns up to 4 strings, one for LinkedIn Recruiter, one for the LinkedIn search bar, one Google X-ray string, and a GitHub query for engineering roles. Each is assembled in code and checked for balanced brackets and closed quotes. Emailing the strings to yourself is optional.
What is the best free Boolean search generator?
Start with The Cognitive's free generator if you want strings for LinkedIn Recruiter, the LinkedIn search bar, Google X-ray and GitHub from one brief, with no sign-up. A model suggests the titles and synonyms, and code writes and checks the syntax. SocialTalent's generator is the pick if your terms must stay in your browser, and Recruit'em turns a pasted job ad into a Google string.
Can AI write Boolean search strings?
Yes, and the safest setups split the job. AI is good at listing title variants and synonyms; left to write the whole string, it can slip on a bracket or a quote. That is why The Cognitive's generator uses a model only for the vocabulary and builds the string in code, then validates it. Still read the first 20 results before you trust any string, whoever wrote it.
What is a Boolean search engine?
Any search box that understands Boolean operators works as a Boolean search engine. For recruiters that means the LinkedIn search bar, LinkedIn Recruiter, resume databases such as Dice and Naukri Resdex, most ATS search screens, GitHub user search and Google. Google is the usual engine for X-ray search, but it uses spaces for AND and a minus sign for NOT.
What are search booleans?
Search booleans are the operators you combine keywords with: AND to require both terms, OR to accept either, NOT to exclude one, quotes to hold a phrase together and parentheses to group alternatives. Type AND, OR and NOT in capitals. On Google, use a minus sign instead of NOT and leave AND out, because a space already means AND.
Is it Boolean search or bullion search?
Boolean, with a capital B. It is named after George Boole, the English mathematician who lived from 1815 to 1864 and set out the logic in An Investigation of the Laws of Thought in 1854. Bullion is gold. The two get confused because the words sound alike when spoken.
Does Boolean search still matter with AI sourcing?
Yes. Boolean is exact, portable and free, and it works in any search box you already pay for, which makes it the right tool for known titles and hard exclusions. A plain-English brief in an AI sourcing tool is quicker when you do not know the vocabulary yet and want optional skills to rank rather than gate. Start free to try the second approach.
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