Skip to content
Docs
Open appStart free

Reddit search syntax

On this page

A search query decides which posts and comments your Reddit content finder Ghost reads. Your goal decides which of them become Finds. Keep queries broad and let the goal do the judging.

Queries are keyword searches of up to 3000 characters, and a Ghost takes up to 15 of them. Write keywords, not sentences.

Operators

OperatorWhat it matchesExample
word wordEvery word must appear, in any order. A space means AND.watching now
"exact phrase"The exact phrase, word for word."happy hour drinks"
OREither term, or both. Write it in capitals.love OR hate
-wordLeaves out posts and comments with the word or quoted phrase.indie hacker -hiring -"for hire"
( )Groups a list of OR options so it combines with the other terms.favorite (movie OR show)

Rules

  • A query can be up to 3000 characters long.
  • A Ghost can have up to 15 queries.
  • No colons (:) and no * wildcard.
  • Do not write AND or NOT outside quotes, in any capitalization. A space already means AND, and - leaves a word out.
  • Write OR in capitals. Any other or outside quotes is rejected, so put natural-language text inside a quoted phrase.
  • OR joins single words or quoted phrases only. When an OR list sits next to other terms, wrap it in parentheses: roofing ("pen and paper" OR whiteboard).
  • Parentheses go one level deep and cannot hold a - exclusion. Put exclusions after the group: (tax OR compliance) -crypto.
  • OR cannot start or end a query, and cannot sit next to another OR or a - exclusion.
  • Common words such as my, the and with are ignored by the search, so do not rely on them.
  • Use straight double quotes ("). Curly quotes (“ ” ‘ ’) and the + sign are rejected.
  • Every opening quote and parenthesis needs a closing one.

Examples

QueryWhat it finds
"need help with" (bookkeeping OR accounting)Posts and comments with the phrase "need help with" and also bookkeeping or accounting.
("recommend me" OR "suggest me") (movie OR film)Posts and comments with "recommend me" or "suggest me", and also movie or film.
(tax OR compliance) -cryptoPosts and comments with tax or compliance that do not mention crypto.

Write queries that find enough

A broad query with a precise goal beats a long exact-phrase query. Every quoted phrase and every extra word cuts volume.

  • Words match by their root, so switching also matches “switch” and “switched”. You don’t need to list every form.
  • Quote a phrase only when the words mean something different apart, such as "payroll provider".
  • Put the sentence in the goal and the keywords in the query. “Looking for a payroll app that handles contractors” is a goal.
  • Describe what makes a post good or bad in the goal instead of adding more keywords.

For a payroll software company, "payroll provider" (switching OR leaving OR cancel) -hiring finds posts such as “We’re switching payroll providers after three bad months” and leaves out hiring posts.

Choose subreddits with filters

Where something was posted is a filter, not part of the query. Use Subreddits to search only where your customers post and Excluded subreddits to skip the ones that produce noise.

Mistakes that get a query rejected

RejectedWrite instead
payroll software or servicepayroll (software OR service)
payroll not working"payroll not working"
(payroll OR -crypto)(payroll OR wages) -crypto
"need help" payroll OR taxes"need help" (payroll OR taxes)

Quotes pasted from a document are often curly. Retype them as straight quotes.

Last updated

Was this helpful?

Related articles

Still need help? Open the app and choose Help, then Chat now.