This article will help you use Explore search options to monitor your brand, organization, competitors, campaigns, or industry topics. It walks you through the process of creating and managing your searches within Explore. Read below to learn more:
Understanding and Accessing Explore
Explore is the heart of our platform. Here, you can gain comprehensive insights into your industry, closely monitor your brand or competitive landscape, and effectively report on media outcomes. This feature is designed to empower you with robust research capabilities and actionable intelligence.
In Explore, you can create an unlimited number of ad hoc searches or a specified number of saved searches (depending on your subscription). Saved Searches will live in your Explore Tab until they are deleted. You'll want to create a Saved Search for topics you monitor regularly (e.g. your brand, competitors, products, industry, etc.). Saved Searches can also be used in Smart Alerts, Monitor, and Dashboards for further reporting.
You can access Explore through the left-hand navigation bar.
Search Options
Once in Explore, you can select the type of search you wish to run. You will have 5 options to create a search in Boolean:
Search Box: Create a Keyword or Company Entity Search using the search bar. This is ideal for simple, straightforward searches (i.e. search for your company name together with one or two other keywords). This is also a great place to start if you are new to Meltwater or Boolean searching.
Keyword Search: Enter terms or phrases into the input boxes (All of these, At least one, and None of these). Our system will then create the search for you. This option is recommended for simple searches or for new users of the platform.
All of these - this will only show results when ALL of the keywords entered are mentioned in the media.
At least one - this will show results where at least one of the keywords entered are mentioned in the articles/posts.
None of these - This will remove any results that mention ANY of the terms entered. This is helpful if you notice a lot of irrelevant results (e.g., when searching for Meltwater, we have to add "Iceberg" to this box to remove global warming results)
Note: Keywords can include but are not limited to, your brand name, an industry topic, a product name, and names of key stakeholders or leadership.
Advanced Search: Create a Boolean query using AND, OR, NOT, and other operators for more precise search results. (see our complete list of Boolean operators) This is best for advanced users familiar with Boolean syntax.
Combined Search: Combine two or more existing saved searches to create a new search. This is useful for managing multiple searches or for quickly combining topics with your brand's saved searches. Learn more about Combined Searches.
Compare Search (add-on): Compare up to ten saved searches using various charts and analytics. This is great for share-of-voice analysis and competitive benchmarking. Learn more about Compare Searches.
Once you select the type of search you want, you will be able to enter your keywords or Boolean to create your search. Let’s look at how to do this next.
Creating a Search
A Simple Company Search Using the Company Entity Feature
For a company search, be sure to include all variations and spellings of the company or brand name. Follow the below steps to create a simple company search:
To create a simple Company search, click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Navigate to the Search Bar or Keyword Search section
If creating a Company Search using the Search Bar
Type the Company name, and a populated list of matching suggestions will appear.
We call this a Company Entity search. This is an automatically generated company suggestion based on the text you typed into the Explore search bar. The entity combines the company name, associated social media accounts, stock tickers, and visual content, such as logos, to find all relevant matches of the company. Read How to Use Company Entity Search for more information.
Select your company name
Select the magnifying glass
This will show you any time the company was mentioned in news and social sources in the last 7 days.
You can adjust the time frame of the results in the date selector on the top right.
When your results load, you can add additional terms to the search boxes
If creating a Company Search using the Keyword search section
Click Create
Type your company name in the All of these or At least one textbox, and a populated list of matching suggestions will appear
Select your company name
Click Search
You can adjust the time frame of the results in the date selector on the top right.
When your results load, you can add additional terms to the search boxes
A Simple Keyword Search
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Navigate to Keyword Search
Select Create
Use the three Keyword boxes to specify the words you want to include/exclude from your search
All of these - this will then only show results when the company AND ALL the keywords entered are mentioned in the media.
At least one - this will then show results where the company and at least one of the keywords entered are mentioned in the articles/posts.
None of these - This will remove any results that mention ANY of the terms entered. This is helpful if you notice a lot of irrelevant results (e.g., when searching for Meltwater, we have to add "Iceberg" to this box to remove global warming results)
Adjust the Date Range and Search Filters (further details HERE) to broaden or narrow your results.
Click Search to run the search so you can review the content returned by your keywords. If there are irrelevant results, add keywords to the None of these box to further refine the results
Click Save in the top left-hand corner to save the search so you can use it again (e.g. to run it again in Explore, to create Smart Alerts, etc.)
Enter a Name for the search.
Click Save to finish saving your search.
Note: There are now advanced Keyboard Navigations and Mouse Interactions within a Keyword Search:
Keyboard Navigations:
Tab on keyboard to move left to right between boxes
Shift+Tab to move right to left
Use arrow keys to shift through dropdown options (i.e. company search)
Delete inputs with backspace
Mouse Interaction:
Drag and drop inputs between boxes
Inputs have 'remove' as an immediate action
An Advanced Search
To build an advanced search you will need to understand the Boolean search format. We offer Meltwater Academy courses and resources that will help you learn this. Think of Boolean as the grammar of your search. Just like sentences have structure, so should your queries. With Boolean, you can use terms like AND, OR, NOT to make your searches smart and (very) specific. There is a Get Started with Boolean Guide but we highly recommend taking one of the courses to learn this skill:
Possibly Sensitive Content warns you if the content populating in your searches might not be suitable. This content can be automatically blurred. To expose the content, click Show or click the article. To opt out of this, please contact your Meltwater contact.
Switching Between Saved Searches
Once you have saved searches created - Explore allows you to easily switch between your searches, without needing to go back to your library. It's especially useful when working with multiple search types, as it supports all – Keyword, Advanced, Combined, and Compare searches – ensuring a smooth workflow.
To switch between searches:
From the Explore results page, click on top-left drop-down box:
All of your saved searches and labels will be displayed
Select one of your saved searches, and it will load results in Explore. This is available for Keyword, Advanced, Combined, or Compare searches.
Using Filters to Improve Search Results
When running a search, you might encounter an overwhelming number of results if only broad query terms are used. To avoid sifting through irrelevant results, it's essential to apply filters. Filters help to narrow down search results, allowing you to focus on the most relevant documents and articles.
Filters are available directly under the search entry box.
Let’s break down each filter below:
For further details on how to refine and save your filters, please review the How to Use Filters article.
Filter Sets
You can save commonly used filters for quick access. This could include filters for specific locations, languages, or editorial sources.
In order to apply filter sets:
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Click on the saved search you want to add a filter set to or create a brand new search by clicking Create in any search option section
Select the filters you wish to apply
Click the Filter set drop-down
Click Save
Give your new filter set a name
Select Save
The filter set will now be available in the Filter set dropdown list below the Quick Picks. Simply open the Filter set drop-down, click on the saved filter set and all its filters will automatically be selected.
Source Type
This filter allows you to restrict content to specific sources like News, Social, or Broadcast.
Review the Data Sources article to learn about the Media and Source Types available
To apply a source type filter:
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Click on the saved search you want to add this filter to or create a brand new search by clicking Create in any search option section
Select the Source Type drop-down
Check the box next to the source type(s) you would like to include in your search.
Click Search
Source types like News and RSS let you drill down further. You can find their corresponding sub-filters by following these steps:
Select the arrow next to any source type
Type a News source name or website into the search box
Click Apply
A list of sources with checkboxes matching your entry will appear
Check the boxes for the sources you would like to include in your search results
Click Apply
To sub-filter RSS, you check the boxes next to the individual RSS feed(s) set up in your account. To learn more about how to set up RSS feeds, check out How Do I Add an Incoming RSS Feed?
Language
Select one or more languages to narrow your results to content in just those languages.
To apply a Language filter:
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Click on the saved search you want to add this filter to or create a brand new search by clicking Create in any search option section
Select Language drop-down
Check the box next to any language you want to include
Click Search
Location
Filter by country, state/province, or city for precise location-based results. You can also select “Unknown” to return results without specific location information, like blogs and forums.
This is the location of the source or outlet itself, not the location of its audience.
To apply a Location filter:
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Click on the saved search you want to add this filter to or create a brand new search by clicking Create in any search option section
Select Location drop-down
Check the boxes next to the specific country or set of countries you want to filter.
Click Search
The arrow to the right of the country item will open a list of provinces and states in that country. You may also drill a level deeper into the cities in the selected state/province, again by clicking on the arrow to the right.
If you wish to retrieve content without location information, such as blogs and forums, select the “Unknown” location item, which appears in the list of countries.
Note: Location data is now available for Instagram content in Explore results. Location data is AI-based, using post-level data, such as hashtags, language, user bio, etc., to infer the country/location of the person/handle. Not all Instagram content will include location data. This is due to privacy settings and other limitations on Instagram.
Keyword
When you add a keyword or phrase to this filter, it gets included in your search. This is especially useful after loading a saved search. You can add more keywords to see how they affect the results without altering your original search. Feel free to repeat this process to include several keywords or phrases.
To apply a Keyword filter:
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Click on the saved search you want to add this filter to or create a brand new search by clicking Create in any search option section
Select Keyword drop-down
Enter the keyword
Click Enter on your keyboard
Click Search
Sentiment
Segment your results by Positive, Negative, Neutral, or Not Rated sentiments.
To apply a Sentiment filter:
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Click on the saved search you want to add this filter to or create a brand new search by clicking Create in any search option section
Select Sentiment drop-down
Check one or more sentiment values you want to use to filter results.
Click Search
To learn more about How Sentiment is Assigned.
Author
Filter by specific Twitter handles or Reddit users to monitor content from certain influencers.
In order to use the Author filter for the first time, you will need to create an author list following the steps outlined in the How to Use Author Lists.
Now that you have an author list(s) to apply an Author Filter:
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Click on the saved search you want to add this filter to or create a brand new search by clicking Create in any search option section
Select Author drop-down
Check the Author list(s) you would like to use to filter results
Then, click Update Results to the far right of the filter bar.
To learn more about the process of creating and applying Author lists, check out How to Use Author List in Explore.
Custom Categories
Custom Categories allow you to save searches that you frequently use to sub-filter other searches, saving you time and effort. You can use custom categories to exclude sources or terms that are irrelevant to your results or save a set of competitors you research, etc.
You will first need to set up and save a Custom Category filter to make it available for all searches. In order to set up a Custom Category filter - follow the steps outlined in the Custom Categories Article.
Now that you have at least one Custom Category created - in order to apply the filter:
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Click on the saved search you want to add this filter to or create a brand new search by clicking Create in any search option section
Select the Custom Categories drop-down
Check one or more categories you would like to use to filter results
Click Search
Note:
You must first save a Custom Category filter to make it available
Custom Categories can include any boolean operators
When applying multiple Custom Categories, they are joined as OR statements - in other words, you will get results that match ANY ONE of the custom categories you selected
Context
There are filters automatically applied to results in Explore called Context Filters. Context Filters work in the background to ensure you only see data relevant to what you're researching. The system sets up these filters, so you can't create or change them yourself. They help keep your data analysis accurate and focused on what's important. You are able to click on the results to further delve into the data.
Formatting the Explore Results Page
You are able to tailor the layout of your Explore page in 3 different ways:
Content and analytics
Content ONLY
Analytics ONLY
To change the layout of the page:
Select the View Icon (see screenshot below)
Select one of the options
Exploring Further Insights in the Tab Section
Below the Filters set section you will notice a section containing a number of tabs. These tabs provide you with further insights into the media coverage for your search.
Let's break down each tab below:
Overview
This tab presents a general overview of your search results through a number of charts and tables. For a detailed explanation of each widget in the Overview tab, refer to the Get to Know Explore Widgets article.
Analytics
Dive deeper into your social media data with the Analytics tab. It helps visualize your data for better understanding. The focus of the Analytics tab is to show the volume of results broken down in a number of ways (e.g. by source such as top forums, by most shared links, etc.) For a specific description of each widget in this tab, refer to the Get to Know Explore Widgets article.
Topic Analysis
Go beyond just the volume and location of results with the Topic Analysis tab. This tab will provide deeper context about the themes and drivers behind the conversations. More information about this tab's widgets can be found in the Get to Know Explore Widgets article.
Twitter Insights
Get a focused view of your Twitter data using the Twitter Insights tab. This tab breaks down your Twitter results for a more detailed analysis. For further details, refer to the Get to Know Explore Widgets article.
Authors
Discover the 'who' behind the conversations. This tab not only lists the top influencers but also reveals demographics, top professions, and interests of those discussing relevant topics and companies. For an in-depth look at the Authors tab, refer to the Get to Know Explore Widgets article.
Media Contacts
The Media Contacts tab in Explore helps you access profiles of journalists writing articles matching your query results! Easily identify, vet, organize and save lists of journalists that are most engaged about your topics. For an in-depth look at the Media Contacts tab, refer to the How to use the Media Contacts tab in Explore article.
Note: Only Meltwater Media Relations customers will see the Media Contacts tab in Explore.
Weibo Insights
Weibo Insights helps you identify and analyze topics exclusively happening on Sina Weibo. Discover new conversation topics, better understand your audience, and make informed decisions about your marketing strategy in China. More information about this tab's widgets can be found in the Get to Know Explore Widgets article.
Sharing
Now that your Explore search has returned the results you are looking for, there are a few ways to share this content with others.
Once you have selected one or more articles or posts, they can be shared via:
Email
Exporting the content to a CSV file (to open in Excel or Sheets) or to a PDF file. For further details on how to export content to CSV, please review How to Export Content.
Shareable Dashboards
Create a Shareable Dashboard by clicking on the 'Share' icon. For further details about creating Shareable dashboards, please review the How to Share a Dashboard article.
Saving Searches
Once you’ve created a new search, you can save it following these steps:
Select the Save button above the query entry box.
You will be prompted to enter a name for the search
Your search is now saved and listed under "All Searches":
Vetting Contacts & Twitter Authors
Easily vet and gather info on journalists while in Explore. The same journalist mini-profiles featured in Media Relations and Monitor are now available in Explore for all users.
To view the mini-profile, simply click on a journalist's name in the content stream. A condensed profile will slide onto the right-hand side of the screen for the contact. You will not be taken away from your current screen.
In the mini-profile, you will see the following details:
Name and location
Sources
Beats
Lists
Recent Articles
Social Media
Contact Information
Journalist profiles can be accessed via the Overview, Analytics, Topic Analysis, and Media Contacts tabs in Explore.
There is also a link to view the full profile for this contact, which will open in a new tab.
Note: that you must have access to Media Relations in Meltwater in order to view the full journalist profile.
FAQs
Can I import an existing list of brand names or keywords I want to put into a search?
There is no way to import a list of brand names into an Explore Search. You will have to copy and paste that list into the Explore search box.
Can keywords be translated?
No, Explore does not have an automatic translation tool when entering keywords.
Does the keyword search have to be one word only? What if I want to look for the name of something made up of three words?
A keyword does not need to be one word. Whenever you have a keyword made up of multiple words, add " " around the group of words. This will indicate those words need to all occur together and in that order.
How many months of historical data is there for each source type?
All editorial data goes back 10 years, whereas all social source types go back 15 months.
Does Meltwater crawl all websites like Google or other search engines?
Meltwater does not crawl search engines.
💡 Tip
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