Courses / Sourcing Fundamentals
25. Using negative keyword lists
Maintain and apply lists of negative keywords to consistently reduce noise across queries.
Sourcing / Boolean search & resume databases
Using negative keyword lists
A negative keyword list is a maintained set of terms you exclude from searches to quickly remove predictable noise and false positives.
"I keep seeing the same irrelevant job titles and industries in every search — there must be a faster way to filter them out."
Negative keyword lists are reusable collections of words and phrases you add to the NOT (or -) part of Boolean queries or search filters to consistently exclude unwanted results across queries and platforms. They save time and increase precision by encoding known sources of noise once, then applying them everywhere.
"I keep seeing the same irrelevant job titles and industries in every search — there must be a faster way to filter them out."
Negative keyword lists are reusable collections of words and phrases you add to the NOT (or -) part of Boolean queries or search filters to consistently exclude unwanted results across queries and platforms. They save time and increase precision by encoding known sources of noise once, then applying them everywhere.