General Searches Tutorial - Swoopa
GENERAL SEARCHES TUTORIAL

How to Create General Searches

What are General Searches?

If you're searching for an item that doesn't fit into the car, RV, iPhone, or couch categories, you'll need to use a general search.

From the homepage, tap Zoekopdracht aanmaken, tik vervolgens op Anything. Now, let's pause for a moment and plan the search properly.

Create Search Button
Anything Option

Understanding Keyword Matching

The most important thing to understand is that you must search for the exact word sellers actually use in their listings.

That often means creating multiple searches for the same type of item. Facebook relies heavily on exact keyword matches to surface items quickly.

For example, if you're searching for a printer, you might need to add a search for "printer," a search for "Brother," a search for "Canon," because sellers don't all use the same wording.

Printer Search Example
Brand Search Example

For example, let's say you're looking for mid-century tables. You might plan to create separate searches for table, Herman Miller, Knoll, en mid-century.

This is because sellers don't always include the word "table" in the title. They may list the item as "Herman Miller" and only mention that it's a table in the description.

Mid-Century Table Search Planning

1 Create Your Search

Once you know what search terms you need to use, you can proceed with creating the search.

You must enter only one search term, then repeat the entire search creation process for each additional term.

Enter Search Term

2 Set Location and Platform

Stel vervolgens je location and platform. We recommend using multiple platforms if they're available to you.

You'll need to repeat the entire search creation process for each additional platform.

Set Location and Platform

3 Configure Search Settings

If this item really matters to you, choose your fastest search speed.

Stel je minimum and maximum price.

Stel je maximale zoekradius.

Configure Settings
Additional Settings

Voor zoekopdrachten op Facebook raden we aan om zoekopdrachten toe te voegen voor alle grote steden van waaruit je wilt zoeken. Hoe verder weg de resultaten zich bevinden, hoe langzamer ze verschijnen; door meerdere locaties toe te voegen, worden de snelheid en het bereik dus aanzienlijk verbeterd. Je kunt ons op elk moment vragen om dit voor je te doen.

Multiple City Searches

If you've set this up yourself, your searches may appear separately, or they may appear as a group search.

Group Search Example

Once you have set your radius, tap Opslaan to create the search.

Note: You can't add keyword filters until after a search has been created.

4 Zoekwoordfilters toevoegen

Once the search is created, tap the pencil icon on the search, then tap Zoekwoordfilters toevoegen.

Pencil Icon
Zoekwoordfilters toevoegen

You'll see some pre-added filters. If there are any you don't want, tap the X to remove them.

Next, work out the filters you need before adding them.

Two Types of Filters

There are two types of filter: positive filters, which must be in the title for a listing to appear in your feed, and negative filters, which block listings when a specific word or phrase appears in the title.

Two Types of Filters

Understanding Positive Filters

Positive filters look for words in the listing title and can be part of a larger word. For example heat will match to heat, heater and heating.

4+ Character Match Example

You can also use multi-word positive filters. For example, if you use "wood heater" as an includer, both words must be found in the title. The order does not matter. The words may appear separately or joined together.

Multi-Word Filter Example

Understanding Negative Filters

A negative filter must match the title exactly, and if it uses multiple words, they must appear together and in the same order.

Negative filters do allow simple English plural forms, but they do not match partial words or reordered phrases. This keeps exclusions precise and prevents you from blocking valid listings by accident.

Negative Filter Example

Used together, positive and negative filters give you fine-grained control over what appears in your feed.

Real-World Examples

Let's look at some practical scenarios to understand how filters work in practice.

Example 1: Mid-Century Tables

Let's look at a case where someone only wants mid-century tables. If they add "table" as a positive filter on its own, they'll see a lot of irrelevant results.

Table Filter - Too Broad

Instead, use more specific filters like "MCM table," "mid-century table," or "designer table."

This way, you're still searching broadly for "table," but only allowing listings through that match the styles you actually want.

Specific Table Filters

If you didn't include one of these terms and a seller listed the item using that wording, you wouldn't see it. That's because sellers usually use very specific titles for their items.

Example 2: Canon Printers

Let's say you're looking for printers, and you've added extra searches for printer brands, one of them being Canon.

The problem is Canon makes a wide range of products, so that search is going to return a whole heap of unwanted results.

Canon Search - Too Broad

If we only use "printer" as an includer, we might miss listings that are printers but don't actually have the word "printer" in the title.

Printer Only Filter

But if we use "Canon" and "printer" together, we'll still pick up Canon's other products.

Canon and Printer Together

The better solution is to find common printer model names like "Maxify," "PIXMA," or "large format," and use those alongside "printer" as includers.

Model Name Filters

Notice how now we're no longer seeing all the camera gear.

At this point, you might be wondering why we didn't just use excluders. In scenarios like this, where there are so many variations that you'd need hundreds of excluders, it's usually smarter to solve the problem with includers first.

Includers vs Excluders

Pro Tip: Managing Filters

When working with filters across multiple searches, a good approach is to write them in your notes app as a comma-separated list.

Notes App Filter List

This allows you to paste the same filters into each of your searches, saving time and effort.

Finally, repeat this process for any other search terms you planned.

Paste Filters

Key Takeaways

  • Use general searches for items outside of car, RV, iPhone, or couch categories
  • Search for exact words sellers use in their listings
  • Create multiple searches for different terminology (e.g., printer, Brother, Canon)
  • Facebook relies heavily on exact keyword matches to surface items quickly
  • Enter only one search term per search
  • Use multiple platforms if available
  • Choose fastest search speed for important items
  • Set minimum/maximum price and search radius
  • Add searches in multiple cities for better Facebook coverage
  • Keyword filters can only be added after search creation
  • Words with 4+ characters match partially; 3 or less must match exactly
  • Multi-word positive filters require all words present (any order)
  • Negative filters must match exactly in the same order
  • Use specific includers (e.g., "MCM table") to narrow results
  • Use includers instead of excluders when dealing with many variations
  • Save filters in notes app for easy reuse across searches