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How to use Twitter Advanced Search

If you are looking for a very specific tweet, you may want to consider using Twitter's Advanced Search tool. This tool allows you to search the bird app's massive collection of tweets via a variety of different factors, terms, and filters (including searching by date). And it's a better option than scrolling forever through your bookmarked tweets or relying on Twitter simpler Search bar.

If you're ready to use a more detailed search tool (and you know what you're looking for), keep reading to learn how to use Twitter's Advanced Search tool.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

10 minutes

What You Need

  • A PC or mobile device

  • A web browser (for either a PC or mobile device)

Twitter Advanced Search: What it offers and what you can search for

Twitter's Advanced Search tool is all about narrowing down your search results when you search for tweets on the bird app. So instead of just running a basic search for tweets using a single keyword, you can use the Advanced Search tool to enhance your search by doing things like adding more keywords, excluding certain words, or focusing on tweets from a specific Twitter account.

Here are some more ways you can search for specific tweets via the Advanced Search tool:

  • By hashtag
  • By language (You can narrow down your results to only show tweets written in a certain language.
  • By replies to a certain Twitter account
  • By mentions of a particular Twitter account
  • By date

You can also set filters for replies and links and even set parameters for engagements (number of replies, likes, and/or retweets).

How to use Twitter Advanced Search: on a PC

If you're on a PC, you're in luck. Running a search via the Advanced Search tool is best done on a PC via a web browser. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Go to Twitter.com and log into your account if you haven't already done so.

Navigating to Twitter's Advanced Search tool via the Search bar on Twitter for desktop web.
screenshot

Step 2: From here, you can access Twitter's Advanced Search tool one of two ways:

Via the search bar and running a simple search first: Once you're logged in, you'll be looking at the Home page. On this page, go to the Search Twitter search bar in the top right corner of your screen, type in your search term, and select Enter on your keyboard. Then on the right side of your screen, locate and select the Advanced search link. This will open up the Advanced Search tool.

Via a direct link to the Advanced Search tool's webpage: The quickest way to open the Advanced Search tool is to open or copy and paste the following link into your web browser: https://twitter.com/search-advanced.

The Twitter Advanced Search form on desktop web.
screenshot

Step 3: Once you've opened the Advanced Search tool's webpage, fill out the search form as best as you can, with as much information as you have, and select your desired filters and dates, etc.

Then, when you're done filling out the form and are ready to run your search, select the Search button in the top right corner of the Advanced Search tool's form.

That's it! Twitter should then run the search and show you a set of search results that fit the parameters you set.

How to use Twitter Advanced Search: on a mobile device

While you can run a basic search for tweets on the Twitter mobile app, you can't access the Advanced Search tool using the app. And basic search on the mobile app only offers very limited search filter options to help you narrow down your search results.

And so, if you want to access Twitter's Advanced Search tool on your mobile device, you'll have to use a mobile web browser and look up Twitter's website on it.

Here's how to access Twitter Advanced Search via a mobile web browser:

Step 1: Open your desired web browser app on your mobile device and go to Twitter. Log into your account.

Step 2: Select the Explore icon at the bottom of your screen. It should look like a magnifying glass.

The Explore icon and search bar on Twitter for web on an Android device.
screenshot

Step 3: At the top of the Explore page, go to the Search Twitter search bar and enter your search term to run a basic search.

Step 4: After the basic search has been run, look for a horizontal set of three dots that is located to the right of the search bar. Select the three dots icon. From the menu that appears, choose Advanced search.

The Three dots icon and Advanced Search menu option on Twitter for web on a mobile browser.
screenshot

Step 5: On the Advanced search screen, fill out the form with the search terms you desire, and select the filters and/or dates you want to set as your search parameters.

When you have finished filling out this form, select the Search button in the top right corner to run your search.

That's it! You've just run a search via the Advanced Search tool on the Twitter website via a mobile browser. You should now see a list of search results that fit your specific search terms, filters, and other parameters.

The Advanced Search screen on the Twitter website on a mobile browser app.
screenshot

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Anita George
Anita has been a technology reporter since 2013 and currently writes for the Computing section at Digital Trends. She began…
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