Using Advanced Alerts, you can build precise boolean queries to improve result quality and monitor specific topics. This article explains every operator, how they interact, and how to structure queries.
Table of Contents
AND , OR , AND NOT Operators
AND, OR, AND NOT are the core connectors for your search terms and other (non‑autonomous) operators. "AND" requires all linked terms; "OR" creates alternatives; "AND NOT" excludes terms/operators.
Note: Mention looks for exact spelling and spacing matches, excluding capitalization.
"AND" Operator Examples
Example 1 – AND Operator & Keyword Searches
Spotify AND "Apple Music" AND Pandora
Fetches posts where all three appear. If one is missing, it’s not fetched.
Example 2 – AND Operator & Boolean Operators
Spotify AND (source_country:(BR) AND lang:(pt))
Fetches posts where Spotify appears from Brazil, in Portuguese. If content is another language/country, it’s ignored.
"OR" Operator Examples
Example 1 – OR Operator & Keyword Searches
Spotify OR "Apple Music"
Fetches either term; two active searches inside one alert.
Example 2 – OR Operator & Boolean Operators
Spotify AND source_country:(US OR FR OR BR)
Fetches Spotify from the United States, France, or Brazil.
"AND NOT" Operator Examples
Example 1 – AND NOT Operator & Keyword Searches
Spotify AND NOT "Apple Music"
Fetches Spotify when Apple Music is not present.
Example 2 – AND NOT Operator & Boolean Operators
Spotify AND NOT source:twitter
Fetches Spotify from all sources except Twitter.
Proximity & NEAR Operators
Similar to the AND operator, the proximity operators allow you to link keywords in your search query with added precision. The proximity operators require your search terms to be within a certain range of each other. Below, you will find information for these operators:
Restrictions
⚙️ The proximity operator only works for your text searches. You cannot use it for data operators such as language, country, or source operators to name a few, nor with body operators (body and title).
❗ Does not work with Twitter Historical Data.
Syntax
The ~# operator works with search phrases and will apply a proximity limit to the phrase in your search. For this operator, you can replace the # with a number between 1 to 6. Depending on the number you choose, Mention will fetch the text in your phrase when they appear between 1 to 6 words of each other.
The NEAR/ operator is similar to the proximity operator except it used to link multiple keywords or phrases together. For this operator, you can replace the # with a number between 1 to 6 and Mention will search for content that fits your search configuration.
Proximity:
~#— attach to a phrase;#is 1–6.NEAR/# — between two terms/phrases;
#is 1–6.
Proximity: ~#
"NASA rover"~6
Matches when NASA and rover are within 6 words.
NASA rover...
NASA and it's new rover...
NASA just launched a rover to space...
NEAR/#
"NASA TV" NEAR/4 SpaceX
Matches when NASA TV and SpaceX appear within 4 words.
Watch SpaceX footage on NASA TV...
NASA TV will work with SpaceX on...
NASA TV and SpaceX collaborations...
Language Operator
Lang:
The lang: operator can be used to monitor or block specific languages. To use this operator, please add the lang: operator and the language codes to your query using AND or AND NOT.
Syntax
AND lang:(<code> [OR <code> ...]) AND NOT lang:(<code> [OR <code> ...])
Non‑autonomous: must be paired with a keyword search via AND/AND NOT.
If you want to monitor every language on the web, do not use the lang: operator to keep your search query as a broad search.
Examples
Monitor a language
Starbucks AND "Pumpkin Spice" AND lang:(en)
Monitor multiple languages
Starbucks AND "Pumpkin Spice" AND lang:(en OR fr OR es)
Block languages
Starbucks AND "Pumpkin Spice" AND NOT lang:(pt)
Language Code List
Language Code List
Mention can monitor any of the below languages.
af - Afrikaans
ar - Arabic
az - Azerbaijani
be - Belarusian
bg - Bulgarian
bn - Bengali
bs - Bosnian
ca - Catalan
cs - Czech
da - Danish
de - German
el - Greek
en - English
eo - Esperanto
es - Spanish
et - Estonian
fa - Persian
fi - Finnish
fil - Filipino
fr - French
gu - Gujarati
hi - Hindi
hr - Croatian
hu - Hungarian
hy - Armenian
is - Icelandic
it - Italian
iw - Hebrew
ja - Japanese
km - Khmer
kn - Kannada
ko - Korean
lt - Lithuanian
lv - Latvian
ml - Malayalam
mr - Marathi
ms - Malay
my - Burmese
nl - Dutch
no - Norwegian
pa - Punjabi
pl - Polish
ps - Pashto
pt - Portuguese
ro - Romanian
ru - Russian
si - Sinhala
sk - Slovak
sl - Slovenian
sr - Serbian
sv - Swedish
sw - Swahili
ta - Tamil
te - Telugu
th - Thai
tl - Tagalog
tr - Turkish
uk - Ukrainian
ur - Urdu
vi - Vietnamese
zh - Chinese
If you do not choose a language, Mention monitors all languages containing your keywords.
Twitter (X) does not process Swahili. Segment Swahili filtering outside the Twitter source if needed.
Source Country Operator
source_country:
Use this operator to fetch or block mentions by their specific country codes using website or account geolocation data. Mention can monitor any ISO 3166‑1 alpha‑2 code.
Syntax
AND source_country:(<CC> [OR <CC> ...]) AND NOT source_country:(<CC> [OR <CC> ...])
Scope & Source behavior
Works on: Web, News, Blogs, Forums, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X.
Non‑autonomous: must be combined with a keyword search via AND/AND NOT.
Mention cannot bypass VPNs/fake locations supplied by sites or social accounts.
Some mentions lack country codes. See "has:source_country" below.
Examples
Monitor a country
"Krispy Kreme" AND coffee AND source_country:(FR)
Monitor multiple countries
"Krispy Kreme" AND coffee AND source_country:(FR OR US OR BR)
Block countries
"Krispy Kreme" AND coffee AND NOT source_country:(ES OR DE)
Most of our social media sources, and some do not always include a country code. If a website does not have a country code, you can still monitor it with the operator -has:source_country. Here is an example:
McDonalds AND "Big Mac" AND (source_country:(IT) OR -has:source_country)
Fetches Italy posts and posts with no geolocation data.
For more information, see Geolocation Monitoring Explained.
Country Code List
Country Code List
Use Ctrl/⌘+F to search.
Afghanistan — AF
Aland islands — AX
Albania — AL
Algeria — DZ
American Samoa — AS
Andorra — AD
Angola — AO
Anguilla — AI
Antarctica — AQ
Antigua and Barbuda — AG
Argentina — AR
Armenia — AM
Aruba — AW
Australia — AU
Austria — AT
Azerbaijan — AZ
Bahamas — BS
Bahrain — BH
Bangladesh — BD
Barbados — BB
Belarus — BY
Belgium — BE
Belize — BZ
Benin — BJ
Bermuda — BM
Bhutan — BT
Bolivia — BO
Bosnia & Herzegovina — BA
Botswana — BW
Bouvet Island — BV
Brazil — BR
British Indian Ocean territory — IO
Brunei — BN
Bulgaria — BG
Burkina Faso — BF
Burundi — BI
Cambodia — KH
Cameroon — CM
Canada — CA
Cape Verde — CV
Caribbean Netherlands — ****
Cayman Islands — KY
Central African Republic — CF
Chad — TD
Chile — CL
China — CN
Christmas Island — CX
Cocos (Keeling) Islands — CC
Colombia — CO
Comoros — KM
Congo - Brazzaville — CG
Congo - Kinshasa — CD
Cook Islands — CK
Costa Rica — CR
Côte d'Ivoire — CI
Croatia — HR
Cuba — CU
Curaçao — CW
Cyprus — CY
Czechia — CZ
Denmark — DK
Djibouti — DJ
Dominica — DM
Dominican Republic — DO
Ecuador — EC
Egypt — EG
El Salvador — SV
Equatorial Guinea — GQ
Eritrea — ER
Eswatini — SZ
Falkland Islands — FK
Faroe Islands — FO
Fiji — FJ
Finland — FI
France — FR
French Guinea — GF
French Polynesia — PF
French Southern Territories — TF
Gabon — GA
Gambia — GM
Georgia — GE
Germany — DE
Ghana — GH
Gibraltar — GI
Greece — GR
Greenland — GL
Grenada — GD
Guadalupe — GP
Guam — GU
Guatemala — GT
Guernsey — GG
Guinea — GN
Guinea - Bissau — GW
Guyana — GY
Haiti — HT
Heard & McDonald Islands — HM
Honduras — HN
Hong Kong SAR China — HK
Hungary — HU
Iceland — IS
India — IN
Indonesia — ID
Iran — IR
Iraq — IQ
Ireland — IE
Isle of Man — IM
Israel — IL
Italy — IT
Jamaica — JM
Japan — JP
Jersey — JE
Jordan — JO
Kazakhstan — KZ
Kenya — KE
Kiribati — KI
Kuwait — KW
Kyrgyzstan — KG
Laos — LA
Latvia — LV
Lebanon — LB
Lesotho — LS
Liberia — LR
Libya — LY
Liechtenstein — LI
Lithuania — LT
Macao SAR China — MO
Madagascar — MG
Malawi — MW
Malaysia — MY
Maldives — MV
Mali — ML
Malta — MT
Marshal islands — MH
Martinique — MQ
Mauritania — MR
Mauritius — MU
Mayotte — YT
Mexico — MX
Micronesia — FM
Moldova — MD
Monaco — MC
Mongolia — MN
Montenegro — ME
Montserrat — MS
Morocco — MA
Mozambique — MZ
Myanmar (Burma) — MM
Namibia — NA
Nauru — NR
Nepal — NP
Netherlands — NL
New Caledonia — NC
New Zealand — NZ
Nicaragua — NI
Niger — NE
Nigeria — NG
Niue — NU
Norfolk Island — NF
North Korea — KP
North Macedonia — MK
Northern Mariana Islands — MP
Norway — NO
Oman — OM
Pakistan — PK
Palau — PW
Palestinian territories — PS
Panama — PA
Papúa New Guinea — PG
Paraguay — PY
Peru — PE
Philippines — PH
Pitcairn Islands — PN
Poland — PL
Portugal — PT
Puerto Rico — PR
Qatar — QA
Reunion — RE
Romania — RO
Russia — RU
Rwanda — RW
Samoa — WS
San Marino — SM
São Tomé and Principe — ST
Saudi Arabia — SA
Senegal — SN
Serbia — RS
Seychelles — SC
Sierra Leone — SL
Singapore — SG
Sint Maarten — SX
Slovakia — SK
Slovenia — SI
Solomon Islands — SB
Somalia — SO
South Africa — ZA
South Georgia & Sandwich islands — GS
South Korea — KR
South Sudan — SS
Spain — ES
Sri Lanka — LK
St. Barthelemy — BL
St. Helena — SH
St. Kitts & Nevis — KN
St. Lucia — LC
St. Martin — MF
St. Pierre and Miquelon — PM
St. Vincent and Grenadines — VC
Sudan — SD
Suriname — SR
Svalbard & Jan Mayen — SJ
Sweden — SE
Switzerland — CH
Syria — SY
Taiwan — TW
Tajikistan — TJ
Tanzania — TZ
Thailand — TH
Timor - Lester — TL
Togo — TG
Tokelau — TK
Tonga — TO
Trinidad and Tobago — TT
Tunisia — TN
Turkey — TR
Turkmenistan — TM
Turks and Caicos Islands — TC
Tuvalu — TV
US Outlying Islands — UM
US Virgin Islands — VI
Uganda — UG
Ukraine — UA
United Arab Emirates — AE
United Kingdom — GB
United States — US
Uruguay — UY
Uzbekistan — UZ
Vanuatu — VU
Vatican City — ****
Venezuela — VE
Vietnam — VN
Wallis & Futuna — WF
Western Sahara — EH
Yemen — YE
Zambia — ZM
Zimbabwe — ZW
⚙️ This is not the full list; for the official list, see the ISO website.
Country Group Monitoring Shortcuts for the Advanced Alert
Europe
AND source_country:(AL OR AD OR AM OR AT OR AZ OR BY OR BE OR BA OR BG OR HR OR CY OR CZ OR DK OR EE OR FI OR FR OR GE OR DE OR GR OR HU OR IE OR IT OR KZ OR LV OR LI OR LT OR LU OR MT OR MD OR MC OR ME OR NL OR NO OR PL OR PT OR RO OR RU OR SM OR RS OR SK OR SI OR ES OR SE OR CH OR TR OR UA OR GB)
Africa
source_country:("DZ" OR "AO" OR "BJ" OR "BW" OR "BF" OR "BI" OR "CM" OR "CV" OR "CF" OR "TD" OR "KM" OR "CG" OR "CD" OR "CI" OR "DJ" OR "EG" OR "GQ" OR "ER" OR "ET" OR "GA" OR "GM" OR "GH" OR "GN" OR "GW" OR "KE" OR "LS" OR "LR" OR "LY" OR "MG" OR "ML" OR "MW" OR "MR" OR "MU" OR "YT" OR "MA" OR "MZ" OR "NA" OR "NE" OR "NG" OR "RE" OR "RW" OR "ST" OR "SN" OR "SC" OR "SL" OR "SO" OR "ZA" OR "SS" OR "SD" OR "SZ" OR "TZ" OR "TG" OR "TN" OR "UG" OR "EH" OR "ZM" OR "ZW")Middle East
AND source_country:(AT OR BE OR BG OR HR OR CY OR CZ OR DK OR EE OR FI OR FR OR DE OR GR OR HU OR IE OR IT OR LV OR LI OR LT OR LU OR MT OR MD OR MC OR NL OR NO OR PL OR PT OR RO OR RU OR SM OR RS OR SK OR SI OR ES OR SE OR CH OR TR OR UA OR GB OR AE OR QA OR SA OR JO OR LB OR IQ OR IN OR IL OR EG OR OM OR BH OR KW)
LATAM
AND source_country:(BR OR PE OR MX OR CO OR AR OR VE OR CL OR EC OR GT OR CU OR BO OR DO OR HT OR HN OR PY OR SV OR NI OR CR OR PR OR PA OR UY OR SR OR GY)
Title & Body Operators
With title: and body: you can target specific parts of web publications (News, Blogs, Forums). These operators are ignored with social media sources.
Note: If web + social sources are monitored together, title: and body: apply to web content only; social content is matched by keywords without title/body scoping.
title:
Function
Search only in page/article titles.
Example
(title:("World Cup" AND Argentina))Fetches data when both keywords appear in the title. Keywords are ignored if they only in the body content. Social posts are fetched by keywords regardless of title.
title: with groups
( title:("World Cup" AND Argentina) OR ("World Cup" AND Argentina) OR ("Women’s World Cup" AND Spain) )body:
Search only in body paragraphs of web posts.
Example
body:("World Cup" AND 2026)Fetches when both keywords appear in the body content. Keywords are ignored if they only appear in the title.
body: with other groups
( body:("World Cup" AND 2026) OR ("World Cup" AND 2026) OR title:("World Cup" AND USA) OR ("World Cup" AND USA) )URL: Operator
Target URLs themselves (the browser URL string) and hyperlinks within a page. You can monitor or block specific domains or URL substrings.
Syntax
Use quotes around full domains:
Moon AND url:"cnn.com"✅Moon AND url: cnn.com❌
Plain text for substrings:
Moon AND url:cnn✅
Non‑autonomous: must be paired with a keyword search via AND/AND NOT.
Examples
URL: & single website
Adidas AND url:"nytimes.com"
Matches: on nytimes.com, any URL containing nytimes.com, or hyperlinks to nytimes.com.
URL: & multiple websites
Adidas AND url:("nytimes.com" OR "cnn.com" OR "abcnews.com")Matches any of those domains, URL substrings containing them, or hyperlinks to them.
URL: & text substrings
Adidas AND url:(messi OR Argentina)
Matches URLs/hyperlinks containing messi or Argentina.
Wildcard Operators
Within the Advanced Alert, Mention offers two wildcard operators that will act as text replacements for your search queries. The ? and * operators can be written inside queries to enhance your searches in a productive way. Here's how they work:
?replaces one unknown character (bo?t→ boat, boot, bolt…).*replaces multiple unknown characters (v*d→ voted, void, valid…).
Scope & Source behavior
On Twitter, wildcards are non‑autonomous. You must pair them with a regular keyword.
Notes & Limitations
Do not wrap wildcards in quotes ("car?")—that becomes literal text.
Do not repeat the same wildcard consecutively: l??t ❌, t**h ❌, but c?r* ✅.
Wildcards don’t work for 1‑character texts (e.g., a?).
Wildcards only work with keywords, not with other operators (e.g., url:nytimes.com* is invalid).
Examples
? operator
"mobile app" AND McDonald?
Matches McDonalds, McDonaldz, McDonaldd…
* operator
"United States" AND *iking
Matches biking, hiking, liking…
Source Operator
Limit a query to specific sources, or exclude sources.
Syntax
AND source:<SourceName> AND source:(<A> OR <B> ...) AND NOT source:<SourceName>
Scope & Source behavior
Non‑autonomous: link to a keyword search.
If you include source:, Mention will only monitor the sources listed.
Works with the Monitored Sources dropdown in the Advanced Alert. Keep sources enabled there; use source: in the query to target precisely. If a source is turned off in the dropdown, adding it in source: will error.
Examples
Source: & 1 monitored source
Samsung AND Galaxy AND source:twitter
Only monitors Twitter for this query.
Source: & multiple sources
Samsung AND "Galaxy Fold" AND source:(twitter OR blogs)
Monitors Twitter or Blogs only.
Source: across multiple searches
( Samsung AND "Galaxy Fold" AND source:news ) OR ( Google AND Pixel AND source:(twitter OR blogs) ) OR ( Apple AND iPhone AND source:blogs )
Social Media Account Operators (Facebook & Twitter)
source_username:
Target specific @handles on Twitter or Facebook Business Pages. This operator is non‑autonomous; it must be combined with a keyword search via AND or AND NOT.
Notes & Limitations
Provide exact handles to avoid generic matches (e.g.,
source_username:Newsmatches any handle containing "News").Use the handle as it appears in the profile URL/bio.
You don’t need
@in queries (source_username:burgerking✅;@burgerking❌).Brands may use different handles per network (e.g.,
@mentionon Twitter,@mentionappon Facebook).
Examples
Monitored accounts
("Beyond Meat" OR "Beyond Chicken" OR "Plant-Based") AND source_username:(burgerking OR mcdonalds)Blocked accounts
("Beyond Meat" OR "Beyond Chicken" OR "Plant-Based") AND NOT source_username:(costco OR walmart OR target)Reach Operators
Mention can constrain results by audience size on specific sources.
Scope & Source behavior
Available for: Twitter, Facebook, and Web sources (News, Blogs, Forums).
❗ Reach operators do not work with Twitter Historical Data.
Each reach operator is non‑autonomous; it must be paired with a keyword search.
Operators & Examples
twitter_followers:XXX
Behavior: filters by Twitter followers. Monitors Twitter only unless you expand with a group.
Nutella AND twitter_followers:10000 Nutella AND (twitter_followers:10000 OR NOT source:twitter)
Example
("Nutella" OR Hersheys OR "Hershey's") AND twitter_followers:500facebook_page_likes:XXX
Behavior: filters Facebook pages by like count (not profiles or groups). Monitors Facebook only unless expanded.
Nutella AND facebook_page_likes:1000 Nutella AND (facebook_page_likes:1000 OR NOT source:facebook)
Example
Nutella AND biscuits AND (facebook_page_likes:1000 OR NOT source:facebook)
website_reach:XXX
Behavior: filters web mentions by website reach.
("Nutella" AND Oreo AND Halloween AND website_reach:5000)To also include social media data:
("Nutella" AND Oreo AND Halloween AND website_reach:5000) OR NOT source:(web OR blogs OR forums OR news)Commenting
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