# Keyword examples and lists (API and MCP)

This page uses real examples to show which posts a keyword finds and which it misses. For the full rules, see [Search rules](/en/api/guides/search-rules/).

## Three things to remember

1. **Chinese matches character by character**: the keyword's characters must appear in order and next to each other.
2. **English matches by word**: case-insensitive, and it never matches "part" of a word. In English posts, singular, plural and other word forms also match each other.
3. **Katakana and Korean match whole words**: if more katakana or a Korean particle follows the word, it counts as a different word.

## English

| Search | Post text | Found? | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `AI` | 用 AI 寫文案 | ✅ | A separate word |
| `AI` | AI繪圖教學 | ✅ | English touching Chinese still counts as a separate word |
| `AI` | #AI #行銷 | ✅ | `#` is ignored |
| `AI` | ai 工具推薦 | ✅ | Case-insensitive |
| `AI` | AI-generated 圖片 | ✅ | A hyphen splits words |
| `AI` | I paid for it | ❌ | "ai" is only part of "paid" |
| `AI` | Taiwan 必吃 | ❌ | "ai" is only part of "Taiwan" |
| `AI` | OpenAI 發表新模型 | ❌ | OpenAI is one whole word |
| `gram` | Instagram 限時動態 | ❌ | "gram" is only part of "Instagram" |
| `app` | 3 個好用的 apps | ❌ | In a Chinese post, singular and plural aren't merged |
| `app` | Best apps for students (English post) | ✅ | English posts merge singular and plural |
| `top` | top10 必吃清單 | ❌ | English and digits written together form one word, "top10" |
| `top 10` | Top 10 必吃美食 | ✅ | Both words appear in order |
| `work from home` | Work From Home 一年心得 | ✅ | All three words appear in order |
| `work from home` | #workfromhome 日常 | ❌ | Written together, it's a different word |

:::tip[Want "OpenAI" as well as "AI"?]
Send both as keywords: `keywords=AI&keywords=OpenAI`. Multiple keywords are combined with OR, so a post that matches either one appears.
:::

## Chinese

| Search | Post text | Found? | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `蛋白` | 高蛋白質早餐 | ✅ | The two characters 蛋白 appear next to each other |
| `減脂` | 減脂期間怎麼吃 | ✅ | Appears in full |
| `減脂` | 減少脂肪攝取 | ❌ | 減 and 脂 aren't next to each other |
| `減肥` | 减肥餐推荐 | ❌ | Traditional and Simplified don't match each other: 减 and 減 are different characters |
| `減脂` | 減，脂，成功！ | ✅ | Punctuation and spaces between characters are ignored |
| `CP值` | 這家CP值很高 | ✅ | The English and Chinese parts each match, in order |
| `5G手機` | 5G手機推薦 | ✅ | The English/digit part and the Chinese part appear in order |
| `貓` | 熊貓好可愛 | ✅ | A single character finds every post that contains it |

:::caution[Avoid single-character keywords]
Single-character keywords such as `貓` (cat) and `茶` (tea) find lots of unrelated posts, for example 熊貓 (panda) and 茶几 (coffee table). Use keywords of two or more characters whenever you can.
:::

## Japanese

| Search | Post text | Found? | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `お金` | お金持ちになりたい | ✅ | Hiragana and kanji match character by character, the same as Chinese |
| `コーヒー` | コーヒーを飲む | ✅ | The katakana word ends before を |
| `コーヒー` | コーヒー豆 | ✅ | The katakana word ends before 豆 |
| `コーヒー` | アイスコーヒー | ❌ | アイスコーヒー is one whole katakana word |
| `コーヒー` | コーヒーショップ | ❌ | Same as above |

## Korean

| Search | Post text | Found? | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `꿀팁` | 오늘의 꿀팁 | ✅ | Spaces around it make it a whole word |
| `꿀팁` | 꿀팁! | ✅ | Punctuation doesn't matter |
| `꿀팁` | 꿀팁을 공유합니다 | ❌ | The particle 을 is attached, making a different word, 꿀팁을 |
| `꿀팁` | 꿀팁이 있어요 | ❌ | Same as above, with the particle 이 |

## Practice: build a complete keyword list

`/post/search` takes up to 30 keywords at a time, combined with OR, so you can send a whole list in one request:

```bash
curl -G 'https://premium-api.throk.ai/post/search' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer sk-throk-...' \
  --data-urlencode 'keywords=珍珠奶茶' \
  --data-urlencode 'keywords=珍奶' \
  --data-urlencode 'keywords=波霸奶茶' \
  --data-urlencode 'keywords=粉圓奶茶' \
  --data-urlencode 'max_age_hours=168'
```

With `/post/keyword-trend`, each keyword gets its own trend line (up to 10), which makes it easy to compare the volume of different spellings.

### 1. Track a topic with many names

You want to track discussion of 珍珠奶茶 (bubble milk tea). Searching only `珍珠奶茶` misses the short form and other names, because each keyword must appear in full.

Suggested list:

```text
珍珠奶茶、珍奶、波霸奶茶、粉圓奶茶
```

### 2. Track the "AI" topic

Searching only `AI` misses posts that only say "OpenAI" or 人工智慧 (artificial intelligence).

Suggested list:

```text
AI、人工智慧、OpenAI、ChatGPT、Claude、Gemini
```

### 3. Cover both Taiwan and China spellings

Traditional and Simplified don't match each other, so list both:

```text
減肥、减肥
```

### 4. Korean keywords

List the most common particle forms too:

```text
맛집、맛집에서、맛집은、맛집이、맛집을
```

### 5. Japanese katakana

List the common compound words too:

```text
コーヒー、アイスコーヒー、コーヒーショップ
```

## Checklist before you send

- [ ] Are there **other spellings**? Abbreviations, full names, spacing or joined forms (case doesn't matter)
- [ ] Could an English keyword actually be **part of another word**? If you need that word, list it separately
- [ ] Do you need the **Simplified** spelling?
- [ ] Does the Korean keyword have forms **with particles**? Does the katakana word have **compounds**?
- [ ] Is the keyword **a single character**? Too short means lots of noise
- [ ] Is the **time range** long enough? `/post/search` searches the last 7 days by default, up to 90 days