# Threads search examples: does searching \

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

## Three things to remember

1. **Chinese is matched character by character**: the characters in the keyword 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 are matched by whole word**: if more katakana or a Korean particle follows, 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 right next to 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 numbers written together form one word, "top10" |
| `top 10` | Top 10 必吃美食 | ✅ | The two words appear in order |
| `work from home` | Work From Home 一年心得 | ✅ | The three words appear in order |
| `work from home` | #workfromhome 日常 | ❌ | Written as one word, it's a different word |

:::tip[Want "OpenAI" as well as "AI"?]
Search for both: run separate searches for `AI` and `OpenAI`, or ask [Throk Agent](/en/web/agent/) to query them at once.
:::

## 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: "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 | ✅ | English and Chinese are each matched, and they appear in order |
| `5G手機` | 5G手機推薦 | ✅ | The English/number part and the Chinese part appear in order |
| `貓` | 熊貓好可愛 | ✅ | A single character finds every post containing it |

:::caution[Avoid single-character keywords]
Single-character keywords like `貓` (cat) or `茶` (tea) find lots of unrelated posts, such as "熊貓" (panda) or "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 are matched character by character, like 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 it a different word, "꿀팁을" |
| `꿀팁` | 꿀팁이 있어요 | ❌ | Same as above, with the particle "이" |

## Practice: build a complete keyword list

The web app searches one keyword at a time. For each scenario below, **search each keyword in the list one by one**. You can also hand the whole list to [Throk Agent](/en/web/agent/) and ask it to query them at once and summarize the results.

### 1. Track a topic with many names

You want to track conversations about bubble tea (珍珠奶茶). Searching only `珍珠奶茶` misses short forms 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` won't find 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 mainland China spellings

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

```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 search

- [ ] Are there **other spellings**? Short forms, full names, or versions with and without spaces or hyphens (case doesn't matter)
- [ ] Could your English keyword actually be **part of another word**? If you need that word, search it separately
- [ ] Do you need the **Simplified Chinese** spelling?
- [ ] Does the Korean keyword have forms **with particles**? Does the katakana keyword have **compound words**?
- [ ] Is the keyword **a single character**? Too short means lots of noise
- [ ] Is the **Publish date** range long enough? The default is the last 7 days, up to 30 days on paid plans