How to Search Tweets by Keyword

To search tweets by keyword on X, type the word into the search bar, press Enter, and open the Latest tab for every post that contains it. Wrap several words in quotes to match them as an exact phrase, and add -word to remove posts with a word you don’t want.

Keyword search is where most searches on X start, and it combines with every filter in the Twitter advanced search operators reference. This guide covers how X matches keywords, and each keyword operator links to its own guide.

How Does X Match a Keyword Search?

X matches a keyword against the post text, the author’s name and handle, and the text of links in the post, and it treats spaces between words as AND. X also matches plurals and sometimes corrects spelling, so bears finds posts containing bear (twitter-advanced-search reference).

Some words act as signals. A search for photo is read as a request for posts with photos; searching "photo" in quotes finds posts that literally contain the word.

How Do You Search Tweets by Keyword on X?

You search tweets by keyword by typing the words into the search bar and choosing the tab that fits your goal. Listed below are the 4 steps.

1. Log in to x.com or the X app (X Help Center).
2. Type your keywords; all of them must appear in a result.
3. Press Enter.
4. Choose Top for posts with engagement, or Latest for every match newest first.

The Advanced search form’s Words section writes the same operators for you: all of these words, this exact phrase, any of these words, none of these words, hashtags and language (X Help Center).

Twitter Keyword Search Operators

Twitter keyword operators decide which words a post must contain, may contain, or must not contain. Listed below are the 8 operators, each with its own guide.

Operator	Finds posts	Example	Guide
word1 word2	With both words	electric car	This page
"exact phrase"	With the words in that order	"electric car"	Exact phrase search
word1 OR word2	With either word	tesla OR rivian	Multiple keywords with OR
-word	Without the word	jaguar -car	Exclude words
#hashtag	Using the hashtag	#EV	Search by hashtag
$cashtag	Using the ticker	$TSLA	Search by cashtag
url:domain	Linking to the domain	url:electrek.co	Search by domain
lang:xx	In the language	coche lang:es	Search by language

How Do You Make a Keyword Search More Precise?

You make a keyword search more precise by adding filters for account, date, engagement and media after the keyword. The table shows one keyword narrowed 5 ways (twitter-advanced-search reference).

Narrow by	Query
One account	"electric car" from:username
A date range	"electric car" since:2025-01-01 until:2025-07-01
Popular posts only	"electric car" min_faves:500
Posts with video	"electric car" filter:videos
No reposts or replies	"electric car" -filter:retweets -filter:replies

Date windows are explained in how to search tweets by date, and like, repost and reply thresholds in how to search tweets by likes, reposts and replies. Image, video and link filters are in how to search only tweets with images, videos or links.

How Do You Search Old Tweets by Keyword?

To search old tweets by keyword, add a date window with since: and until:, because a bare keyword in the Latest tab mostly shows recent posts. For example, "electric car" since:2015-01-01 until:2016-01-01 searches 2015. The full method is in how to find old tweets on X.

How Do You Find the Most Popular Tweets for a Keyword?

To find the most popular tweets for a keyword, add min_faves: with a high number and sort by Top. "electric car" min_faves:5000 returns posts about electric cars with at least 5,000 likes. Topic research built on this is in how to find viral tweets about any topic.

Why Does a Twitter Keyword Search Miss Posts?

A Twitter keyword search misses posts when the word is spelled differently, when X corrects the spelling, or when the post sits outside the search index. Private and suspended accounts are not indexed (twitter-advanced-search reference). Listed below are the 4 fixes.

1. Add spelling variants with OR: (colour OR color).
2. Quote a word to stop spelling correction: "radiooooo", or force it with +radiooooo.
3. Add a date window for older posts.
4. Switch from Top to Latest.

How to Collect Keyword Search Results With apidojo

X keyword search has no export, so apidojo’s Tweet Scraper V2 on Apify runs your keyword query and returns each matching post with its text, author, date and engagement counts. The actor’s keyword example adds a language filter through the tweetLanguage input (Apify).

{
  "searchTerms": ["artificial intelligence"],
  "tweetLanguage": "en",
  "sort": "Latest"
}

It costs $0.40 per 1,000 tweets, with at least 50 tweets per query. The developer workflow is how to scrape tweets by keyword, part of the apidojo Twitter Scraper.