How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator Boolean Search (2025 Guide)
You want to use boolean search to find better leads on LinkedIn Sales Navigator?
Here is what you will learn in this guide:
How to Use Boolean Search in Sales Navigator
Where to Use Boolean Operators in LinkedIn Sales Navigator
The Best Practices when using your Boolean Search
How to Target Decision Makers using Boolean Operators
The Limits of Boolean Search
How to Export your Leads
📺 You prefer to watch a video to learn how to use boolean on LinkedIn Sales Navigator? Here is the link:
How to Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator Boolean Search?
Boolean search lets you filter results using operators like AND, OR, and NOT.
It’s simple. But powerful.
Here’s a quick breakdown:
Operator | What It Does | Example |
---|---|---|
| Search for exact phrases |
|
| Include one OR the other |
|
| Include both terms |
|
| Exclude specific words |
|
| Combine logic in complex queries |
|
How to Search the Exact Expressions with "Quotes"
Use quotes to match the exact title.
Example:
"Chief Marketing Officer"
→ "only" exact matches.

Without quotes, LinkedIn returns more inaccurate leads.

How to Combined Expression with OR
Use OR to include multiple titles or roles.
Example:
"Head of Marketing" OR "Head of Sales"
→ profiles with either term.
(Note that I use "quotes" to get better results)

How to Search Keywords with AND
You can use AND to narrow down your search to leads with all terms.
Example:
"Founder" AND "CTO"
→ both terms must be present.

How to Exclude Keywords with NOT
It filters out what you don’t want.
It's useful if you see a lot of inaccurate results in your search.
For example if you want to target "CMO", you will get a lot of people who are "fractional CMO".

To remove "fractional CMO", you can use NOT.
Example:
"CEO" NOT "Fractional"
→ removes Fractional

How to Combined Boolean Operators with (Parentheses)
Mix "quotes", AND, OR and NOT together for precise targeting.
Example:
("VP" OR "Head") AND "Marketing" NOT "Assistant"

You can check in the best practices how to combined properly boolean operators with parentheses.
Where to Use Boolean Operators in LinkedIn Sales Navigator
On LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you can use Boolean logic in 3 filters:
Current job title
Search keywords
Company filters
Current Job Title
It's perfect for targeting decision-makers with variations like:
("VP" OR "Head") AND "Marketing"

Search Keywords
You can use the boolean operators in the "Search Keywords" section.
It will search through:
About Section
Job experiences
Education
Skills
Recommendations
…

Company filter
You want to include or exclude specific companies? Boolean works here too.
But to be honest, it's not really useful…

Best Practices to Use Boolean Operators
Before writing your boolean search, think about your ideal customer.
Start with:
The position,
Then the function,
Finally exclude some keywords
Step 1: How to Target a Position (VP, Head, Founder)
If you want to target a specific position, you can use:
"VP" OR "Head" OR "Founder"
Step 2: How to Target a Function (Marketing, Sales, HR)
Then, if you want to target a specific function, you can use:
"Marketing" OR "Sales" OR "HR"
Step 3: How to Exclude
Finally, if you see that some LinkedIn Sales Navigator are not relevant for you, you can exclude them:
NOT "Assistant" NOT "Intern"
This removes junior or irrelevant titles.
Concrete Example
Now if you want to use the position, function and the exclude keywords, you need to use all the boolean operators.
Here’s a full search you can use:
("VP" OR "Head") AND ("Marketing" OR "Sales") NOT ("Assistant" OR "Intern")

How To Target Decision Makers with Boolean Operators
In this section, I will cover:
How to Identify CEO/Founder
How to Identify Chief Marketing Officer
How to Identify Head of Sales
How to Identify CEO/Founder
If you want to target CEO/Founder, you can use this job title filter:
"CEO" OR "chief executive officer" OR "founder" OR "co-founder" NOT "Assistant"
This boolean search finds founders whether they write “CEO,” “Founder,” or both and remove the assistants
📺 If you want the details on how to identify a "CEO/Founder", you can check our YouTube video:
How to Identify Chief Marketing Officer
If you want to target Chief Marketing Officer you can use this job title filter:
"CMO" OR "chief marketing officer" OR "head of marketing" NOT "Fractional"
This boolean search finds Chief Marketing Officer whether they write “CMO,” “Chief Marketing Officer" or "Head of Marketing,” and remove "fractional" CMO.
📺 If you want the details on how to identify a "Chief Marketing Officer", you can check our YouTube video:
How to Identify Head of Sales
If you want to target Head of Sales you can use this job title filter:
"Head of Sales" OR "Sales Director" OR "VP Sales" NOT "Manager"
This boolean search finds "Head of Sales" whether they write “Head of Sales,” “Sales Director" or "VP Sales,” and remove "Manager".
📺 If you want the details on how to identify a "Head of Sales", you can check our YouTube video:
The Limits of Boolean Operators on LinkedIn Sales Navigator
The boolean search helps a lot to find your ideal customer. But it’s not perfect.
Results often include irrelevant profiles (even with "quotes" and NOT)
People write their job titles in different ways
You’ll still need to filter manually
Example:
You search for "Head of Sales", and you get a bad result.
That's why it's a must to have a tool like GiveMeLeads that double check your results.

How to Export Your Sales Navigator Boolean Search Results?
Follow the 7 steps to export your leads from LinkedIn Sales Navigator with their verified emails:
Create a GiveMeLeads account
Download the Chrome Extension
Select your target on LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Add Intent Data (Optional)
Launch your export
Schedule Your Leads Export (Optional)
Download your leads file
Let's dive in!
Step 1: Create a GiveMeLeads account
Go on GiveMeLeads. Then click on "Get first 10 leads for free".
Then, you have to write your:
First Name
Last Name
Email
Password
And click on "Create account".

Step 2: Download the Chrome Extension
The GiveMeLeads Chrome extension allows you to export your LinkedIn Sales Navigator leads with one click.
It's not mandatory to use it — you can also copy and paste the Sales Navigator search URL directly into the platform.
However, using the extension makes the process faster and easier, especially if you're just getting started.

Step 3: Select your target on LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Go to LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
Use filters to find your ideal leads (like job title, company size, or location).
Then click “Extract leads” using the GiveMeLeads extension or paste the search URL on the platform.

Step 4: Add Intent Data (Optional)
Depending on your GiveMeLeads plan, you can add intent data to your searches.
It’s a great way to find warm leads — people who are more likely to reply or book a call.
Let’s say your LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters are:
Company size: 51–200 employees
Job title: “Head of Sales”
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
On top of that, GiveMeLeads will look for people who match these filters and show intent, such as:
1st-degree connections
People in your competitors’ network
People who follow your company page
People who viewed your LinkedIn profile
Once you’ve selected your intent data sources, click “Save Changes”

💡 Pro tip: You can set priorities for each source. For example, you can give more weight to 1st-degree connections than profile viewers.
💡Pro tip #2: If you work with multiple sales reps (or co-founders), you can use all of their LinkedIn accounts to get more and better leads. Each account brings its own network, 1st-degree connections, and profile viewers — which means more warm leads for your team.
Step 5: Launch your export
You target is set up. Now it's time to export your leads.
For that, click on "New Leads Export".

You will get a pop-up where you can select:
The number of leads you want to export
If you want to schedule this export on a weekly basis.
Then click on "Export Leads".

Step 6: Schedule Your Leads Export (Optional)
GiveMeLeads lets you schedule lead exports. Pick the day you want, and you’ll receive fresh leads weekly.
Once set up, you'll get a fresh list of leads every week — automatically.
Each lead is unique, and the system ensures there are no duplicates. This saves you time and keeps your CRM clean, so you can focus on outreach, not data cleaning.

Then, you’ll automatically receive new leads every week — no manual work needed.
You can focus 100% on what really matters: sending emails, starting LinkedIn conversations, and booking meetings.

💡 Pro tip: With scheduled exports, you can easily build lead files with more than 2,500 fresh, qualified contacts delivered straight to your inbox every week.
Step 7: Download your leads file
When your export is finished, you’ll receive an email with a download link.

You can also download your file directly by clicking the "Download" button in your dashboard. You’ll see two options.

"Open in Sheets"
This gives you a simple version of your lead list.
You have:
Source (Sales Navigator, 1st-degree, profile viewers…)
First Name
Last Name
Profile picture
Company name
Job title
Headline
LinkedIn URL
Email
It doesn’t include all the data, but it’s perfect if you just want to import leads into your CRM or outreach tool like Lemlist or Expandi.

"Download CSV"
This gives you the full file with all available data. For each lead, you’ll see extra info like:
Whether they have LinkedIn Premium
Their total years of experience
Company details like size, industry, and location
Etc
Here's all the informations you can have:
filters | source | source_info | first_name | last_name | linkedin_url | linkedin_id | email_status | job_title | location | profile_picture_url | recent_posts_count | connection_degree | is_premium | is_open | headline | summary | current_companies_count | company_name | company_linkedin_id | company_website | company_location | company_industry | company_employee_count | company_employee_count_range | company_type | company_year_founded | company_specialties | company_description | duration_in_company | duration_in_role | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VALID | Sales Navigator | John | Smith | ACwAAAEXAMPLE1 | Verified | CEO | New York, United States | 2 | FIRST_DEGREE | TRUE | TRUE | Helping SaaS startups scale faster | CEO at NovaTech | Experienced CEO passionate about B2B SaaS, growth marketing, and building winning sales teams. | 1 | NovaTech | 123456 | New York, United States | Information Technology | 45 | 11-50 | PRIVATELY_HELD | 2015 | B2B SaaS;Sales Automation;CRM Tools | NovaTech builds modern tools to help sales teams close more deals, faster. | 36 months | 36 months | |||||
VALID | Sales Navigator | Emily | Johnson | ACwAAAEXAMPLE2 | Verified | CMO | Chicago, Illinois, United States | 3 | SECOND_DEGREE | TRUE | FALSE | Marketing Leader at BrightWave | Helping brands grow with storytelling | I lead the marketing team at BrightWave, combining creative storytelling with strategy. | 1 | BrightWave | 654321 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | Marketing and Advertising | 85 | 51-100 | PRIVATELY_HELD | 2012 | Brand Strategy;Content Marketing;Digital Ads | BrightWave helps businesses shine with strategic marketing and bold storytelling. | 60 months | 48 months |
💡 Pro tip: Don’t forget to scroll horizontally — there's a lot of valuable data in your lead file, including job titles, company size, verified emails, and even intent signals.
On top of that, GiveMeLeads automatically cleans your data:
Fixes capital letters in names and job titles
Removes emojis from job titles
Removes legal suffixes in company names (like LLC, GmbH, etc.)
Field | Before | After |
---|---|---|
First Name | john | John |
Job Title | 🚀 CEO & Founder | CEO & Founder |
Company Name | Stripe GmbH | Stripe |

GiveMeLeads also checks if each lead matches your LinkedIn Sales Navigator filters.
If a lead doesn’t fit — for example, they have:
An invalid job title
Invalid location
Wrong company size work
Etc
We tag them in the column "filters" with the reason they’re invalid (like “Invalid job title” or “Wrong company size”).
That way, you keep full control of your data and don’t waste time guessing why a lead doesn’t match your targeting. We make sure your boolean search is respected.

📺 If you want to export your Sales Navigator boolean search results, you can check our YouTube video: