How to Exclude Filters from a Search

How to Exclude Filters from a Search

Seamless makes it easy to refine your contact and company searches by using exclusion filters. Whether you're targeting a specific audience or narrowing your results, exclusion filters help remove irrelevant data to deliver more precise results. This article walks you through how to exclude filters individually or in bulk.

Common Use Cases for Exclusions

Exclusion filters are especially helpful when you want to:

• Exclude competitors (e.g., -Mailchimp, -ActiveCampaign)
• Remove non-buyer or unqualified titles (e.g., -Intern, -Student)
• Eliminate irrelevant segments (e.g., agencies, staffing firms, or companies outside your ICP)

How Exclusions Work (Important Notes)

• Exclusions help prevent unwanted results by removing matches that include the excluded value.
• Exclusions do not automatically filter close variants or partial word expansions.
  For example, excluding -Marketing Manager removes the exact phrase “Marketing Manager,” but does not automatically exclude “Marketing” and “Manager” as separate search criteria.

Where Exclusions Apply

You can exclude filters from many search fields (such as company names, job titles, and locations). Depending on where the data appears in a record, exclusions may also reduce results when the excluded term is found in related fields, such as:

• Company name
• Job title
• Location fields (city/state/country)
• Industry
• Company description

Excluding Filters Individually

You can exclude filters from any search field, including company names, job titles, locations, and more. Here’s how to exclude a single entry:

Steps to Exclude a Single Filter:

1. Open a Search Filter: Go to the relevant filter such as Company, Title, or Location.
   
2. Type the Filter Term: Begin typing the name you want to exclude (e.g., a specific company or title).
   
3. Choose “Exclude”: When the matching filter term appears, select the red Exclude option next to it.
   
4. Verify the Exclusion: The filter will appear in red, confirming that it is being excluded from your results.

Pro-Tip

You can also manually exclude a filter by typing a dash (-) or minus sign (-) directly in front of the filter term (e.g., -Google). Then hit Enter. This will automatically register the term as excluded and display it in red.

‍Excluding Filters in Bulk

For more advanced filtering, Seamless allows you to exclude multiple filters at once using either manual entry or a CSV file upload. This is available for the following filters:

• Company Names
  
• Job Titles
  
• Full Names

‍Option 1: Manual Bulk Entry

1. Select the Filter (e.g., Company): Go to the filter with bulk upload capability.
   
2. Type Your List: In the gray box, type or paste your list of values (e.g. Company Names).
   
3. Use the Dash Symbol: Add a dash (-) in front of each value you want to exclude (e.g., -Google, -Amazon, -Facebook).
   
4. Submit the Filters: Hit “Upload” to apply.
   

Option 2: CSV Upload

1. Prepare Your CSV File:
   
   • Ensure your column headers match the ones shown in the Seamless filter upload section.
     
   • Prefix each value you want excluded with a dash (e.g., -Google, -Apple).
     
2. Upload the File: Use the upload option in the filter field to add your CSV.
   
3. Verify Exclusions: Once uploaded, the list of values will automatically populate in the gray box, ensuring desired excluded terms appear with a dash.
   
4. Submit the Filters: Hit “Upload” to apply.

Summary

Using exclusion filters in Seamless helps streamline your search results by eliminating unwanted companies, titles, and other values. Whether you're excluding a single term or a full list, both methods are quick, flexible, and effective.