A broad term such as “cleaning” can find customer requests, job seekers, supplier ads and everyday advice. A useful keyword strategy narrows that noise without silently hiding the requests you want to review.
This guide describes Find Prospects Now's supported matching behavior. Examples are illustrative; no percentage reduction in noise or increase in revenue is guaranteed.
Why single-word alerts create noise
“Need a plumber for a leaking pipe,” “Looking for a plumber apprenticeship,” and “I am a plumber offering a discount” all contain the same trade name. Text matching can find that word, but it does not establish that the author is hiring.
Review the request and group context before treating a match as a prospect. The local service lead-generation guide explains the rest of that workflow.
Look for a request, a service and context
A useful request often names a service or problem, asks for a recommendation or quote, and provides location or timing. Not every genuine request contains all three. “Anyone know who can fix this?” may need the attached context and a follow-up question.
Record the language in relevant posts. Start with phrases such as house cleaner, recommend a plumber or bathroom renovation, then adapt the list to the services you actually offer.
Understand exact and includes matching
| Mode | Keyword | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Includes | roof | Matches text containing roof, including roofing. |
| Exact | roof | Matches roof at word boundaries; avoids roofing. |
| Exact phrase | need a roofer | Matches that phrase within a longer post; does not require the whole post to be identical. |
Exact mode improves text specificity, not certainty of buying intent. Enter the phrase itself without search-engine quotation marks.
Build a cautious negative list
Start with phrases from false positives you have actually reviewed: job wanted, apprenticeship or training course might be candidates. Do not automatically exclude broad terms such as job, tenant or DIY; they can appear in suitable requests.
A negative phrase can also hide a good post that mentions the phrase in passing. Audit a manual sample when changing exclusions. Use the industry keyword templates as a starting point rather than a universal blacklist.
Use individual phrases, not Boolean queries
Find Prospects Now does not parse user-entered AND, OR, NOT expressions or regular expressions. Entering plumber AND recommend does not create a rule requiring both terms. Add separate useful phrases or write an AI criterion for the intent you want.
Word boundaries are handled by exact matching. You do not need to write a regular expression to use that mode. See keyword monitoring for the product workflow.
Use AI for requests expressed in different words
On Pro, AI Lead Matching evaluates your description of a relevant conversation. A brief such as “Find homeowners asking to hire a plumber; exclude employment and supplier ads” can help classify varied wording. It can still produce false positives or miss relevant posts.
Keywords and AI are complementary approaches, not a guaranteed two-stage Boolean pipeline. Review the original thread whichever method surfaced it. Our keyword-versus-AI guide explains the tradeoffs.
Check whether the group fits your offer
A broad regional board and a neighborhood recommendation group may use similar words but contain different customers. Track which groups yield useful requests and which mostly contain promotions. Refine your group shortlist as well as your phrases.
Do not assume a keyword is automatically restricted to a particular service area or group. Confirm place and scope in each original request, and use the coverage worksheet to review overlap.
Audit relevance and missed requests weekly
Label a sample of matches by outcome: relevant request, advertisement, employment, advice-only or unclear. Record the matching phrase. Manually inspect some recent group posts to identify useful requests that the list missed.
Change one phrase or exclusion at a time, then compare useful matches and misses. A higher share of relevant alerts is helpful only if it does not conceal too many suitable requests. Keep results from unusually active or quiet periods separate.
Common setup questions
Does exact matching mean the entire post must match? No. It checks the entered word or phrase at boundaries inside the post.
Will a match be a qualified lead? No. You still need to check intent, location, scope and the thread's current status.
Do scans run when Chrome is closed? No. The extension needs Chrome running, an awake computer and an active Facebook session. Scans are scheduled rather than guaranteed instant.
Product references and next steps
Product behavior reviewed on 12 October 2026. See keyword monitoring, AI Matching, the FAQ and monitoring without admin access.
Then use the keyword templates and reply templates to move from a focused list to useful human responses.
