On this page
- What is LinkedIn X-ray search?
- How do you write an X-ray search string?
- Which search operators work where?
- Build your search string
- Example X-ray strings for roles hired in India
- Can you X-ray search beyond LinkedIn?
- Why does X-ray search miss good candidates?
- Is LinkedIn X-ray search allowed?
- How do you know X-ray search is working?
- Frequently asked questions
- How we researched this
- The core string is site:linkedin.com/in plus a quoted job title, skills and a location. It also returns India's in.linkedin.com profiles.
- Google and LinkedIn read operators differently. In Google, use a minus sign to exclude. In LinkedIn, use NOT in capitals.
- X-ray only sees profiles that members made public and that Google has indexed, so it always misses people.
- Searching Google by hand is fine. Bots and scrapers break LinkedIn's terms, and GitHub's rules forbid spamming its users.
- Use the string builder below to write both versions in one go.
X-ray search is one of the oldest sourcing tricks, and it still works. Most guides online get the operators wrong for Google, though, and almost none are written for Indian roles. This one covers the formula, which operators work where, example strings for roles Indian recruiters fill every week, and the rules you need to stay inside. Every platform fact links to that platform's own help pages, checked on 21 October 2026.
What is LinkedIn X-ray search?
X-ray search uses a search engine to look inside one website. For LinkedIn, you tell Google to return only public profile pages with site:linkedin.com/in, then add the words you want those profiles to contain. Google does the searching, so you are not using LinkedIn's own people search at all.
Boolean search is a different thing that often gets mixed up with it. Boolean means combining keywords with AND, OR and NOT, and you can do it on LinkedIn, on Naukri Resdex, in most ATS tools and, with some differences, on Google. An X-ray string is usually a Boolean string with a site: command in front.
How do you write an X-ray search string?
Build it in four parts, in this order:
- The site.
site:linkedin.com/inlimits results to member profiles. Don't put a space after the colon. Google's own help notes thatsite: nytimes.comwon't work. - The title. Put it in quotes and list variants with OR:
("java developer" OR "backend developer"). - Skills and location. Quote multi word terms:
"spring boot" "pune". Google needs every word by default, so you don't need AND. - Exclusions. Use a minus sign with no space:
-intern -trainee -"open to work".
Put together: site:linkedin.com/in ("java developer" OR "backend developer") "spring boot" "pune" -intern. When we ran a string like this on Google India on 21 October 2026, every result was an in.linkedin.com profile, which matches Google's note that site: also covers subdomains. You don't need a separate string for in.linkedin.com.
Which search operators work where?
This is where most strings break. Google, LinkedIn and Naukri each read operators slightly differently:
| Operator | Google (X-ray) | LinkedIn search | Naukri Resdex |
|---|---|---|---|
| "exact phrase" | Yes (documented) | Yes | Yes |
| OR | Works in capitals, but not on Google's operator list | Yes, in capitals | Yes |
| AND | Not needed. Every word is required by default | Yes, in capitals | Yes |
| NOT | No. Use a minus sign | Yes, in capitals | Yes |
| Minus sign (-word) | Yes (documented) | Not officially supported. Use NOT | Use the Exclude box |
| ( ) brackets | Work for grouping OR terms, not documented | Yes | Not confirmed. Use EZ Keywords |
| * wildcard | Not documented | Not supported | Not documented |
| site: | Yes (documented), covers subdomains | Not used | Not used |
Sources: Google Search Help and Search Central, LinkedIn Help, and Naukri's Resdex FAQ, all checked 21 Oct 2026. LinkedIn also says it ignores stop words such as "by", "in" and "with", and that it doesn't support curly braces or angle brackets. It applies quotes first, then brackets, then NOT, AND and OR.
Build your search string
Fill in what you know and the builder writes a Google X-ray string and a LinkedIn Boolean string for the same search. Separate options with commas. Nothing you type leaves your browser until you click a search button.
For LinkedIn, the builder leaves locations out of the keyword string and lets you set them with LinkedIn's location filter, because a city name in keywords also matches people who once worked there.
Example X-ray strings for roles hired in India
Starting points, not tested templates. Swap in your own titles and cities:
| Role | Google X-ray string |
|---|---|
| Java backend developer, Pune | site:linkedin.com/in ("java developer" OR "backend developer") "spring boot" "pune" -intern -trainee |
| Data analyst, Bengaluru | site:linkedin.com/in "data analyst" (sql OR "power bi" OR tableau) ("bengaluru" OR "bangalore") -intern |
| BPO team leader, voice process | site:linkedin.com/in ("team leader" OR "team lead") "voice process" (noida OR gurugram OR gurgaon) |
| Relationship manager, home loans | site:linkedin.com/in "relationship manager" ("home loan" OR "mortgage") (mumbai OR thane) -insurance |
| Chartered accountant, audit | site:linkedin.com/in ("chartered accountant" OR "CA") "statutory audit" "ahmedabad" -articleship |
| UI designer portfolio | site:behance.net ("ui designer" OR "product designer") "india" |
Two habits help. List the city's old and new names (Bangalore and Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Gurugram), because people write both. And add a title people use in India but rarely abroad, such as "team leader" or "executive", alongside the global one.
Can you X-ray search beyond LinkedIn?
Yes, but check each site's own search first. GitHub's built in user search is better than an X-ray string for developers: it supports qualifiers like location:pune language:java followers:>20. Behance and Dribbble work well with X-ray for designers.
Read the rules before you reach out, though. GitHub's acceptable use policy says you may not use information from GitHub for spamming, including sending unsolicited emails to users or selling their personal information to recruiters. A personal, relevant message about a real role is a very different thing from a bulk email to every Java developer in Pune.
Naukri can't be X-rayed. Resdex profiles sit behind a paid login, so Google doesn't index them. Our Naukri Resdex guide covers how to search it well instead.
Search your own database before the open web
Hirin.ai searches the CVs you already have first, then the job boards, and ranks matches by fit, so X-ray is for the people you are still missing.
Why does X-ray search miss good candidates?
- Only public profiles show up. LinkedIn members can switch off their profile's public visibility, which hides them from search engines.
- Google lags behind. LinkedIn says it can take weeks or months for search engines to reflect profile changes, so titles and employers can be out of date.
- No hiring filters. You can't filter by notice period, current CTC or how recently someone was active, which Indian hiring depends on.
- Volume roles don't live on LinkedIn. Many BPO, retail and field candidates aren't active there. Job boards, WhatsApp and referrals reach them better. See our guide to bulk hiring.
Is LinkedIn X-ray search allowed?
Running searches on Google and reading the public results is ordinary web search. What crosses the line is automation. LinkedIn's User Agreement says members must not use software, scripts, robots or other means to scrape or copy profiles and other data. So search by hand, and don't use bots, scraping extensions or tools that copy profiles into spreadsheets.
X-ray also runs outside LinkedIn's commercial use limit. LinkedIn caps people searches on free accounts when activity looks like hiring or prospecting, and the list of activities it counts covers searches and browsing on LinkedIn itself, not Google searches.
On privacy, India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 says in Section 3(c)(ii) that it does not apply to personal data the person has made publicly available. Our reading is that this covers what a candidate put on their own public profile, not data bought from enrichment tools or copied in bulk, and it doesn't override platform terms. Once a candidate replies and shares a CV, store it in one system with access controls. This is general information, not legal advice.
How do you know X-ray search is working?
- Relevant profiles per search: of the first 20 results, how many would you actually contact? Under five usually means the string is too loose.
- Reply rate: replies divided by messages sent. A low rate usually points at the message, not the string.
- Share of shortlists from X-ray: compare it with job boards, Resdex, referrals and your own database for the same role type.
- Time to shortlist: X-ray is free in money but not in recruiter hours. Count the hours.
For where X-ray fits among paid tools, see our comparison of AI candidate sourcing platforms, and for tech roles, our guide to IT recruitment in India.
Frequently asked questions
What is X-ray search in recruitment?
What is the difference between X-ray search and Boolean search?
Does NOT work in Google X-ray searches?
Is LinkedIn X-ray search free?
Can I X-ray search Naukri?
How we researched this
Operator behaviour comes from each platform's own help pages, read on 21 October 2026. Where a platform doesn't document something (OR and brackets on Google, for example) we say so rather than guess. We ran the Pune Java string on Google India on the same day to check that site:linkedin.com/in returns in.linkedin.com profiles. The example strings for other roles are starting points we wrote, not tested templates.
- Google Search Help, Refine Google searches.
- Google Search Central, site: search operator.
- LinkedIn Help, Use Boolean search on LinkedIn.
- LinkedIn Help, Commercial use limit.
- LinkedIn Help, Public profile visibility.
- LinkedIn, User Agreement, section 8 (Dos and Don'ts).
- GitHub Docs, Searching users.
- GitHub, Acceptable Use Policies, sections 7 and 8.
- Naukri recruiter FAQ, Resdex search and Boolean.
- Government of India, Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, Section 3(c)(ii).
LinkedIn, GitHub, Behance, Google and Naukri are trademarks of their owners. Hirin.ai is not affiliated with any of them.
Vikas Agarwal
Vikas Agarwal is the founder of Hirin.ai, an AI recruitment platform that screens, interviews and shortlists candidates for Indian hiring teams and staffing agencies. He has spent years building digital products and now works on the hiring problems recruiters raise every day. He writes about AI in recruitment, staffing and the future of work.