The BLOX Digital Content Exchange syndicates thousands of stories, photos and videos each month to bring you the best content. To make it even easier, we use a series of search queries to narrow down what should be published and available through the network. Using our own "secret sauce" parameters, we initially pull content into the uncurated hub with a search query that is over 2,500 characters long.
Some of these search parameters may be familiar; others are specific to BLOX CMS. Here's how you can search like a pro:
Universal parameters
These common parameters can be used as a general rule of thumb for most searches.
AND, OR, AND NOT: Find content that contains both things, one or the other, or one and not the other. These standard search operators must be used in all caps when used to search in BLOX CMS.
() Parentheses: Just like in math, parentheses are important to dictate the order in which you want search parameters to function, and to pass a parameter to a string. For example, to find all articles on a site that include the word "pet" and either the word "dog" or "cat," structure a search string like: (pet AND (dog OR cat)). To search for stories about pets not including certain animals, use this string: pet AND NOT (bird, parrot, snake, tarantula, gerbil).
"" Quotation marks: Use quotation marks to search for a multi-word phrase. These are particularly useful with some of the BLOX CMS-specific search parameters.
* Asterisks: Allows for inexact phrases or phrases that might appear differently throughout sites. For example, to leave out obituary content, use obit*, to exclude searches in sections titled obit, obits, or obituaries.
+ Plus sign: Include a parameter in a search. These are used frequently in more complex strings and when using BLOX CMS specific parameters such as +tag_section:news.
- Minus sign: Exclude a parameter like –tag_section:news.
BLOX CMS-specific parameters
All BLOX CMS specific parameters should be followed by a colon with no space between the colon and the word being searched. For example tag_section:news.
tag_section: Returns all content assigned to a specific section. When used with an asterisk, it can return a section and all of its children. This is important when searching a section like news, which might have several subsections. A common search for a section looks like tag_section:news*.
tag_keyword: This will return any asset with a specific keyword tag. When searching for a multi-word keyword make sure to use quotation marks like tag_keyword:"president biden".
tag_geo: Geo tags are another tag type used in the Content Exchange to denote the origin of each piece of content. Any search with tag_geo must match a geo tag already created in BLOX CMS.
property_byline: Use this search parameter to exclude content from third-party sources. Using property_byline searches content that mentions the author, or source, but excludes content from specific sources. For example, using -property_byline:"Associated Press" will exclude all content written by the Associated Press, but still include articles that discuss the organization. (Remember that minus sign.)
title_search: Use this search if you want to single out a feature or specific piece of content from a publication for syndication to a larger group.
flags: Typically used to exclude a section such as –flags:ap. Important: the flag name needs to be lowercase when searching in BLOX CMS.
property_import: Use this parameter to find content imported from a specific job.
presentation: Find content with a specific presentation mode. For example, to locate all of images with mugshot presentation mode, search presentation:mugshot. This also works for articles and collections, for example presentation:long_form.
subtype: Search for specific asset types. For example a collection asset can be dynamic, which is a subtype. So you could search for subtype:dynamic. To find assets that are not dynamic, search for collections with -subtype:dynamic. This is also available for video assets, which have subtypes of cnn and field59.
At this customer webinar, Jeff Carney, director of content programs, and Isaac Alter, content syndication manager for TownNews were joined by special guests Andy Meyers, CEO of HealthDay, and Ken Romano, vice president of Stacker.
