What is the difference between a mention and a keyword?

A keyword matches the exact words wherever they appear in an article's title or text. A mention matches the articles in which Inoreader recognized that specific person, company, location, product or event, under any of its spellings, so following Apple the company as a mention leaves out articles that only use the word "apple".

Mentions are recognized only in English, French and German articles from eligible feeds, so a keyword reaches more articles and a mention gives fewer false matches.

The matching rules

A keyword in a monitoring feed is a phrase match on the title and the content, or on one of them when you set the pill's Search in to Titles only or Content only. It works in any language and on any article in the feed's scope.

A mention matches the recognized mention with every variant of its name: capitalization, accents, punctuation and a possessive don't matter, a company or product counts without its legal suffix, and a person's title before the full name is dropped. Every mention has a type, and a single lowercase word is never a mention. What are mentions? explains the recognition, and Which languages work best with mentions? the languages.

Pick a mention or a keyword

In the monitoring feed builder, typing a name offers Add as keyword, with your text in quotes, and Suggestions, the mentions with a type badge and their articles per week. Both go into one feed, combined with + OR, + AND and − NOT. How do I create a monitoring feed? walks through the builder.

In rules and filters, a keyword is a Title or content, Title or Content condition with contains, is or a regular expression, and a mention is a List of mentions condition with contains or doesn't contain. One rule can hold both, joined with And or Or. Can I use mentions in rules and filters? has the steps.

Choose between the two

Use a mention for a name that's also an ordinary word or that other things share. Use a keyword for a topic, a phrase, or articles in other languages. To catch the articles in which the mention wasn't recognized, add the name as a keyword next to the mention with + OR.

Mentions in monitoring feeds, rules and filters are a Pro feature, while a keyword search of your own account is available on every plan.