Whole-Word Matching

When you set up a keyword, you can choose between whole-word matching and partial matching. This controls how strict the match needs to be, and it matters more than you might think.

What whole-word matching does

With whole-word matching, Messijo only triggers a match when your keyword appears as a complete, standalone word. The keyword must be surrounded by word boundaries (spaces, punctuation, or the start/end of text).

Example with keyword apple:

• ✅ “I love apple products”: matches (whole word)
• ✅ “The apple fell from the tree”: matches (whole word)
• ❌ “This is an applecation form”: does not match
• ❌ “I use applesauce in baking”: does not match

What partial matching does

With partial matching, Messijo triggers a match when your keyword appears anywhere in the text, even as part of a larger word.

Example with keyword apple:

• ✅ “I love apple products”: matches
• ✅ “This is an applecation form”: matches (contains “apple”)
• ✅ “I use applesauce in baking”: matches (contains “apple”)
• ✅ “applepie is my favorite”: matches (contains “apple”)

Which one should you use?

Use whole-word matching when:

• Your keyword is a common word that appears inside many other words (e.g., “art” inside “start,” “party,” “smart”)
• You want to reduce false positives from partial matches
• Your keyword is short (1-3 characters) and would match too broadly with partial matching
• You’re monitoring a specific brand name that shouldn’t appear as part of other words

Use partial matching when:

• Your keyword is long and specific enough that partial matches are likely relevant (e.g., a product name like “cloudsync”)
• You want to catch variations of a word (e.g., “monitor” to also catch “monitoring,” “monitored”)
• You’re tracking a hashtag or handle that might appear in different forms
• You prefer more coverage and will filter false positives with Lenses

Changing the setting

1. Go to Keywords and click the keyword you want to edit
2. Toggle Whole-word matching on or off
3. Save

The change takes effect immediately for new events. Existing events are not re-evaluated.

The default

New keywords default to whole-word matching. It’s the safer starting point because it produces fewer false positives. If you find you’re missing relevant mentions, switch to partial matching.

How it interacts with other features

• Compound keywords: the whole-word setting applies to each term in a compound keyword independently
• Lenses: if partial matching generates too many false positives, use a Lens to classify which matches are actually relevant
• Ignored users: combine with ignored users to filter out accounts that frequently post partial-match false positives

Where to go next

• Simple vs compound keywords: refine matching with AND/NOT logic
• Ignoring users: filter noise from specific accounts
• Per-platform setup: choose platforms per keyword