LinkedIn X-ray Search Builder

Turn a role into a precise Google boolean search across public LinkedIn, GitHub and Stack Overflow profiles. Fill in the fields, copy the query, and source candidates without a Recruiter seat. No sign-up.

Try an example
Your Google X-ray query
site:linkedin.com/in/ ("software engineer" OR "frontend engineer" OR "react developer") (Amsterdam OR Netherlands) react (typescript OR next.js) -recruiter -student
Search on Google

How to use the X-ray search builder

X-ray search is the recruiter's way of searching a site from the outside using Google's site: operator. Instead of paying for LinkedIn Recruiter or hitting the commercial-use limit, you point Google at public profiles and filter them with boolean logic. This builder writes that boolean for you.

  1. Pick a network. LinkedIn is the default. Switch to GitHub or Stack Overflow for technical sourcing, or Xing for the DACH region.
  2. Add job titles. List the titles a good match might use, comma-separated. They are joined with OR so any of them counts.
  3. Set must-have and nice-to-have keywords. Must-haves are combined with AND (every term must appear); nice-to-haves are combined with OR.
  4. Filter location and exclude noise. Add cities or countries, and exclude terms like recruiter or student to clean up the results.
  5. Copy or run it. Hit Search on Google to open the results, or copy the string into your own workflow.

Boolean operators cheat sheet

  • "quoted phrase" forces an exact match, e.g. "product designer".
  • OR widens a search: ("developer" OR "engineer").
  • AND (or just a space) narrows it: "react" "typescript".
  • -term excludes results: -recruiter removes recruiter profiles.
  • site: restricts to one domain: site:linkedin.com/in/.

From a query to real candidates

An X-ray query is a great free start, but it still hands you a page of blue links to open one by one, with no contact details and no sense of who actually fits. HeroHunt runs the same kind of search across LinkedIn, GitHub and the open web, screens every candidate against your role, and returns a ranked shortlist with verified emails and phone numbers, so you can go straight from search to outreach.

Frequently asked questions

An X-ray search uses Google's site: operator to search public LinkedIn profiles directly, instead of searching inside LinkedIn. A query like site:linkedin.com/in/ ("software engineer") "React" "Amsterdam" tells Google to only return LinkedIn profile pages that match your boolean criteria. Recruiters use it to find candidates without burning LinkedIn Recruiter credits or hitting commercial search limits.

It is completely free and needs no sign-up. The builder runs entirely in your browser: you fill in titles, skills, locations and exclusions, and it assembles the Google boolean string for you to copy or run. Nothing is stored.

Yes. Switch the target network at the top of the tool to build X-ray queries for GitHub, Stack Overflow, X (Twitter), Xing or Dribbble. The operators are the same; only the site: domain changes.

X-ray search sidesteps LinkedIn's commercial-use limit, works without a Recruiter seat, lets you use full Google boolean logic, and can surface profiles across multiple platforms at once. It is the fastest free way to build a precise candidate query.

An X-ray query returns a page of profile links on Google. To turn that into a ranked shortlist with verified contact details, run the same search inside HeroHunt: it searches across LinkedIn, GitHub and the open web, screens each candidate against your role, and surfaces verified emails and phone numbers.