How-To & Productivity · 3 min read
Search Crate Best Practices: Keeping Your Sources Sharp
Short answer
Keep each crate to one topic and 5 to 15 sources, set a likes floor that matches the size of the field, test sources one at a time when results look off, exclude recurring noise words, and prune the list every month.
Key takeaways
- One topic per crate. Mixed crates give mixed results.
- Set likes floors per crate, not one number for everything.
- When a combined search goes quiet, test each source alone.
- Back up crates as JSON before clearing your browser.
A crate is easy to set up and easy to neglect. These habits keep one producing good links month after month.
Should one crate cover everything?
No. Give each crate one topic, so its filters and likes floor fit the sources inside it.
A crate mixing a niche newsletter's site with a celebrity account will never have a likes floor that suits both. Split them. A typical setup is three crates: your core topic, an adjacent field you dip into, and a weekly roundup crate with a date range.
What likes floor should each crate use?
Match the floor to the size of the field: low for niches, higher for broad topics and big accounts.
| Kind of crate | Starting min_faves: |
|---|---|
| Niche professional field | 5 to 25 |
| Mid-size industry | 25 to 100 |
| Broad topic or big accounts | 100 to 500 |
| Weekly "best of" roundup | Double your daily floor |
Adjust after a few days. If you skip most results, raise it. If you get almost nothing, lower it or drop the language filter.
How do you debug a crate that suddenly returns nothing?
Open each source's own search link; the problem is almost always one source or one filter.
The usual causes:
- A handle changed or the account went private.
- A date range that ended. Remember
until:is exclusive, sountil:2026-11-01stops on October 31. - A floor that's too high for a quiet week.
- A website that changed domain. Search for the new one with
url:. - A typo in a keyword. The Crate Builder flags sources it can't read.
How do you keep recurring noise out?
Add exclusion words for the patterns that keep showing up and that you never share.
Giveaways, job posts, webinar promotions and "hiring" posts are common. Add them to the exclude field, comma separated; the builder turns them into -giveaway -hiring and so on. Use phrases in quotes for multi-word noise. Muting words in X itself helps your home timeline too; filtering noise out of your feed covers both.
How often should you prune?
Monthly, with a simple rule: two months without a shared link and the source goes.
Each month, open the per-source links and ask whether anything from that source made it into your posts. Remove the ones that didn't twice in a row. Add one new source you came across. The crate stays the same size and keeps getting better.
How do you avoid losing crates?
Export them as JSON now and then, and after any big change.
Crates live in your browser's local storage. Clearing site data, switching browsers or using a private window means starting over. An exported file takes seconds and can be imported on any device. It's also the easiest way to hand a crate to a colleague.
How do you know a crate is doing its job?
Count how many of your shared links came from it each month.
A crate exists to feed your posts. If most of what you share still comes from the open timeline or from memory, the crate's sources or filters don't match what you value. Look at your last month of curated posts and note where each link came from. A healthy crate supplies most of them.
If the number is low, open the crate and ask why you skipped its results. Too much news? Add exclusions. Too few posts? Lower the floor. Wrong voices? Swap sources. Small, regular adjustments matter more than a perfect first setup.
Questions
Why does my combined search miss posts I see in a single source?
Long OR queries can return fewer results than you'd expect, and Top sorting favors posts with the most engagement across all sources. Use the per-source links to check, and split very large crates.
Should I use Latest or Top?
Latest when you check daily and want everything above your floor. Top when you check weekly and want the strongest posts first.
How do I share a crate with a colleague?
Export it as JSON from the Crate Builder and send the file. They can import it into their own browser.
Should every source have the same weight?
In a combined search they're treated equally, so a very active source can crowd out quieter ones. If that happens, move the busy source to its own crate with a higher floor.