Why is my monitoring feed not finding the articles I expect?

Usually the scope or the query is narrower than it looks: the feed watches only the sources chosen under Monitor in, a keyword must appear as that exact phrase, every group must match, and anything in Exclude drops the article. It also collects only articles Inoreader receives after the feed was created.

Check the scope

Under My account, Newsfeed covers the feeds you follow yourself, not the ones shared through a team. A folder covers its feeds and a feed only itself. Under All public feeds, All sites covers public feeds with at least three followers plus your own, Popular sites feeds with 100 or more and Most popular sites, the default there, feeds with 1,000 or more, without your own. A site with few followers, a duplicate copy of a feed, a web feed, a Telegram channel or a newsletter is never among the public feeds: follow it and use My account.

Check the query

A keyword pill matches as an exact phrase, with the words together and in order, in the title and the article text as the feed delivers it. The author, the feed's name and the link aren't searched, and a feed that carries only a summary is matched on that summary. A pill set to Titles only or Content only checks one field. In a text query from Paste an advanced query, every word is required unless joined with OR, the operators are written in capitals and a phrase goes in quotes. How can I combine search conditions? has examples. A text query the search engine can't read switches the feed off, and saving it again from the editor switches it back on.

A mention matches only articles in which Inoreader recognized it: English, German and French articles from feeds with 50 or more followers, a Pro follower or web feeds, as Which languages work best with mentions? explains. A language stored on the feed limits it to that language. The editor then shows "This monitoring feed only matches articles in German." (with the feed's language) with Remove language filter.

Loosen the feed one step at a time

1. Right-click the monitoring feed and choose Edit monitoring feed.
2. Check Monitor in: for a niche source, follow it and use My account, or choose All sites instead of Most popular sites.
3. Remove the Exclude group or extra AND groups one at a time and watch the Preview.
4. Split long keyword pills into shorter ones, or add spellings and names as + OR alternatives. For a mention, add the name as a keyword too.
5. If a language notice shows, click Remove language filter.
6. Click Save monitoring feed.

The Preview shows up to 20 of the newest matches from the past year, so keep loosening until the article you expected appears. Can I edit a monitoring feed later? explains what saving does to the feed's articles.

Plans and limits

Monitoring feeds are a Pro feature. A query that would collect more than 100 articles an hour is refused when you save, so a very common term needs a narrower scope or a second group. Why does my search return no results? helps when a one-time search comes back empty too, and the feature page Watch any keyword, brand or topic across the web has an overview.