Can I search by NAICS code on Bid Banana?

Yes. Run a search, then open the NAICS code filter in the panel on the left of the results page and tick the codes you bid under. Each code shows how many results it covers. If you do not know your codes, use the Industry filter instead — it groups the same bids into plain-English categories.

How do I search for an exact phrase in Bid Banana?

Put it in quotation marks. Searching "IT support services" returns only solicitations containing that exact phrase, where the same words unquoted return everything mentioning any of them. It is the fastest way to cut a noisy result set down.

How do I exclude a word from a Bid Banana search?

Put a minus sign directly in front of it. Searching construction -residential returns construction bids with residential work filtered out. You can combine it with quoted phrases, such as "food service" -equipment.

Why am I getting bids from the wrong state?

A keyword search covers all 50 states until you tell it otherwise. Open the State filter on the results page and tick the states you actually serve. If you had filters applied and results still look wrong, click Clear all and rebuild from the keyword up.

What does "Hide bids needing an extra login" do in Bid Banana?

Some agencies only release solicitation documents to people registered on their own procurement portal. Ticking this option under the Access filter removes those bids, leaving results whose documents you can reach without creating another account.

Does my keyword stay when I switch to closed bids or award data?

Yes. Switching modes with the toggle keeps your search term and re-runs it against that dataset, so you can see who is buying now, who bought recently, and who won the last contract without retyping anything. Filters do not carry over, because each mode offers a different set.

What filters can I use on Bid Banana search results?

Open bid searches offer seven: Closing date, State, Agency, NAICS code, Industry, Type and Access. Each option shows how many results it would leave you, and Clear all resets everything. Closed bids and award data offer smaller sets suited to research rather than deadlines.

How to Search Using Keywords and Filters

Start with a phrase that matches the service you actually sell, then narrow with Bid Banana's filters: closing date, state, agency, NAICS code, industry, type and access.

A good Bid Banana search has two halves. Start with a keyword phrase that matches the service you actually sell — "janitorial and custodial services", not "cleaning" — then use the filter panel on the results page to narrow by closing date, state, agency, NAICS code, industry, solicitation type and access. Keywords find the work; filters remove everything you can't or won't bid on.

How Do I Choose the Right Keywords?

Search the way a procurement officer writes a scope of work, not the way your website describes your company. Broad category words return thousands of results you will never bid on; the specific phrase that appears in the solicitation returns the ones you will.

Search "digital marketing services", not "marketing".
Search "managed IT services", not "IT".
Search "janitorial and custodial services", not "cleaning".

💡 Tip: Mine your own history. Pull three or four solicitations you have bid on before and lift the exact phrases the agency used to describe the work. Those phrases are your best keywords, and they are usually not the ones on your website.

How Do I Refine a Search That Returns Too Much or Too Little?

Treat your keyword list as something you tune over weeks rather than get right on the first attempt.

Run the search and read the first page of results properly.
Too many unrelated solicitations? Wrap the phrase in quotation marks, or add a narrower term.
Too few results? Drop a word, try the buyer's synonym, or clear a filter rather than the keyword.
Repeat until the first page is mostly bids you would genuinely consider, then save that search so you never rebuild it.

What Search Operators Does Bid Banana Support?

Four operators do most of the work in the search box:

Quotation marks force an exact phrase. "IT support services" returns only bids containing those three words in that order, instead of everything mentioning any of them.
A minus sign excludes a term. construction -residential strips residential projects out of a construction search.
OR widens a search to cover two ways of saying the same thing. "solar energy" OR "wind energy" catches both.
Typo tolerance is on by default and needs no syntax. Searching elctric vehicle charger still finds the right bids.

They stack. "solar energy" OR "wind energy" -residential finds commercial and public-sector renewable work in a single query.

💡 Tip: Our blog post Advanced Search: How to Power Up Your Bid Banana RFP Search works through each operator with real result counts.

What Filters Are Available on the Results Page?

Run any open bid search and the Filters panel appears down the left side. Each option shows how many results it would leave you, so you can see the cost of a filter before you apply it. Clear all at the top resets everything.

Closing date: Any time, Next 7 days, Next 14 days, Next 30 days, or Rolling / no deadline.
State: tick one or more states to match your service area. Use the search box in the filter if your state is below the fold.
Agency: target named agencies, counties, districts or departments when you already have an account list.
NAICS code: filter by the North American Industry Classification System codes you register and bid under.
Industry: the same idea in plain English — Custodial and Facilities Services, Construction, Real Estate and so on. Easier than NAICS if you don't know your codes by heart.
Type: Invitation for Bid, Request for Proposal, Request for Quotation, Request for Qualification, Request for Information, or Grants Notice.
Access: tick Hide bids needing an extra login to drop opportunities whose documents sit behind a separate agency portal registration.

◆ NOTE: Type and Industry describe different things. Type is the procurement instrument the agency issued; Industry is the category of work being bought. Filtering on both at once narrows results very quickly.

How Do I Sort My Results?

Use the sort control at the top right of the results, next to the result count. Relevance is the default and is the right choice while you are still tuning keywords. Switch to Newest first when you are checking what has landed since you last looked, or Closing soon when you are looking for something you can still realistically turn around.

Do the Filters Change for Closed Bids and Award Data?

Yes. Bid status is not a filter — it is the I'm peeling for toggle above the results, and each of the three modes searches a different dataset with its own filter set:

Open bids: all seven filters above.
Closed bids: Closed date (Any time, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, Last year), State, Agency and Access.
Award data: State, Agency, Procurement type, NAICS code and Industry — there is no closing date, because the contract has already been awarded.

Your keyword carries over when you switch modes, so you can run the same phrase against open bids, closed bids and award data in three clicks. What Is Bid Status? explains when each mode is the right one.

What Is the Fastest Way to Narrow a Search?

Enter a specific service phrase in quotation marks, or leave the box empty to browse everything.
Apply State first. Geography removes more irrelevant results than anything else.
Add Industry or NAICS code to lock the category of work.
Add Closing date if you only want what you can still respond to.
Reach for Agency last, and only when you already know who you want to work with.

How Do I Keep a Search I Like?

Once the results look right, click Saved at the top right of the results page, give the search a name under Save this search, and click Save search. Your keyword and every filter are stored together, and Bid Banana emails you daily when new bids match. See How to Use Saved Search for Automatic Daily Searches.

◆ NOTE: Saved searches and Favorites are different things. A saved search stores the query and lives under Account Settings > Saved Searches. Favorites stores individual bids and lives under the Favorites tab.