How to Accurately Filter by Country in the Icypeas Lead Database

If you’re searching for people or companies in a specific country, we recommend pairing the country name with its two-letter country code and including the name in several languages.

This works in Find People and Find Companies, both in the web app and through the API.

Why country names can be tricky

LinkedIn used to let members type anything into their profile’s location field. Many older profiles still contain that free-form text, so the same place can appear under different names. A search for Sweden can miss records that say Sverige and pick up locations like "Sweden, Maine, USA" or "Sweden, New York, USA". This isn’t uncommon. There are 29 places named “Lebanon” outside Lebanon, 42 named “China” outside China, and 46 named “Mali” outside Mali. Overall, 110 of the world’s 195 countries share their name with at least one place beyond their borders.

How to set up your search

First, pair each country name with its ISO alpha-2 code. Use Germany, DE, United States, US, or France, FR. Within a single entry, the comma tells Icypeas to look for both parts. Separate entries are alternatives, so a record only needs to match one of them.

Second, Include the country name in English, French, German, Dutch, and the local language. English is widely used, and some locations appear in French, German, or Dutch because of the browser language settings used when we collect the data. Local names help you catch records like Sverige.

Example for Spain

In the web app, add each of these as a separate entry in the Location filter, keeping the comma within each entry.

• Spain, ES
• Espagne, ES
• Spanien, ES
• Spanje, ES
• España, ES

In the API, use the same entries in query.location.include:

{
 "query": {
  "location": {
   "include": ["Spain, ES", "Espagne, ES", "Spanien, ES", "Spanje, ES", "España, ES"]
  }
 }
}

Future normalization

We’re standardizing location data so you can search by country without having to account for language variants or places that share a name. That work is underway and should be completed and released in S1-2027. In the meantime, the approach above helps you catch more relevant records and minimize false positives.