CIO — LinkedIn is widely regarded as the social network for business professionals, but at its core, says Brad Mauney, product manager for search and cloud at LinkedIn, it's a search company.

"We see two major types of use cases for search on our site: navigational search, such as someone who just joined a company or met someone at a conference who wants to add them to their network; and searching for people that match a set of criteria, such as location, company, industry, or some combination of that," he says.

Lately, LinkedIn has focused its site updates on making these types of search features more user-friendly and comprehensive. In February, for example, LinkedIn revamped Company Search and added filters to help users find more targeted results.

CIO — LinkedIn is widely regarded as the social network for business professionals, but at its core, says Brad Mauney, product manager for search and cloud at LinkedIn, it's a search company.

"We see two major types of use cases for search on our site: navigational search, such as someone who just joined a company or met someone at a conference who wants to add them to their network; and searching for people that match a set of criteria, such as location, company, industry, or some combination of that," he says.

Lately, LinkedIn has focused its site updates on making these types of search features more user-friendly and comprehensive. In February, for example, LinkedIn revamped Company Search and added filters to help users find more targeted results.

Three of LinkedIn's search features stand out: People Search, which helps users find a particular person based on name or skill set; Company Search, which keeps users up to date on information such as new hires and company news; and Job Search, which helps to pair users with open positions.

Here's what you need to know about these three search functions, and how they can help you make the most out of your LinkedIn experience.

1. LinkedIn People Search

LinkedIn's People Search, which you can find on the top of your homepage, uses a number of filters to help you find the person or people you're looking for. Some of these filters include location; industry; first, second or third connections; current company, past company and school. Paid LinkedIn account members can also filter results by groups, years of experience, seniority level, Fortune 1,000 and more.

[Want more LinkedIn tips, tricks and analysis? Check out CIO.com's LinkedIn Bible.]
[10 Ways to Get More Out of LinkedIn]

LinkedIn's Mauney recommends using this search field for purposes such as finding a business partner, connecting with others in your industry or finding job postings.

Expert tip: When using the filters on the left side of the page, keep an eye out for the "shared connections" link that appears at the bottom of some individual results. Click the link to find out which of your connections is connected to that person, and use him or her to your advantage in requesting an introduction, Mauney says.

2. LinkedIn Company Search

LinkedIn's Company Search launched recently with some new updates, including the ability to search for companies by location, industry, size and how you're connected. When searching for a company, LinkedIn returns results based on the words used to describe that company and words that the company's employees use to describe themselves on their LinkedIn profiles.