This article presents the general case‐study of our previous works regarding generalized Boussinesq equations [17, 18, 19], that focus on application of various subordinate methods where are applied to construct more general exact solutions of the coupled Boussinesq equations. In this article, the ‐expansion method is applied on coupled Boussinesq equations. Our work is motivated by the fact that the ‐expansion method provides not only more general forms of solutions but also periodic, solitary waves, and rational solutions. The method appears to be easier and faster by means of a symbolic manipulation program. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 151–155, 2016