Here we present a systematic study of tandem-repeat-type gal-4, -8 and -9 loaded on Raji cells resulting in the following key insights: (i) all three gals bound to oligolactosamines; (ii) binding to ligands with Galβ1-3GlcNAc or Galβ1-3GalNAc as basic motifs was commonly better than that to canonical Galβ1-4GlcNAc; (iii) all three gals bound to 3'-O-sulfated and 3'-sialylated disaccharides mentioned above better than that to parental neutral forms and (iv) histo-blood group ABH antigens were the highest affinity ligands in both the cell and the solid-phase assay.