Check
spelling
Make sure your search terms are spelled correctly. If
Sound-Alike Matching is turned on, the search engine
will attempt to find words that sound similar to your
search terms, but it's always best to try to spell the
search terms correctly.
Use multiple
words
Using multiple words will return more refined results
than a single word. For example, typing our free product
will return more relevant results than typing just product.
(Keep in mind that relevant results are returned even
if they don't contain all query terms.)
Example:
our free product
Use similar
words
The more similar words you use in a search, the more
relevant your results will be.
Example:
safe secure privacy security
Use appropriate
capitalization
Capitalize proper nouns, and remember that lower-case
words will match any case. For example, typing search
will return all documents containing the words search,
Search, and SEARCH. Typing Search, however, will instruct
the search engine to look only for the capitalized word.
Example:
Search Template Reference
Use quotation
marks
Use quotation marks to find words which must appear
adjacent to each other, for example, "our pledge
to you." Otherwise, the search results will include
the word our, pledge, to, and the word you, but not
necessarily in that order. The words may appear anywhere,
and in any order, within the document.
Note: if
you are using the Advanced Search Form with radio buttons
for "any," "all," and "phrase,"
then quotes can only be used when the "any"
radio button is selected. Quotes are ignored if the
"all" or "phrase" radio buttons
are selected.
Example:
"our pledge to you"
Use plus
(+) or minus (-) Use a plus sign when your search term or phrase must
appear in the search results. Use a minus sign to indicate
undesirable term(s). The plus sign tells the search
engine that a certain word or phrase is required in
the search results, and a minus sign indicates that
a word or phrase must be absent in the search results.
Note: A phrase
must be contained within quotation marks. Leave no spaces
between the plus or minus sign and the term.
Note: if
you are using the Advanced Search Form with radio buttons
for "any," "all," and "phrase,"
then plus and minus can only be used when the "any"
radio button is selected. Plus and minus are ignored
if the "all" or "phrase" radio buttons
are selected.
Example:
+"template language"
Use field
searches Field searches allow you to create specific searches
for words that appear in a specific part of a document.
A field search can be performed on body text (body:),
title text (title:), alt text (alt:), meta description
(desc:), meta key words (keys:), URL (url:) or meta
target key words (target:). The field name should be
in lower-case and immediately followed by a colon. There
should be no spaces between the colon and the search
term.
Note: The
field searches can only be followed by a word or phrase.
Phrases must be contained within quotation marks.
Note: if
you are using the Advanced Search Form with a list box
for the field name, then field names can only be entered
before a word or phrase when the "any" option
is selected. Specific field names are ignored if any
other Advanced Search Form field is selected in the
list box.
Use wildcards
Wildcard searches can expand the number of matches for
a particular request. The * character is used as the
wildcard character.
For instance,
searching for wh* will find the words what, why, when,
whether, and any other word that starts with wh.
Searching for *her* will find the words here, whether,
together, gathering, and any other word that contains
her anywhere in the word.
Wildcards
may be combined with the standard plus (+) and minus
(-) modifiers, quotes for phrases, as well as the field
search specifiers.
+wh* -se*ch will find all pages which have a word that
starts with wh and which does not contain a word that
starts with se and ends with ch. "wh* are"
will find the phrases where are, what are, why are,
etc.
