Return to Advanced Search page
Check spelling
Use multiple words
Use similar words
Use appropriate capitalization
Use quotation marks
Use plus (+) or minus (-)
Use field searches Use wildcards
Check spelling
Use multiple words
Example: our free service
Use similar words
Example: safe secure privacy security
Use appropriate capitalization
Example: Search Template Reference
Use quotation marks to find adjacent words
Example: "our pledge to you"
Use plus (+) or minus (-)
Example: +"template language"
Use field searches
Example:
title:about
desc:"Our Team"
keys:membership
body:security
alt:"join now"
url:help
Use wildcards
Example:
wh*
"wh* are"
415-*-*
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 is always best to try to spell the search terms correctly.
Sound-Alike Matching is turned on in this example:
Use multiple words when performing your search. The search
results will return more refined results from several words
than from a single word. For example, typing our
free service
will return more relevant results
than typing only service
. (Keep in
mind, relevant results are returned even if they don't contain
all query terms.)
Example:
The more similar words you use in a search, the more relevant
results you will get back.
Example:
Capitalize proper nouns. Lowercase words will match any case.
For example, typing search
will return
all documents containing the words search, Search,
and SEARCH
. However, typing
Search
will only search for pages
about the Atomz.com Search service.
Example:
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 Advanced Search Form "all" or "phrase" radio button
is selected.
Example:
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 Advanced Search Form "all" or "phrase" radio button
is selected.
Example:
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:) or URL (url:). The field name should be in lowercase
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.
Example:
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.
Example:
This page is part of the Fossil Hominids FAQ at the talk.origins Archive.
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http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/searchtips.html, 09/14/2000
Copyright © Jim Foley
|| Email me