Here are common search syntax which can
dramatically improve your search results:
Check spelling
- Make sure your search terms are spelled correctly. The
search engine will attempt to find words that sound similar
to your search terms, but it is always best to spell the
search terms correctly.
Use multiple words - Use multiple words
when performing your search. More words for a search will
return more refined results than a search from a single
word.
Use similar words - The more similar
words you use in a search, the more relevant results will
be to the item that you are searching.
Use appropriate capitalization - Use
capitalization only when looking for proper nouns such
as the name of a person or place. Lowercase words match
any similar words of any case.
Use quotation marks around phrases -
Use quotation marks to find words that must appear adjacent
to each other within a phrase. For example, search for
"John Baptiste de La Salle" within quotes rather
than just John Baptiste de La Salle.
Use Boolean plus (+) or minus (-) operators
- Precede a search term or phrase with a plus (+) sign
to indicate it must appear in a search result. Precede
a search term with a minus (-) sign to indicate an undesirable
search term or phrase that must not appear in a search
result. For example, searching for +computer -colleges
will return results that are about computer, but not about
colleges.
Use field searches - Field searches allow
you to search for words that appear in a specific part
of a document such as the body text (body:), title text
(title:), alt text (alt:), meta description (desc:), meta
keywords (keys:) or URL (url:). The field name should
include the colon and precede the search word or phrase
with no spaces between them. For example, searching for
title: presidents will find pages with presidents in the
title of the page.
