Read through our handy hints to get the best out of your search results. 

Check your spelling

The search engine will find words that are similar to your search terms but it's always best to make sure that you spell the words correctly.

Use multiple words

Using multiple words will return more specific results than a single word. For example, typing Brownie short sleeved t-shirt will return more relevant results than typing just t-shirt.

Use quotation marks " "

Use quotation marks to find a specific phrase. For example, "How can I join Girlguiding UK". Otherwise, the search results will include the word How, can, I, join, Girlguiding and UK but not necessarily in that order.

Use appropriate capitalisation

Be careful when capping words. For example, typing activity will return all documents containing the words activity, Activity and ACTIVITY. Typing Activity, however, will instruct the search engine to look only for the capitalised word.

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 that a word or phrase must be absent in the search results.

For example: "+Guides -Brownies".  Remember to use quotation marks!

Use field searches

Field searches allow you to create specific searches for words that appear in a specific part of a document. Field searches can be performed on body text (body:), title text (title:), description text (desc:) or keywords (keys:).

For example: "title:upgrade"

Use wildcards

Wildcard searches can expand the number of matches for a particular request.

For example:

• wh* will find any words that starts with wh.
• *her* will find any word that contains her anywhere in the word.
• mini*bus will find the words minibus, mini-bus and mini bus.