This article outlines when and how to use Quick Search.
The Ontopical Relevance Search takes in a set of keywords as a search query and returns search results based on the contents of documents and videos.
Documents are divided into individual pages. Videos are transcripted and split into approximately a page’s worth of text. Search queries must be found within a single page (document or video) to be returned.
The quick search algorithm focuses on relevance, much like a standard Google search. When multiple keywords are provided the search query will attempt to match as many keywords in the search query as possible. In general, pages with more matches will be ranked higher.
Effective searches typically use one or two nouns to identify a targeted project or opportunity accompanied with adjectives or verbs which narrow the scope of the project or opportunity, i.e. bridge repair maintenance.
Tips and Tricks:
Tip 1 - Exact Match
If keywords are enclosed in quotes they are treated as an exact match and are required to be on the page for the page to be returned in your search results, with no variations of the word, i.e. pluralisms etc.
For example, running a search for
"stormwater project"
will ensure that stormwater project MUST be on pages in search results, with no variants of the word stormwater).
Tip 2 - Fuzzy Match
If keywords are not enclosed in quotes they are treated as fuzzy match and variants such as pluralisms and other stemmed results will be included in your search results.
For example, running a search for
"stormwater" project
will ensure that stormwater MUST be on pages in search results (with no variants of the word stormwater), and project, projects... may optionally also be on pages in your search results.
Tip 3 - Negation
If a keyword is preceded by a minus sign it is treated as a negation and pages containing that word will not be returned in your search results.
For example, running a search for:
"stormwater" project -flood
Will ensure that stormwater MUST be on pages in search results, project (and other variants) may optionally be on any page in search results, and flood MUST NOT be on pages in search results.
Tip 4 - Phrases
Multiword phrases that are not required to be 'exact match - see Tip 1 above) can be grouped using commas. Multiword phrases are required to be on a single page in your search results.
For example, searching for:
bridge construction, repair
Will ensure that bridge construction must be on any page in your search results, and repair must also be on pages in search results. In this case, variants of all words will be permitted as exact match has not been applied.