Advanced Search Help

Our site search allows simple single or multiple searches against our huge archive of content. However, a few, simple, techniques allow you to get even more out of its search function.

You can create even more sophisticated searches using operators, which are special words used in the search/keyword field such as "AND" to ensure the search works in a specific way.

OR
This operator allows a search to return results that contain any of the search terms you provide. However it is the default and therefore you do not need to provide it.
Example: A search for marketing OR research is the same as : marketing research as the search defaults to the OR operator

AND
This operator ensures that all words can be found in each of the search results
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words “marketing” and “research” – but not necessarily in that order or next to each – just somewhere in the article.
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: marketing AND research

+
The "+" operator ensures term after the "+" symbol exists somewhere in each search result.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words “marketing” but may or may not contain “research.
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: +marketing research

-
The "-" operator ensures term after the "-" symbol DOES NOT exists somewhere in each search result.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words “marketing” but must not contain “research".
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: marketing -research

NOT
The "+" operator excludes words that you do NOT want to be found anywhere in the search results.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words “marketing” but DO NOT contain “research.
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: marketing NOT research

Phrases
If you wish to search against multiple words as an exact phrase, you can do this using “”.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the exact phrase “John Smith”.
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: ”John Smith”

Combining operators – Advanced Searches
You can combine the operators above to create complex, grouped searches using parentheses.
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the phrase “John Smith” and MUST mention WPP
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: ”John Smith” AND WPP
Example: You wish to search for articles that contain the words “John Smith” AND either “WPP” or “Carat”
Solution: Enter this into the keywords field: ”John Smith” AND (WPP OR carat)