Using search
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 words '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" will find all pages that
mention Guides but not 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: if you searched using "title:brownies", you would
find all pages with the word 'brownies' in the title.
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, such as 'here' or
'other'.
- mini*bus will find the words
minibus, mini-bus and mini bus.
Use our sitemap
If you are still having problems finding what you need, please
check out our sitemap or contact us.