We regularly tinker with our website’s search functionality to try to ensure it delivers the best, most relevant results. But we still occasionally get asked for help tracking down particular information or results. This page will offer some simple advice to help you find what you’re looking for.
Here are our five top-tips to help get you started:
- Use the right Search page – all our content can be found regardless of what search page you’re using, but some are set up to prioritise different results. We have our general Search function, but we also have pages specifically to search for Rulings, Resources (news and guidance) and AdviceOnline articles.
- Search, then filter – our filtering options are ‘dynamic’, meaning the options available adapt based on what you search. This means it’s quicker and easier to put in a search term and then use the filtering options to hone in on what you’re looking for, rather than the other way around.
- Keep it short and simple – it’s best to stick to keywords or short phrases rather than sentences, as it means you’re more likely to get a range of results to consider. Using simple searches and then filtering will generally give the best results.
- You can use Boolean commands – these are particular words or punctuation signs that tell the search function to operate slightly differently. The most common ones are quotation marks (“e.g.”), AND, or OR.
- Using “quotation marks” means the search function will look for instances where the whole quoted phrase appears, rather than the individual words. Searching “advertising codes” will return slightly different results than advertising codes.
- Putting AND between two words means the search function will look for results where both words are present, but OR will look for results where either word is present. So searching for ‘tea AND coffee’ will look for results where both words appear, but searching ‘tea OR coffee’ will look for results with either word.
- Vary your terms – if a particular term or phrase isn’t bringing up the results you’re expecting it to, try using synonyms.
If you’re still not finding what you’re after, and would like help tracking down results on any topic covered by the ASA and CAP, you can contact our webmaster via email at [email protected] and they will be happy to help you.