Website search facility

The University website can be searched from any page, using the search box in the global navigation menu. We use Google Custom Search, which means we can filter out results that are not relevant, in addition to promoting results that we think might be helpful.

If you find a result that you think looks odd or isn't relevant to what you were looking for, or you have any other suggestions which may improve the search experience, please let us know.

Features

We can offer the following Custom Search features:

Sites

In addition to filtering relevant content, some sub-sections offer more specific searching, such as News and Events. Here, your search is restricted to, e.g., news articles to provide a quicker and more accurate return of results.

Refinements

We also offer refinements to filter results between certain audiences, such as undergraduate and postgraduate when searching for scholarships, and offer an autocomplete feature to offer suggestions as you type. Labels appear above the list of results to offer either exclusive or promoted listing above other results.

Promotions

Promotions in Google Custom Search

Special results - known as 'promotions' - can be triggered by a specific query, allowing a page to be featured above the first search result. This can be useful if a page needs temporary promotion or appears below less prominent/relevant queries. In addition, promotions can be set according to a date period, allowing temporary promotions of certain areas of the website.

Synonyms

Search queries can be expanded by using synonyms, to offer variants of a search term. By using synonyms, the same content can be found despite differing user perception of the same query, e.g., searching for 'courses', 'programmes' or 'degrees'.

Autocompletions

As a user types into the search box, suggested searches can be offered similar to the one being typed. Although generated automatically from site content, custom autocompletions can be used to include/exclude specific terms

Statistics

Similar to website visitor statistics, we can offer targeted statistics to the particular area of searching, showing queries across a particular timeframe.