Basic Search

Searching for content on the HPA website is easy. Simply type one or more search terms into the search box and hit the 'Enter' key or click on the 'Search' button.
The basic search box is available on every page across the site.

How accurate does my search query need to be?

Choosing the right search terms is the key to finding the information you need. There are different types of search terms (or queries), single terms and phrases.

Single terms

A single term is a single word such as flu or radiation. Single terms are normally a good place to start if you are looking for a piece of general information.

Multiple terms

In reality it's often advisable to use multiple search terms, to narrow your results. For example, if your looking for information relating to avian influenza, you'll do better with avian influenza than with either avian or influenza by themselves.

Phrases

Sometimes you'll only want results that include an exact phrase. A phrase is a group of words surrounded by double quotes such as "Chemical Hazards and Poisons Division".

Phrase searches are particularly effective if you know the exact order of the words in the phrase. If not, it would be better to search without the double quotes.

Advanced search

The advanced search offers options for making your searches more precise and getting more useful results.

Select search type

This feature allows you to choose how you want the search to behave:

• ALL words: this will find content containing all the search terms specified, the default
• ANY words: this will find content containing one or more of the search terms specified
• EXACT phrase: this will only match the words in the exact order supplied

Narrow your search

This option allows you to search all website content by default, or one or more type of content:

• Web pages: general site content that doesn't fall into one of the categories below
• Press releases: search HPA press releases
• Publications: search HPA publications
• Downloadable files: search binary files such as PDF, Excel and Word documents

Specify a date range

Supplying a date range will constrain the search to just the content that was published on or between the dates specified. The publish date is considered as the date the content was last modified or added to the site. Select the start and end dates by using the calendars, or enter the dates manually.
Note: All dates must be supplied in dd/mm/yyyy format. For example:

From: 17/04/2005

How are search results displayed?

Once you have triggered a search, the relevant search results will be displayed on a search results page. A search results summary at the top of the page will indicate the number of results returned by the search and the subset currently displayed. For example:

Search results 11 to 20 of 50 for 'avian influenza'

 

The search results column headings allow you to sort the results. By default results are sorted by relevance, with best matches displayed first. To sort on any column, simply click the link in that column heading, to reverse the ordeer click again.

Relevance	Title	Type	Added/Updated Date
	Avian Influenza Avian influenza is a disease of birds caused by influenza viruses closely related to human influenza viruses.	Web page	3 February 2009

Each search result returned will be listed with a relevance, a title, a description and a date when the content was added or last updated. The description provides a summary of the content and the title acts as a link to the full page or document.

If the search returns more than 10 results then a search results navigation component will be displayed at the bottom of the page to allow you to navigate through all the search results. For example:

< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next >

Use the "< Previous" and "Next >" links to navigate through the search results or select the numbers in the centre of the navigation component to jump directly to a particular page.

What happens if the search does not return any results?

If the search cannot find any matching results then a null search results page will be displayed. This page will also be displayed if you trigger a search without entering a search query. Follow the instructions on the null search results page to improve your search.

Does capitalisation matter?

Searches are not case sensitive. All letters, regardless of how you enter them, are understood as lower case. For example, searches for avian flu, Avian Flu and Avian flu all return the same results.

Does the search include binary documents like Word or PDF files?

As well as searching HTML pages (the standard pages you see through your web browser), the search has also been configured to search Word, PDF, Excel and PowerPoint files, as long as you have not excluded downloadables in the advanced search options.

Any binary files that are relevant to your search will be listed on the search results page along with the other results. You will be able to distinguish binary files because they will have an icon at the start of the title and information at the end of the title to indicate the file type and size. For example:

Relevance	Title	Type	Added/Updated Date
	2006-2011 supplement to Strategic Plan (PDF, 240 KB) The Agency's strategic priorities for 5 years from 2006 -2011 including pandemic flu and health care acquired infections.	Downloadable file	25 February 2009