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Keyword Search Tips
CCAC's keyword search provides you with a convenient way to find the information you're looking for. To use the keyword search, type a few words into the keyword search field near the top left corner of every page on CCAC's website. Hit the "enter" key or click the "GO >" button to the right of the search field to view a list of pages on CCAC's website that match your query.
Please note: The keyword search does not search for course information. To find out course times, descriptions, locations and more, please use CCAC's separate course search.
To make the most of your searches, review the following search tips. Note that in the examples used below, the use of italics denotes a word or phrase that could be typed into the keyword search field. If punctuation (such as quotation marks) appears in such a phrase – "like this" – the punctuation is part of what is meant to be typed in.
Inclusive Behavior (AND Behavior)
Searching for Specific Phrases
Common Words, Single Letters and Punctuation
Choosing Your Words
Keep your search terms relevant and specific. If you want to find out about CCAC's accounting program, search for accounting rather than for business or academic programs. To find out how to contact the Distance Learning program, search for contact distance learning rather than for just distance learning or contact. Also, avoid searching for abbreviations; instead, try searching for full expressions (Information Technology Services instead of ITS).
Inclusive Behavior (AND Behavior)
It is not necessary to include the word and in your searches. By default, the keyword search is inclusive, meaning that any results include only pages that contain all of your search terms. If you search for two words, and a page has only one of them, that page will not be included. So, searching for registration huckleberry probably won't return any pages, since few pages are likely to contain the word huckleberry and even fewer are likely to contain both huckleberry and registration. Similarly, as mentioned below, a search for media cnter probably won't return any pages.
Spelling Errors and Typos
One of the best ways to ensure satisfactory search results is to avoid spelling errors. Since the keyword search only includes pages that contain all of your search terms (see above), searching for media cnter will not return any pages. If you aren't sure how to spell a word, try searching for two variations; for example, search once for theatre and a second time for theater.
Partial Matches
The keyword search will return partial matches. For example, searching for program will return pages containing program, programs, programming and so on. Keep this in mind when searching for short words that can be part of longer words. Searching for media, for example, will return pages containing multimedia.
Searching for Specific Phrases
To search for a phrase, simply put keywords in quotation marks. Searching for a phrase will return pages that contain the exact words of the phrase, in the order in which they appear, and with no extra words between them. So, searching for "Allegheny Campus" will not return a page that contains the phrase visit Allegheny or Boyce Campus.
Also note that you can combine phrases and keywords when you search. For example, while searching for "multimedia communications degree" will return only pages that contain the entire phrase, searching for "multimedia communications" degree will return pages that contain the phrase "multimedia communications" and the word degree whether they are in a phrase together or not.
Common Words, Single Letters and Punctuation
To keep your search results relevant, CCAC's keyword search automatically excludes common words (like with, but and for), single letters and punctuation (except for quotation marks). So, a search for partnership with Duquesne will return the exact same results as a search for partnership: Duquesne and partnership Duquesne (unless you put the words in quotation marks, see searching for a specific phrase).
Word Order and Case
By default, word order and letter case do not affect your search results. So, searching for student life will return the exact same results as life student and Student Life. If you are searching for a phrase, word order is no longer ignored (though letter case still is).
What is Searched
CCAC's keyword search searches more than just page content. In fact, the keyword search digs through each page's content, its page title, its keywords ("invisible" words assigned to each page by the people who build and maintain this website), and much more. Also, the keyword search is a weighted search, meaning that a match against the words you have chosen "counts" more in some places than in others. In particular, matching a search term in the title counts the most, followed by keywords. So, as you search, try to choose words that are likely to appear in a page's title or keywords.