To begin a 'Search' simply place your cursor in the search box and type one or more 'keywords' or ‘search terms’ (the words or phrases that best describe the information you want to find).
Click 'Search' or press the 'Return' (or 'Enter') key on your keyboard and our search engine will attempt to find matches for your keyword(s) across the whole of County Durham. If you'd like to search a specific area of the county, instead of clicking 'search' button, click on the name of an area on the map, or in the list.
Note that search results are listed according to their relevance to your keyword(s). The most relevant page will appear first. The list is ranked according to the percentage of relevance i.e. 100% relevance will be at the top of the list. The results list provides a link along with an excerpt from the information and indicates where the information is located (i.e. which local council website). It also shows which word(s) matched your keyword. Simply click on the link to be taken to the relevant information in its original location.
Results are listed in blocks of 10, to see additional results click the 'next' link at the top of the results listing or use the page numbers at the bottom to jump directly to a specific point in the list.
Similar Keywords
Our simple search uses 'stemming technology' to find results that are similar to some or all of your keywords. For example, if your keyword was 'plan' the results would include 'plans', 'planned', 'planning' and so on. Any variants of your keywords will be highlighted in the excerpt accompanying each result.
Did You Mean?
If you happen to misspell your keyword(s), or if there are very few results matching the words, our search engine will try to help by suggesting an alternative keyword under 'Did you mean?' will, click the alternative suggestion to search again using the corrected term.
Refining Search Results
From the results screen you can narrow your search results by clicking on a 'focused' or 'relevant' topic, our search engine will these provide lists of helpful keywords where available. Normally, you will get better results if you narrow or refine your search in this way.
If your keyword(s) are finding too many results, or cannot locate the information you are looking for, try our search hints for other methods of refining and improving your results.
Getting Further Help
If you are unable to locate the information you are seeking, or experience difficulties using the Simple Search, please
contact us and we will be happy to help wherever possible.
