●Conducting a General Search

The greater simplicity provided by the use of keyword searches using the General Search box located at the top of each page within www.marketingpower.com has a trade-off.  It will normally produce a very large number of hits of generally fewer relevance  Because the hits will be ranked first according to relevance, the first two pages or so are most likely to contain the most relevant results.

●Conducting an Advanced Search

Using more advanced search options and query operators (such as those included in the Advanced Search page of www.marketingpower.com) will provide fewer and more relevant hits.

The drop-down menu on the Advanced Search page under What Do You Want to Find? allows for a search based on all the words, the exact phrase or any of the words you’ve entered in the query field.

●Search All the Words

This option will return results that include every word you have typed Example:  CMO, metrics

●Search Using Exact Phrase

This option treats the words you type as a phrase and will only return results where all the words appear together.   Example: social media networks, online marketing

For queries using an exact phrase, use quotations to enclose the phrase.  This will greatly reduce the number of hits and improve relevancy. Example: “closed-loop marketing:

●Search Any of the Words: 

This option searches for all the search terms you've entered and returns results where at least one of the words appears. Example: a search for green marketing will search green OR marketing)

Further Refine Your Search

You can narrow your search by utilizing four advanced search options either independently or in conjunction with each other.  Within the Advanced Search page of www.marketingpower.com, you can choose from among the following search categories:

●Content Type

Narrow your search by selecting one or more of the content type categories listed in the Content Type section of the Advanced Search page of www.marketingpower.com.  Select the ALL category if you wish to search content with all the content type categories.

●Content Source

Looking for articles from an AMA journal, magazine or Marketing News?  Want to locate all content from one of the AMA's Content Partners?  Narrow your search by selecting one of the content source categories from the drop-down menu.  Then enter a keyword in the keyword field and click the Search button. 

●Date

Narrow your search by indicating a date range for website content you are seeking.  The date range for articles indicates the published date of the document.  The date range for webcasts and radio shows reflects the start date of the multimedia content.

●Author

Narrow your search by entering the exact name of the author. Using the “author” field with no other search fields will return results specific only to that author.

Composing the Query

In order to obtain as relevant results as possible, make sure the keywords you enter are as specific and accurate as possible. 

●Be as specific as possible

Example: 2008 webcasts and social media

●Be as accurate as possible

Example: 2008 Marketing Research Conference

●Choose the search operators most useful for your type of search:

Example:  digital marketing AND Marketing News articles

●Utilize character searches to include words or phrases.  For example, attaching a “+” in front of words you want to appear in result documents.

Example: mobile + marketing

Evaluating Hits

Evaluating the search results you obtain from a query is generally the most challenging and time-consuming part of a search.  The number of hits you obtain can range from none to hundreds or thousands, and their relevance or usefulness can vary from considerable to negligible. To help produce more relevant hits for the fewest total number, consider trying the following suggestions:

●Too many hits are caused by the use of queries that are too general. Try using more specific terms. The more exact your query, the better your results.

●Too few hits are usually caused by too restrictive a query. Broaden your search by removing the least required keywords or operators.

●Compose the query with the appropriate operators for the particular search tool that you select. A       large number of irrelevant hits are often due to a search engine misguided in its search.

●Narrow the scope of your search by choosing a specific field of search offered by the search engine,    such as a time period or content author.    

●Bookmark useful search results and store them in your My Marketing Kit by clicking the small + located at the top of  each results page

●Some search engines list the hits by titles, some by brief text and some give you a choice. When available choose the brief text, as it is easier to evaluate. Even so, it is often necessary to click the      link to see the entire document before you can assess its content. Some results may not be of        apparent interest, but will contain links that have great relevancy. Some searches yield the desired information quickly, and some you may just have to plod through.


General Search Guidelines:

●Use nouns and objects as query keywords

Example:  advertisement or advertisements

Why?  Actions (verbs), modifiers (adjectives, adverbs) and conjunctions are either “thrown away” by search engines or too variable to be useful

●Use several (5-6) keywords in a query

Example: green, environment, ecological, eco-friendly

Why? A number of keywords grouped together can significantly reduce the number of possible documents

●Truncate words to elicit both singular and plural versions.

Example:  webcast*

Why?  The asterisk after a word tells the search engine to match all characters after it, increasing overall coverage

●Use synonyms in keyword inquiries.

Example: social* OR media

Why? Using a synonym will address the different ways a concept can be described; otherwise, OR should be avoided

●Combine keywords into phrases

Example: “mobile marketing”

Why? By using quotations to denote phrases, results will be restricted to exact matches; combining terms narrows and targets results

●Combine several concepts

Example: “social media”, “social networking”, OR “interactive marketing”

Why? Searching on multiple query concepts narrows and targets results

●Link keywords and concepts with the AND operator.

Example:  metrics AND measurement

Why? The AND operator connects concepts within a query

Glossary of Search Terms

For an additional explanation of search-related terms and processes, view the Glossary of Search Terms.