Getting the best results from the NZSearch Web Directory
To explore the NZ web entirely, link by link, would take a person many weeks - it is just too large.
However, with thousands of sites divided into hundreds of categories,
NZSearch has arranged those sites to allow them to be both browseable by site category,
and searchable by site descriptions and titles.
Using these two features you should be able to find something to match your interests.
Browsing the Web Directory
You can browse the NZSearch web directory by simply clicking on the various categories listed on each page.
Searching with NZSearch
You can search the NZSearch Categories, SearchNZ NZ Web Site Pages and NewsLinks News Items using the search box at the top of each page:
How to make a search:
1. Type your keyword(s) in the search box.
2. Click on the pull-down box to select in this Web Directory, in NZ Web Site Pages, or in NZCity NewsLinks.
3. Press the Search button to start your search.
Searching the NZSearch Categories
Enter any keyword(s) you wish to search for, separated by spaces in the first search field. After pressing the 'Search' button any web site whose name or description (or any NZSearch categories) contains one or more of these words will be displayed in the search results.
To help you manage the results of your search, The first sets of results are categories. Since categories are populated with sites, a category can contain tens or even hundreds of relevant web sites.
After this summary the first 10 site matches are listed with an option for more. If there are no categories that match your search words, NZSearch will only list these sites that match.
You can also redefine your search at this stage by modifying your search keywords. This allows you to narrow your search further.
Searching SearchNZ Web Pages (all pages on the NZ Web)
Another searching option, provided by SearchNZ, is a full-text search of Web pages on the New Zealand internet.
SearchNZ uses an indexing search engine, which specialises in storing the text of every single web page it can find, giving it a lot of textual data to search through. Search engines provide good results with very specific requests, and often too many results to be useful with general requests.
Chances are, however, that if your search terms didn't match anything in NZSearch you are doing a very specific search, and SearchNZ's result may be closer to what you're looking for.
Even if NZSearch has found categories and sites that match your search terms, you may still want to have a look at what SearchNZ has to offer.
Searching NZCity NewsLinks (News Items from throughout the Web)
Another searching option, provided by NZCity NewsLinks, is a full-text search of news articles from Web pages around the internet.
NZSearch Searching Logic
By default, if you search for multiple keywords, the sites returned will contain ANY of the keywords, eg.:
computer booksreturns sites with:computer OR books in the title or site description
If you want to search for a site that contains ALL of your keywords, use a + before each keyword, eg.:
+computers +booksreturns sites with:computers AND books in the title or site description
If you want to search for a site that contains a phrase or group of keywords put the group of words in double quotes, eg.:
+"computer books"returns sites with:computer books in the title or site description
Wildcards
If you're wanting to return any site that uses a word containing the keyword as the first part of the word, use a * character at the end of your keyword. For example:
big*
returns sites containing:
big, bigger, and biggest, etc.
If you're wanting to return any site that uses a word containing the keyword as the last part of the word, use a * character at the start of your keyword. For example:
*est
returns sites containing:
biggest, longest, and smallest, etc.
If you're wanting to return any site that uses a word containing the keyword as any part of the word, use a * character at the start of your keyword. For example:
*ough*
returns sites containing:
thoroughly, rough, and ought, etc.
If this all seems like a lot to digest in one sitting,
to learn how to search effectively we recommend that you return to NZSearch each time you want to find content within the NZ Web,
and make use of the great Search Tips above the search area on each page.
