While searching GovSpend, the keywords you use are the most important part of your search. In this article, we will discuss several tips and tricks to help make your search the best it can be, including using AI suggestions.
Please note: Using the methods discussed below may lead to varied results, depending on the product or service that you are searching for. If you have any questions after building a search, save the search and reach out to our Customer Experience team for support.
Watch a video:
Follow these steps:
1. Avoid General Keywords
In most cases, using a generic keyword may bring back results that do not supply you with enough detail. Let's go through an example:
"We are a janitorial supplies company and sell products related to that industry."
Scenario 1: If we search for just "janitorial supplies," we get back a lot of results. However, some of the line item descriptions appear vague (do not supply enough detail.) What we will usually see is the term "janitorial supplies" and a price. This means that we cannot get enough detail on what specific product(s) they purchased. This can also limit your results if the agency does not say "janitorial supplies" on their purchase order.
Scenario 2: We enter each of our products individually. GovSpend is keyword-driven (not based on categories.) Entering each of our products will bring back purchases that specifically state any of our products. Being more detailed will usually display more purchases as well.
2. Use Different Variations of Keywords
Using multiple variations of keywords is helpful for products that can be named, or spelled, in different ways.
In this example, we sell antivirus software. Anyone who purchased antivirus software can be considered a lead. "Antivirus" alone will bring back many results. However, it will not paint the full picture in GovSpend. Our database will search specifically for what you type in. So, we will want to use both "antivirus" and "anti-virus" to capture more results. Depending on what you are searching for, you can use any number of keywords to find what matters most to you.
Please note: If you use a keyword that has a "-" the search will also display results with a space in between the keywords.
3. Fuzzy vs. Exact
If your keyword has more than one word in it, your results by default will find purchases with any of those words in any place. Let's try searching for Chromebooks.
In our search bar, we want to find purchases that say "chromebook" and "chrome book." "Chrome book" with a space in between will find any purchase with "chrome" and "book" together or separated (read "fuzzy" below for more details.)
If we click on the keyword in the search bar, we will see two options:
- Fuzzy will allow up to 3 words in between "chrome" and "book." This may be helpful if there are different ways agencies write the product on their purchases.
- Exact will find purchases where both "chrome" and "book" are directly next to each other (with no words in between them.)
If you have multiple keywords where you would like to apply "fuzzy" or "exact," click on the 'APPLY TO ALL KEYWORDS' button.
4. Use AI Keyword Suggestions to Supplement your Search
If you enter 3 or more keywords, you can take advantage of our AI Keyword Suggestions to expand your keywords and enrich your search results.
- Once you've added a minimum of 3 keywords to the search bar, you'll see the gray lightbulb become blue.
- Click the lightbulb to generate additional keyword suggestions based on the keywords you already have entered in your search.
- Below the main search bar, your keyword suggestions will appear along with the number of results that match that keyword.
Note: These keywords are not automatically added to your search.
- Simply click a keyword to add it to your search. Alternatively, click the 'x' icon to return a word to the suggestion list.
- At the footer of the container, you'll notice a few "tips" that you can circulate through via the arrow on the right. These are quick suggestions on how to use the tool to deliver the best results.
Note: The suggestions will always be generated based on the keywords entered in the search bar at the time you click the lightbulb. If you aren't happy with the first set of suggestions generated, you can always click the lightbulb again to refresh the list.
- Once you've selected all the additional keywords you'd like to add, hit the "SEARCH" button to filter your search. This will close the keyword suggestion container.
How to use AI Keyword Suggestions in Text Filters:
- All of the functionality mentioned above is exactly the same when using a text filter from the left-hand set of filters:
Tips to Keep In Mind as You're Using AI Keyword Suggestions:
- You need at least 3 keywords in your search bar to activate the AI Keyword Suggestions.
- The more keywords you have entered before clicking the lightbulb icon, the better the keyword suggestions become.
- AI Keyword Suggestions generates results when you have up to 100 keywords in your search. If you have more than 100 keywords, it will not generate suggestions.
- You can click the lightbulb again at any time in the process to regenerate new suggestions for the same set of keywords.
- The number of resulting suggestions can vary; you may not always get the same suggestions or the same number of suggestions even if you have the same keywords entered.
- Simply click the gray keyword suggestions to add suggested keywords to your main search bar.
- You can remove keywords from your main search bar by clicking the 'x' icon. If they originated as a keyword suggestion then they will return to the list of suggestions.
- The suggestions are not meant to be perfect, they are just suggestions!