Localgov tricks and tips: Search

There's a great deal of information on LocalGov.co.uk. In addition to the 40,000 or so listings in the directory, there are thousands of articles stored in the site, and hundreds of jobs and events.
To help your through the wealth of data, there are a number of search options on the site which I will outline in this post.

Basic or ‘quick search’


First, and most obvious, you can run searches across the whole of LocalGov.co.uk using the search bar which appears on every main page in the site (shown above).

Tap in your keyword or expression and LocalGov.co.uk will provide you with a list of references, categorised by site section. A search tips link has been included on the search bar to assist you.

If you do not want to search the entire site, you can search by section via the search bar too. Simply click on the drop down to reveal the sections in LocalGov.co.uk



Section-based searches

In addition to this main search, LocalGov co.uk offers a range of more tailored searches.

For example, in the news section of the site, you can select a site topics or sectors to refine your search, or select a number of sectors by holding down the ctrl key while clicking on headings.

These screens also allows you to specify a date range for the search, either by searching on a predetermined period (a week, a month for example) or by setting your own date range.

Given the volume of information contained in subscription-protected part of the site, the directory, a number of search options are available, allowing you to search by officer type, organisation type and filter site statistics.

News ‘FASTsearch’

In addition to the quick search, the site also features a fast search function of the news section. This requires you to select a term in a news story with your mouse, double click and the three most recent articles relating to that term are displayed.



It does take a bit of deft mouse work, but this is a useful tool to access more information about a particular project or initiative quickly, without have to run a full site search.

One last trick. To save you having to type expressions into the search bar, your can select the term from an article and LocalGov.co.uk automatically fills the search panel in for you.



If you have further suggestion for improving the search functions on LocalGov.co.uk, please either leave a comment on this post or email me.

Happy searching!