VCU Google Search

VCU uses Google Search Appliance as the search engine of the university website.

Search features

• Search all of vcu.edu
  include the following values in the form code
  <form action=“http://search.vcu.edu/search">
  <input type=”text” name=”q”>
  <input type=”hidden” name=”access” value=”p”>
• Search a specific domain only
  add code above AND add
  <input type=”hidden” name=”sitesearch” value=”www.domain.vcu.edu”>
  *www.domain.vcu.edu is the domain to be searched
  *do not include “http://” in the value

      EXAMPLE:
      <form method="get" action="http://search.vcu.edu/search">
      <input type="hidden" name="access" value="p" />
      <input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="www.library.vcu.edu" />
      <input type="text" name="q" size="25" />
      <input type="submit" value="Search" />
      </form>

Add Phone Book Search

    * To add a phone book search to a website, point the form action to http://phonebook.vcu.edu

      EXAMPLE:
      <form action=”http://phonebook.vcu.edu”>

      *cgi-bin/directall.pl is no longer required

Requesting Key Matches

By requesting key matches, site owners can emphasize specific key words or phrases that will rank their site higher on search results if that key word or phrase is entered in the search field. For example the word “registrar” is used to specify the homepage of the registrar, so that a search will return this page as the top item. Key matches should be used sparingly and are not to be used in place of meta tags. Key matches are only for pages that should be getting pushed but are not.

To request a key match contact TS webmaster. NOTE: Keymatches are very seldomly granted, and only when a page is not getting presence in the current search system.