Yahoo! Canada Answers Blog

We know that when visiting Yahoo! Answers you’re here either to ask a question or answer a question. For many of you, your main objective is to lend a hand and answer as many questions about your area of expertise as possible, but often, you’re unable to easily find the right types of questions.

While a basic search (using the top search bar) will produce quick search results, the advanced search function will help you pinpoint specific terms within targeted categories

Answers community member  Calimecita is well known across the community for her expertise in Biology/Zoology  and has worked with us to provide useful Answers tips from Answers users.  Read on for her tips:

“Using Advanced Search you can:

* Find questions that match specific words or phrases, and/or exclude specific terms
* Search questions or best answers only
* Search by category or subcategory
* Choose to search among all English vs. only your home portal questions
* Filter by question status (open, resolved, undecided)
* Restrict by question time frame

You also have the option of saving this search and making it your default “advanced search” for the future by checking the “Make this my default search” box.

Says Cali: “With Advanced Search, I can locate open questions about specific topics quickly and efficiently, without restricting myself to a single category. I’ve even set up a few Yahoo! Alerts based on the RSS feeds from these Search results, so that I receive those questions as emails.”

“When I need an Answer, I restrict my search to “Resolved Questions” only and use some of the other options, such as “search for exact phrase” and “none of these words”, to find very specific content (for example, information about turkeys that doesn’t involve Thanksgiving recipes, or a question about vampires – not the Twilight kind ).

I see lots of comments and requests in the Suggestion Board for ways to do these things – and many users don’t know that Advanced Search is the answer.”

For an even more in-depth look at what the advanced search feature can do for you, stop by Calimecita’s Unofficial Answers Tutorial, found here: http://calitorial.webs.com/searchsort.htm