At its simplest, a search query can be just a word. But with the tips on this page, you can refine your search to give you more complete results.
Look for a phrase by typing the whole phrase.

• Look for a phrase by typing the whole phrase.
  Example - type housing starts to find the exact phrase housing starts. Since the search is not case-sensitive, this is equivalent to Housing Starts.

• Look for two or more words at once by using the AND operator.
  Example - type housing AND starts to find documents that have both the word housing and the word starts anywhere.

• Look for words that are close to each other by using the NEAR operator instead of the AND operator. When you use NEAR, the closer together the words are, the higher the rank of the page, so the higher it appears in the list of search results.
  Example - type drywall NEAR installation to match documents where the word drywall is within 50 words of the word installation.

• Look for synonyms or similar words by using the OR operator. Note that if you don't use the OR operator and search using multiple words, the words are treated as a phrase.
  Example - type building OR construction to find the word building or the word construction, but not necessarily both.

• Limit your search by using the AND NOT operator to exclude words.
  Example - type windows AND NOT operating system to find all instances of windows, as long as windows is not followed by the phrase operating system.

• Use AND, OR, NOT, or NEAR literally by using double quotes.
  Example - type "houses near parks" to find documents with the phrase houses near parks. Without the double quotes, this query would use the NEAR operator instead of the phrase.

• Look for words that begin with the same letters by using a single asterisk (*).
  Example - type build* to find build, builder, building, and so on.

• Look for all forms of a word by using a double asterisk (**).
  Example - type go** to match go, goes, going, and went.