For information about Web accessibility, please contact the Webmaster at webmaster@haverford.edu.

Haverford College
Administrative Computing

Help Pages: Using "Smart Keyword" Searches


Mozilla Firefox has the ability to do a search by typing your search term(s) directly into the location bar preceded by a “smart keyword” that indicates where the search should be performed.

Mozilla Firefox has the ability to do a search by typing your search term(s) directly into the location bar preceded by a “smart keyword” that indicates where the search should be performed. For example, I can type "amazon Harry Potter" where I would normally type "www.amazon.com" and it will perform the search for me on Amazon's website using "Harry Potter" as my search terms.

First you must set up the smart keyword.

  1. Using the Firefox browser, go to the website where you would normally perform a search (e.g., Amazon, Ebay, Yahoo!, etc.).
  2. Right-click on the text box where you would normally enter your search terms.
  3. Select "Add a keyword for this search..."
  4. Name the Bookmark (e.g., Amazon).
  5. Specify a unique keyword (e.g., amazon).
  6. Select the location of your choice from the drop-down and click "OK."

Then you can use the keyword.

  1. Place your cursor in the location bar (where you would normally type a website address).
  2. Type the keyword, then the search terms you would like to use (e.g., amazon winnie the pooh).
  3. Hit the [Enter] key. The website page should appear with your search results.