Getting the best from search and search-based email alerts

First a few words of caution: For most customers our category-based tender alerts will be a better solution than search-based tender alerts. This is because:
  • Tender descriptions are unstructured. Similar services can be described with many different words, word forms and spelling variations.
  • Our own categorisation algorithm uses thousands of words to categorise tenders. The algorithm is continuously updated. In addition, the categorisation of every tender is checked by a human. You own list of search words will struggle to match this.
  • Our human categorisation often relies on non-searchable text; text that is found within the tender documents that is not accessible to the search index.

However, for some customers search-based email alerts and views may be more suitable. This is primarily if your services are narrow in nature and do not match any of our categories well. For example: You only deal with installation and servicing of elevators. We don’t have a category specific to elevators and you don’t want alerts on more general building or engineering work. You are also able to define a narrow range of keywords that will almost always be included in the tender description. You also dislike getting many emails or exploring many tenders; you only want an alert when it exactly matches your services.

With that out of the way, let’s see how to get the most out of our search-based tender alerts.

How to set up search-based views and emails
Search-based email alerts are linked to your saved searches. You can save up to ten searches, and then enable an email alert for each saved search.

Saved searches are configured on the Advanced Search page. Searches can be set up for a combination of search terms, categories, provinces or issuing entities. It is best to test and refine your search to see if the results match your expectations. Once you are happy with the search, click ‘Save this search’ to add it to your saved searches.  You can then manage whether an email alert is sent for this search at My Searches.

Even if you choose not to receive any email alerts for your searches, you can easily view all the results for your saved searches by clicking ‘View all results’ on the My Searches page.

What is being searched?
The query searches for matches within tender descriptions. It is not a generalised Google-type search. Searching for something like ‘building tenders in the Eastern Cape’ is going to return poor results. For his type of search use categories and province matches.

The search is finding word matches within tender descriptions, as a tender issuer would describe the product or service they are aiming to procure.

Better controlling the search query
The search uses a world-leading natural language search algorithm. It allows for typo-tolerance, word substitutions and near matches. It is much smarter than finding straight text matches. But it is primarily designed to find the most and best matches to your search terms. It is not designed to find the narrowest, most-exact matches to your search terms. Therefore it may find results that you would not always expect. 

Getting the best results may involve some trial and error. Try various search terms, test the results, refine… and when you are happy, save the search and set up the alert. When refining your search, keep this in mind:
  • The search is sensitive to word order. The first word is considered the most important. It will not find matches that do not contain the first word. E.g. delivery vehicle will first find matches containing both words, then matches containing delivery. It will not find matches containing only vehicle.  In contrast, vehicle delivery will first find matches containing both words, then matches containing vehicle. It will not find matches containing only delivery.
  • Typo tolerance and word forms. The search will find alternate word forms, near matches and misspellings. E.g. vehicle will also find vehicles or vehciles. Weighbridge will find weigh-bridge or weigh bridge. 
  • You can enforce a phrase match by using double quotes. E.g. “delivery vehicle” will only find matches containing the exact phrase delivery vehicle.
  • You can enforce a word match by enclosing a single word in double quotes. E.g. delivery “vehicle” will force the search to only find matches containing the word vehicle.
  • You can enforce a match for both words by enclosing both words in double quotes. E.g. “delivery” “vehicle” will only find matches containing both delivery and vehicle.
  • You can precede a word by – to exclude matches. E.g. vehicle -delivery will exclude any matches containing the word delivery. 

Managing daily alert emails
The daily search email is controlled for each of your saved searches individually. Email alerts are not enabled by default for new saved searches - you have to turn them on at My Searches. You can set them individually by toggling Yes / No for each search, or use the Enable all emails / Disable all emails links. Only one email is sent per day, containing tenders for all your email-enabled searches.