What is changing
At the moment, different things on the site sit in different places. Services and events are in one area. Groups and organisation profiles are in another. Advice and information pages are somewhere else again. That means you have to work out where to look before you can start looking.
The new search brings this all together. You type what you need, and you get everything that might help in one list.
A better experience
Start with a search term, a place or a category (e.g. childminders).
You do not have to use the right words. If you type something like "help with my mum’s memory", you will still see memory cafes, local groups and advice pages, even if none of them use those exact words.
Once you have your results, you can narrow them down. You can choose to see only events, only services, or only organisations. You will also be able to filter by new options like ‘free’, or ‘wheelchair accessible’.
Results are easier to read, too. If something runs every Thursday, you will see that straight away without having to visit the detailed page view. You can save anything to your favourites or share it with someone, right from the list.
Why we are doing it
People told us they were not always sure where to look, and that useful things were being missed because they were somewhere people did not think to check. We want you to be able to type what is on your mind and get a helpful result, without having to navigate the menu.
Protecting your data
We are using two third party services to power this new functionality: Microsoft Azure and a search provider called Typesense. Only your search terms and listings are shared with these providers, never your personal details. There is more detail in our privacy policy.
What happens next
The new search is being tested now with groups in Warrington. We are aiming to launch it fully sometime next month.
If you’ like to get involved in testing please do let us know!