Guide

Add a search

Each search in a Super Search page is a link with a %s token where your query goes, for example https://core.ac.uk/search?q=%s. There are two easy ways to make one — you never have to write the %s by hand.

Option 1 — from a search link

Best when a site has its own search box.

Search for a memorable phrase
On the site you want — a library catalogue, a database, a journal — run a normal search for a distinctive two-word phrase such as climate migration. Two words with a space are easy to spot in the address and reveal how the site handles spaces; avoid single common words.
Copy the results-page address
Copy the full address from your browser's address bar. It will contain your phrase, e.g. …doSearch?Query=climate+migration.
Convert and add
Paste it into the link converter (or the builder's "Add from a search link" panel) and tell it the phrase. It produces …doSearch?Query=%s, ready to drop into a section.

Option 2 — a site search

Best when a site has poor or no search of its own — which is most of them. Instead of using the site's search, you search it through Google.

In the builder's + Add a site search panel, type just the website address, e.g. economist.com, and it builds:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:economist.com+%s

Tick UK Google to use google.co.uk instead. This is exactly how many of the searches in the templates work — the news titles, the magazines, and the UK academic search are all Google site searches.

What the converter recognises

Your phrase can be written into a link in different ways. The converter checks the common forms automatically:

climate+migration      spaces written as +
climate%20migration    spaces written as %20
in the query string    …?q=climate+migration   ->  …?q=%s
in the path            …/search/climate+migration  ->  …/search/%s
with extra settings    …?q=climate+migration&sort=date  ->  …?q=%s&sort=date
If the converter cannot find your phrase: some sites send searches as hidden form data, so the results address does not contain your words and cannot become a simple link. A Google site search (Option 2) almost always works as a fallback.
Open the link converter Open the builder