Questions about searching
How do I use the search window?
The Second Life search window has four top-level sections:
- Events - Displays events that are currently in progress. You may teleport directly to the events or click through for more information.
- Destination Guide - The guide lists inworld locations hand-picked by Linden Lab and sorted into a wide variety of categories. See What is the Second Life Destination Guide? for more information.
- Land & Rentals - Lists prominent real estate offerings.
- Classifieds - Shows top classified ads. This section is always visible at the bottom of the search window home screen, no matter what other tab you have selected. See Classifieds FAQ for more information on classified ads.
Once you enter a search term and press Enter or Search, you may filter your search results using the tabs on the left side of the window:
- Everything
- Classifieds
- Events
- Destination Guide
- Groups
- Land & Rentals
- People
- Places
Check a Maturity rating to filter results to GENERAL, MODERATE, or ADULT content.
What is the difference between the Everything tab and the other tabs?
The Everything tab combines results from multiple collections to bring you relevant results from a variety of sources. The other tabs restrict your query to that single collection only.
Why doesn't the Everything tab show what I searched for?
Everything search finds items listed in People, Places, and Groups, depending on relevance. When searching for people in Everything, you must enter their full names. If you do not know the full name, use thePeople category.
Is search functionality available on the web?
Search results are available to the public; anyone with a Web browser can view results athttp://search.secondlife.com/. External search engines such as Yahoo, Bing, and Google may also pick up the search results, although we're not explicitly asking search engines to crawl them at this time.
It's important to remember that this information is not tied to your real life identity and is the same information anyone can access with a free Second Life account.
What about search in Viewer 1.23?
Viewer 1.23's search feature still mostly works, but All and Group searches no longer work in Viewer 1.23.
Why don't I see the item I'm looking for?
Results on the Everything tab are ranked differently than on the other tabs, so the results are shown in a different order. It may be that the item you are looking for is ranked either higher or lower than on other tabs.
Why am I getting an error that some search terms have been removed from my query?
There are content restrictions that affect search results in all of Search. Certain words are not allowed in search, or are only allowed if you are an adult at least 18 years old and have set your preferences to see adult content.
Why isn't my last search showing?
Your last search is shown if you reopen the search window within 15 minutes of running your query. Otherwise the search home page is shown.
What's included in the Everything tab of the Search window?
- Places
- People
- Groups
How can I search classified ads only?
To search only classified ads, choose Classifieds from the dropdown menu next to the search field. Search results are listed in descending order of the price the Resident paid for the ad.
How do I sort search results alphabetically?
On most tabs, you can filter search results by choosing a sorting method from the Sort by dropdown menu. You may not sort Land & Rentals or Everything in this way.
Can I use Boolean operators or other advanced search techniques?
No, you cannot use Boolean operators when searching Second Life.
Can I filter search results by maturity rating?
To filter search results by maturity rating, check the boxes for General, Moderate, and Adult in the Search window; for more information, see Maturity Ratings and search. To view Adult search results, you must be at least 18 years old.
Do searches match partial words?
No. However, you can use an asterisk * as a wildcard character for searches on the People tab. For example, a search for Jer* Lin* returns "Jeremy Linden" and any other matching results.
Privacy concerns
You can specify what's included in search. For the initial population of the search, we made some assumptions for the default settings of each type of result (explained below). You can change the default after it has been set, although it may take one to two days before changes are reflected in the search results. Due to the nature of search indexing, we cannot make any guarantees about when changes will appear.
Be aware that search results are available to the public; anyone with a web browser can view them from the proper search page. External search engines like Yahoo and Google may also pick up search results, but we are not explicitly asking search engines to crawl them at this time. It is important to remember that Linden Lab does not tie this information to your real life identity. However, if you provide real life information in any of the content types indexed by All search, it could be viewed by people via the Web as well as by anyone with a free Second Life account.
Land parcels
By default, land parcels do not appear in search results. To make a parcel appear in search results:
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Groups
If you are an officer or owner of a group, you can make the group visible in search results. Under My Groups / General, select the Show in search check box. Groups with fewer than two active members (that is, members who have logged into Second Life in the past 6 months) do not appear in search results. |
Profiles
All Resident profiles are included in search by default. You can limit the amount of information others can search in your profile by unchecking the Show me in Search results check box in the PREFERENCES window, under the Privacy tab. When you do this, search results show only:
- Your avatar's name
- Your avatar's portrait
- You profile's maturity level, based on the maturity level of its content
Objects
The Show in Search option for an object is unchecked by default. To make an object visible in search:
- Right click on the object and select Edit.
- Click the General tab.
- Check Show in Search.
What happens when I transfer an object set to show in search?
Objects for sale and set to show in Search default back to the Show in search option unchecked for the purchaser of the object.
Objects set to show in Search that are transferred to another Resident keep the Show in search option checked. The new object owner can uncheck this option.
Events
All events are automatically included in search in the Events tab. You can search on any information within the event details. Events also appear in search results on the Everything tab but have a reduced ranking; for the best results, use the Events tab. For more information on events, see Inworld events.
Questions about creating search listings
Why is my listing lower than it should be?
The new search engine determines relevance of items differently than the old system. In comparison tests, Residents indicate that the new search engine results are more relevant three out of four times. If your listing is lower than you expect, make sure that your description is human-readable: avoid keyword stuffing. Refer to the Guidelines for creating search listings for more tips on how to affect your search ranking.
Why isn't my listing shown?
There are several reasons your listing may not be showing up:
- It may take up to six hours for new items to show in search.
- The "Everything" tab is a much stricter search than the other tabs; otherwise there would be too many results. When looking for Residents or places on the "Everything" tab, try searching for the full name.
- If your listing isn't shown in the expected category, verify that the Show in Search check box has been checked.
- Parcels for sale or rent show only if they are at least 512m2 in size.
Why isn't my event or Destination Guide listing on the home page?
The Events and Destination Guide listings on the home page only appear if they are currently active.
Why are search results so different with newer Viewer versions?
Viewer 1.x search looks only for the exact words you typed into the search field and returns results that contain all of those exact words.
Searches using the current Second Life Viewer attempt to find matches using possible suffixes (-ing, -ed, -s) and other factors to determine the relevance of results before returning them to you in order of relevance.
What do I do if I can’t find my parcel or region when I search for it?
Please be aware that if you've created a new parcel or recently purchased one, it can take 2 days for it to appear in Search. Also, if you have split your parcel and it is less than 128 m2, it will not show in results.
If you've changed the title or description of your parcel, you may need to wait up to two days for the change to be reflected in search rankings.
Why can’t I find Events in "Everything"?
Events receive a lower search ranking when shown in the Everything tab.
Why do you hate me, my store, my parcel, my friend?
We are not, in any way, punishing individual stores, listings, or residents in Search, and we have no plans to do so.
The search system treats classes of content in the same way. For example, the maturity ratings system flags some content, but it flags all listings using the same criteria.
Are objects on "private land" that are set for sale included in search?
If your parcel is set not to show in Search, your objects will not be listed, even if they are set to show in Search.
If your parcel is set to show in Search, your for-sale objects are listed on your parcel page and do affect your search ranking.
Do objects with the default name "Object" affect results?
The search system ignores all objects with the default name of "Object."
What about things inside a vendor?
Vendor kiosks must be explicitly set to Show in Search, the same as any other object to be included in search. From the server's perspective, a vendor is just a scripted object — it doesn't really know that the object is selling something. Likewise, it is not possible to search inside the vendor, although you could use the name and/or description of the vendor object to list keywords describing what's inside it.
Are people able to use a search result teleport link to access a private parcel?
Only if the private parcel owner has given them access. If the owner has enabled Show Place in Search, the parcel search results page shows links to the parcel and to the objects on the parcel. The object links allow people to find things on any parcel more easily, but the links do not circumvent privacy settings.
When are search results updated?
The pages on world.secondlife.com update within two hours of changes. Results shown in the Viewer update in less than 8 hours.
How do I list my land as a rental?
You have three options to list a land rental that appears in search:
- Classified ad
- Set land category in About Land window
- Set the parcel description
In addition, if you are an estate owner listing a rental on a private estate, you need to set the parcel for sale. We recommend that you set the price as the weekly rental price and disclose any other setup fees or deposits in the description.
Create a classified ad
Create a classified ad on the parcel in the Land Rental category. Either click "Create a Classified" in the search page or:
- Choose My Profile > MY PICKS.
- Click the "+" near the bottom of the panel.
- Choose New Classified.
Then:
- For Category, select Land Rental.
- Fill in other information.
- Click Publish.
Set land category
In the SL Viewer:
- Choose World > Place Profile > About Land.
- Click the OPTIONS tab.
- Set the Category dropdown to Rental.
- Be sure Show Place in Search is also checked.
Set parcel description
- Choose World > Place Profile > About Land.
- Click the GENERAL tab.
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Use any one of the following phrases (case insensitive) in the parcel's Name or Description:
- Parcel for Rent
- Mainland Rental
- Estate Rental
- Homestead Rental
- Land Rental
- Private Estate Rental
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