Thread: Location Frustration - What do the search boxes actually search?

Location Frustration - What do the search boxes actually search?

I bought Vantage last week and THOUGHT "this is going to be a breeze!", but now I'm coming up zeroes on some searches where there should definitely be results. I've concluded that unless I know how Vantage search functions, I won't be able to get it to function.

My site: www.stdgroups.com

As I was unsure about exactly what Vantage searches in its "Search" box - and am still not sure - I went with what I thought made sense.

Categories:

HBV Social Groups (Hepatitis B)
HBV Support Groups (Hepatitis B)
HCV Social Groups (Hepatitis C)
HCV Support Groups (Hepatitis C)
HIV Social Groups (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)
HIV Support Groups (Human Immunodeficiency Virus)
HPV Social Groups (Human Papillomavirus)
HPV Support Groups (Human Papillomavirus)
HSV Social Groups (Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 & 2)
HSV Support Groups (Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 & 2)

Unfortunately, Vantage only allows for single-category selection when group owners come and create a listing, so I guess I have to manually go in afterward and add the second category for any groups which offer both Social & Support.

Many groups also serve more than 1 type of STD (eg. HSV & HPV), so I though I could just add those manually as well... but since I don't even know what the search box searches, I have to add all these terms in Tags, too, to try to get them to come up.

The downside of this is that (to my understanding) all these options will appear in Categories to group owners on their create/edit listing forms, so they will get confused at having to choose just one.

As for the "Search Near"(location) box, I have no idea what that's actually searching. Even for one group with a pin in the middle of downtown Detroit, the group doesn't appear when one searches "Detroit" or "Detroit, MI", no matter how far I push that slider. One group even refuses to appear in Detroit, even though I go and re-find it in "Detroit, MI" on the map. Yet, if I put it in the nearest suburb, it appears in Detroit searches. Makes no sense. Seems like I can put it in any other city in the country, except Detroit and it shows up in search, but when I move it back to Detroit, it disappears. (yes, I tried it in other cities and states, just to make sure I'm not losing my damn mind). So, at least for now, it sits in Dearborn. [sidenote: most of these groups don't have a physical address - they service a city, metro area or state]

So what is the "Search For" box actually searching? Titles? Tags? Categories? Listing Content?

And what is the "Near" location actually searching? Do I have to add the city, state(and state abbreviation), zip and country in Tags, too, in order to ensure that results appear when people search for those things?

Enlighten me, please.

Also, ANY suggestions on taxonomy or category setup/modeling for the above challenge would be most dearly appreciated! This site is free to both users and the groups listing - just my gift to humanity - but I'd really rather not have to spend yet another solid week struggling with spotty search results and trying to explain to group owners why, even though they have a listing, it doesn't show up in simple searches.

Thank you!