If you're using our platform to find tenders, you've probably seen the options to filter by keywords and categories when setting up your alerts. Keywords are a fantastic way of searching for specific types of tenders. However, it’s important to understand exactly how this feature works to avoid missing out on valuable opportunities.
We've broken it down for you below so you can get the most relevant results.
On this page:
How Alerts Actually Work
When you create a search alert, your keywords and categories work together, not independently. That means:
At least one of your keywords must appear in the tender's title or description, AND the tender must fall within one of your selected categories.
This is a common area of confusion. Many users believe they'll receive tenders that match either their keywords or categories, but the system doesn't work that way, it uses both filters together.
Remember, most Buyers don’t provide lengthy descriptions, so keywords can be considerably limiting if they are not in the title or description.
Best Practice for Setting Up Tender Alerts
To ensure you're not missing out on relevant tendering opportunities:
- Start with category-only alerts.
If you provide cleaning, landscaping, road maintenance or IT services, selecting only the relevant tender categories will ensure you catch all tenders, even if unfamiliar keywords are used.
- Create a second alert using keywords only.
This will capture tenders outside your selected categories that still match the specific terminology you're targeting.
Two-alert strategy for beginners:
If you haven’t set up an alert before, we recommend setting up two separate alerts, using the structure below, until you are familiar with the common terms used by Buyers.
Alert 1 – Keyword-only
- Don’t select any categories.
- This will pull tenders from any industry, as long as they match your keywords.
Alert 2 – Category-only
- Select your relevant categories.
- Don’t include keywords.
- This ensures you see all tenders in your industry, even if they use different terminology than you expected.
Using Keywords the Right Way
To make your keyword search as effective as possible, here are some key tips:
- Max 250 characters
Your entire keyword list must fit within this limit
- Separate keywords with commas
Example: battery, power supply, generator,
- Phrases between commas match exactly.
The system will look for power supply as a full phrase, not just the words power or supply on their own.
- Use plural and singular forms
For example:
battery, batteries, gate, gates, gate's
- Avoid common words
Words like 'and', 'the', or 'tender' will return too many irrelevant results. Stick to specific, industry/services/product relevant terms.
- Match any word (recommended)
This means the tender just needs to include one of the keywords/phrases you’ve entered. It doesn’t need to match all.
- Don’t use special characters to narrow down results like you can in Google, as they don’t work in our system.
For example, using speech marks around keywords, such as “power supply,” to imply an exact match, the comma works the same way in our system! Don’t add the asterisk * at the end of keywords, as this is not a wildcard in our system and will not retrieve results showing variations of your keyword. For example, power* won’t retrieve results with powerful, powering, or powers.
- Avoid "exact match" if using multiple keywords
If you turn on exact match while using several words, it will only show tenders that match all of them, which may severely limit your results.
Example:
If you're interested in tenders related to power systems, your keywords might be:
- battery, batteries, power supply, generator,
And you might limit this alert to the categories of Electrical Systems & Lighting & Equipment & Services and Power Generation systems.
Final Thoughts
Setting up your alerts the right way can mean the difference between seeing every opportunity that fits your needs—or missing them completely. Remember:
- Keywords must match the tender title or description.
- Tenders must also fall within one of your selected categories (if any).
- For broader results, just use categories or set up separate alerts, one with keywords only, and one with categories only.
Need help? Our team is here to help you set up or refine your alerts so you can spend less time searching and more time winning tenders.