Blocking Search Keywords in School Manager

Sometimes seemingly harmless keywords can lead to inappropriate search results or become a distraction for students, prompting reports from teaching staff. In such cases, using School Manager to block specific search keywords can be an effective solution. Blocking keywords can prevent students from accessing undesirable content using search engines. This can include instances where students search for unblocked games, free movies and TV shows, or attempt to bypass operating system or system administration restrictions. Any changes you make will be reflected in your Search Reports.

Step 1: Set up a blocked keywords pool

You can add blocked keywords one by one using the Add Entry dialog, or import a CSV file containing the blocked keywords.

Add Entry

1. Go to Configuration > Objects > Pools and select Add Pool.
2. Give the new Object Pool a Pool Name and an optional Pool Description.
3. On the Type dropdown list, select Search Keywords.
4. Save the new pool.
5. On the new pool page, select Add Entry. The Add Entry dialog will appear.
6. Enter the blocked keyword/s in Entry. 
7. Type a Name.
8. (Optional) Add a description for the blocked keyword Entry.
9. Select Save.

Import CSV

1. Select Import CSV.
2. Select the CSV file containing the blocked keywords on your computer or shared folder. The accepted format is one entry per line and keywords are not case-sensitive.

Step 2: Set up a blocked keywords filtering rule

1. Go to Filtering > Content Filtering and select Add Rule. The Editing Rule dialog will appear.
2. Give the new filtering rule a name.
3. On the Type dropdown list, select the blocked keyword pool that you have just created.
4. On the Action dropdown, select Block. 
5. Select the relevant options for Criteria, Redirect, Blocked Page, Alert, Quarantine, and Locked Rule. See: Creating Content Filtering Rules.
6. Select Save.

Step 3: Enable the blocked keywords rule

1. Go to Filtering > Content Filtering, and toggle Enabled for the new Blocked Keywords filtering rule.
2. Ensure the rule is placed above any rules allowing related search keywords. See: Content Filtering Rule Ordering.