Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for improving database searching, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a search query comprising one or more search keywords from a user; accessing a user profile means arranged to provide data indicative of relatedness criteria between keywords from a set of documents, and identifying from said user profile means, for the or each search keyword, potentially-related keywords according to predetermined criteria; providing said potentially-related keywords to the user; receiving information from the user confirming that any potentially-related keywords are considered to be related keywords; in the event that any potentially-related keywords are confirmed by the user to be related keywords, incorporating such potentially-related keywords as keywords in an improved search query; and submitting the improved search query to a search engine.