Abstract: A computer-implemented method is described, for searching for items in an electronic catalog, e.g. an on-line catalog accessible over the Internet. A hierarchy of category names is defined, each item in the electronic catalog being associated with one of those category names. When a search page is accessed, the category names are scanned, to generate a list of words that appear in the category names at any level of the hierarchy. The list of words is displayed in the search page, allowing a user to select one. When the user selects a word from the list, a list of items whose category names contain the selected word is displayed.