Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus for searching electronic documents. The 5 apparatus comprises first and second data repositories storing tags for representing content of an electronic document. The first data repository is adapted to store structured tags and their respective association with an electronic document, a structured tag comprising information representing its relationship to at least one other tag. The second data repository is adapted to 10 store free tags and their respective association with an electronic document, a free tag not comprising information representing its relationship to any other tags. Electronic documents can be searched by accessing the first and second data repositories, and matching a search query with one or more tags in the first and second data repositories. For each matched tag, an electronic document 15 associated with the tag can then be retrieved and a ranking for the electronic document determined based on attributes of the document and its associated tag.