1. A computer-executed method of providing search results in response to a search request wherein the search request includes at least a search query string, comprising: parsing the search query string into tokens; determining which tokens, if any, are hint tokens; if the search query string includes at least one hint token, then performing a hint directed action on the search request, wherein the hint-directed action comprises one or more of: a) submitting a remainder search string to a search engine wherein a remainder search string is a string corresponding to the search query string less the at least one hint token, b) directing the search request to a search system indicated by one or more of the hint tokens, or c) adding a parameter to the search request, as indicated by one or more hint tokens, that causes the search request to be directed to a particular domain; and if the search query string does not include at least one hint token, then submitting the search request to a search engine without performing any hint-directed action.