Drupal 7: 'Sort_By' for Keyword?

Hello all, this is my first post, and I am a designer not back-end developer so please excuse my ignorance as this may or may not be an easy question.

I am building a website with a number of image elements which will link to a search query producing the given City or geographic region chosen when clicked on. Seems simple enough. I am in no way thru styling or design, really focused on functionality now so please excuse the clutter--this page will be our page of focus - http://www.keytotexas.com/live/listing-rows as it displays the search display I wish to utilize when producing the search results (and this may be by keyword alone!)

For example, I wish to click on the 'Dallas' image link and the search query to produce all search results with the word 'dallas'

Currently if you use the 'sort' feature a link is produced similar to:
http://www.keytotexas.com/live/listing-rows?sort_by=field_price_value&sort_order=ASC

Is this as simple as sort_by=fillinblank or would this functionality need expression within the code or configuration of Drupal?

In short: I want to click on a link, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, for example, and the search results produced curate all content with the term specified in the URL which is applied to the image on the front page -- the caveat of course is the search showing in this 'listing-rows' format.

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

As this forum is extremely inactive, I will respond to my own thread in hopes of helping whomever may read this facing similar difficulties. I haven't a final 'solution' per se; however, I have created a route for a new solution and if you are smart, willing to put in the time, I will assume this will work for you as well in time.

I will be installing a series of modules (all work in unison) to create a custom search with a Drupal 7 Search API:

Search API Sorts
https://drupal.org/project/search_api_sorts

Search API Ajax
https://drupal.org/project/search_api_ajax

Search API Solr
https://drupal.org/project/search_api_solr

Search API (main framework)
https://drupal.org/project/search_api

Search API Ranges
https://drupal.org/project/search_api_ranges

If anyone else wishes to chime in on the original issue or add to this post as the answer is still not answered or clearly defined please feel free to do so. In the meantime, enjoy yourself and happy internet building