PHP mysql search multiple tables using a keyword

What you are probably looking for is the UNION command:

SELECT id, 'messages' as 'table' FROM messages 
  WHERE content LIKE '%keyword%' 
    OR title LIKE '%keyword%'
UNION
SELECT id, 'topics' as 'table' FROM topics
  WHERE content LIKE '%keyword%' 
    OR title LIKE '%keyword%'
UNION
SELECT id, 'comments' as 'table' FROM comments
  WHERE content LIKE '%keyword%' 
    OR title LIKE '%keyword%'

$query = "(SELECT content, title, 'msg' as type FROM messages WHERE content LIKE '%" . 
           $keyword . "%' OR title LIKE '%" . $keyword ."%') 
           UNION
           (SELECT content, title, 'topic' as type FROM topics WHERE content LIKE '%" . 
           $keyword . "%' OR title LIKE '%" . $keyword ."%') 
           UNION
           (SELECT content, title, 'comment' as type FROM comments WHERE content LIKE '%" . 
           $keyword . "%' OR title LIKE '%" . $keyword ."%')";

mysql_query($query);

So, you are getting result from all of the three tables, and you can identify which row came from which table by looking at its type value.