Guide To WordPress Site Search Plugins

Your site probably contains lots of content, including blog posts, product pages, your contact information, and more. For users, sifting through your site to find what they need can sometimes become tedious and frustrating.

That’s where the site’s search function comes in. By enabling users to quickly search your site and find exactly what they’re looking for, you’ll improve your User Experience (UX) and encourage visitors to keep coming back.

In this article, we’ll talk more about what a site search is and why it’s necessary for modern web experiences. Then we’ll share some plugins that can help you improve the search experience on your WordPress®¹ website. Here’s a quick comparison of all the tools listed in this article:

Plugin	Cost	Key feature set	Best for
Smart Search AI	Premium	Semantic search, machine learning, typo tolerance, compatibility with popular tools like WooCommerce®2 and ACF, external server offloading for fast speeds.	eCommerce and high-traffic sites that need fast, AI-powered natural language search without taxing their core server.
WPSolr	Premium (Multiple tiers)	Powered by Elasticsearch and Solr; supports custom post types and custom taxonomies.	WooCommerce stores and larger sites that require enterprise-grade search platforms.
SearchWP	Premium	Custom field indexing, WooCommerce integration extension, indexes supplemental content like reviews.	eCommerce sites and complex content hubs that are heavily reliant on custom fields and metadata.
Ajax Search Lite	Free and premium	Mobile-responsive, customizable results templates, basic custom post type and custom field support.	Budget-conscious sites looking for a visually customizable, mobile-friendly live search upgrade.
Ivory Search	Free and premium	Custom search form creation, granular inclusion/exclusion rules (titles, concepts, excerpts, taxonomies).	Sites that require distinct, customized search bars placed in different locations across the site.
Relevanssi	Free and premium	Partial match functionality, advanced indexing options, and flexible search result control.	Content-rich blogs where users frequently look for vague terms or partial word phrases.
SearchIQ	Free and premium	Search intent analytics, results optimization, typo tolerance.	Mid-to-large sites that want actionable analytics data on user search behavior.
Better Search	Free and premium	Seamless default theme integration, custom templates, search term tracking.	Standard blogs wanting a simple setup that highlights what content is trending among visitors.

What is a site search?

There are two main ways a user will search your website: either through the navigation menu or through site search. Navigation is great for casual browsing, while search is often preferred by users who know exactly what they want to find. 

The process works just like a search engine, except that it only looks for pages, posts, or products on the website you’re currently viewing. Site searches can help your users find a variety of information, and they’re especially useful for sites that have a high volume of content or products.

Take the WP Engine blog as an example. You can easily browse our recently published content page by page, but if you open our advanced filters, a search bar appears. There, you can enter keywords related to the content results you want to see. Your own site search feature might help users find specific blog posts, browse products on your site, or direct them to your contact information so they can get in touch.

The benefits of site search

Site search is extremely beneficial to users. Even for sites that are well laid out and easy to navigate, a search function provides a faster and easier way for visitors to find what they’re looking for. This helps to improve UX, and makes for a more enjoyable experience on your site.

Research also shows that site search can increase conversion rates. In fact, adding a site search feature to your WordPress site that improves your users’ search experiences has the potential to double or even triple the likeness of a conversion. That means more sales, subscriptions, and income for you.

The best WordPress search plugins

While WordPress sites include native search functionality, it’s not as effective as it should be to meet the search expectations of modern users. Fortunately, there are several plugins you can use to improve your site’s search capabilities. Take some time to compare top WordPress search plugins before committing to a specific tool.

1. Smart Search AI

Smart Search AI leverages machine learning and semantic search to drastically improve search experiences. The plugin helps your site better understand human intent, natural language queries, and synonyms, so users can find exactly what they need, even if they make a typo or use vague phrasing. Plus, it offloads all search query processing to external servers, so no matter how many concurrent searches take place, your results load lightning fast.

2. WPSolr

This premium plugin promises fast and accurate search results for your WordPress site. WPSolr uses Elasticsearch and Solr to deliver results to your users, and you can include custom post types and taxonomies in your results. WPSolr has several pricing options, depending on which type of plan you choose. 

3. SearchWP

Another useful premium search plugin is SearchWP. By installing and activating it and its WooCommerce Integration extension, you can make sure that custom fields and supplemental content like reviews are indexed along with your posts and pages.

4. Ajax Search Lite

This free site search plugin is responsive for use on mobile devices, and supports both custom post types and custom fields. Ajax Search Lite comes with eight built-in results page templates, which you can customize with color adjustments to match your site. Ajax also offers a pro version with several additional features.

5. Ivory Search

Ivory Search enables you to create custom search forms for different types of content. You can display the forms anywhere on your site, and configure them to search based on post titles, concepts, excerpts, taxonomies, specific post types, and more.

6. Relevanssi

Some users may not know exactly what the thing they’re searching for is called, which is when search features such as partial match come in handy. Relevanssi offers that and much more, in both its free and premium versions.

7. SearchIQ

SearchIQ is a plugin for the smallest blogs, mid-sized online stores, large-scale business sites, and everything in between. When linked with your SearchIQ account, it will also provide you with information that can help you optimize content to better match your users’ search intent.

8. Better Search

With Better Search, users can sift through your posts, pages, and custom post types to find the content they’re looking for. It integrates seamlessly with your theme by default, but you can also customize the look of your search page with templates if you like.

How to install a site search plugin

Before you add one of these site search plugins to your WordPress website, it’s also wise to try out its live demo if possible. Once you’ve chosen the tool you want, installing a site search plugin should be simple. You’ll find free plugins in the Plugins > Add New area of your WordPress dashboard. If you purchase and download a premium plugin, you’ll have to upload it to your site.

No matter which plugin you choose, there will likely be some settings you’ll need to configure. These will depend on the tool, but they often include customizing your results page display templates and specifying the types of content you want to show up in search results.

Some plugins might have additional requirements. SearchIQ, for example, needs to be linked to an account to work. Make sure you check your plugin’s documentation or installation instructions for additional steps. For some plugins, you may also want to set up tracking or other analytics.

Once you’ve chosen a plugin and installed it, make sure to run some test searches as a visitor to your own site to ensure results appear as expected. 

Get started with help from WP Engine

Adding a site search feature is just one way to improve user experiences on your site. At WP Engine, our goal is to improve your site’s performance, and that includes making your content easier to navigate through the Smart Search AI plugin, which is available for all WordPress sites.

Check out Smart Search AI or take a look at our plans to see how WP Engine can be a partner in your digital success!

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2. WP Engine is a proud member and supporter of the community of WordPress® users. The WordPress® trademark is the intellectual property of the WordPress Foundation, and the Woo® and WooCommerce® trademarks are the intellectual property of WooCommerce, Inc. Uses of the WordPress®, Woo®, and WooCommerce® names in this website are for identification purposes only and do not imply an endorsement by WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc. WP Engine is not endorsed or owned by, or affiliated with, the WordPress Foundation or WooCommerce, Inc. ↩︎