Are you not happy with the default search engine that comes with your WordPress website? Are you looking for an advanced or configurable search option for your website?
In this article, we are going to share the top 3 search plugins for WordPress.
Why you might need a search plugin for your WordPress website
- The default search feature that comes with WordPress is quite limited. It doesn’t index the complete website, leaving much content on your website unsearchable.
- The built-in WordPress search engine is not that great in finding relevant content that matches the search keywords.
- Having a good search function is a must today. People prefer searching for the relevant content then trying to navigate using categories and finding the content they want. Having a good search system will ensure your visitors stay engaged on the website for a longer time period.
Below are the top 3 search plugins for WordPress
Fulltext Search plugin is different in comparison to other search plugins as instead of replacing the WordPress search system it extends its functionalities by creating its own word-based index. This helps include other relevant data in search results such as content from meta-fields, custom post types, shortcodes or even the attached files.
The plugin is growing rapidly and has over 900 active installations on the WordPress plugins store. Some of the features of the plugin are:
- Specify the weightage to be given to the title, post content, and other sections of your WordPress website. This increases the relevancy of your search results tremendously.
- Since the plugin extends the functionality of the default WP search, all the other plugins also start using the new search features.
- The PRO version of the plugin allows you to index the content of attached files on your website such as PDF files. This can massively improve the search options.
- Various options to order the search results based on relevance, date, post ID, title, slug, type, random, and comment count.
2. Ivory Search
With the help of Ivory Search you can create your own new custom search forms and display them anywhere on your website with the help of shortcodes. The plugin currently has over 70,000 active installations on the WordPress plugins store. Some of the features of this plugin are:
- If your website runs a WooCommerce store then the search plugin can also search for WooCommerce products.
- Ability to search using AJAX.
- Search analytics to help you keep track of the various searches being made by your website visitors.
- Create custom search forms and configure them individually.
If you are looking to provide live search results on your website then Ajax Search Lite is a great plugin for it. The plugin provides a search form that uses the AJAX functionality to display the search results immediately. The plugin currently has over 60,000 active installations on the WordPress plugins store. Some of the features of this plugin are:
- Responsive search forms that scale across all the devices.
- Support for custom post types and custom fields in the search results.
- Replaces the default WP search engine with a more efficient live search engine.
- Display the search form anywhere on your website using widgets or shortcodes.
Conclusion
Having a search engine that displays relevant search results is a must. The default WP search engine is basic and does not include many relevant sections of your website. With the help of above listed plugins you will be able to show customized search forms with relevant content.