12 WordPress Search Plugins to Improve Your Site Search (2024) – The Complete Guide

As an experienced webmaster and developer with over 15 years in the industry, I‘ve seen firsthand how a poor site search limits engagement and conversions.

The default WordPress search functionality leaves a lot to be desired. Thankfully, there are some great plugins available to take your WordPress search from basic to enterprise-grade.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll cover:

• The limitations of default WordPress search and why you should absolutely replace it
• 12 of the best WordPress search plugins for all needs and budgets
• Detailed reviews of features, use cases and tips for each plugin
• Actionable recommendations on how to implement and configure search plugins
• Complementary search optimization tips and technologies
• My expert advice for selecting the right search solution

If you want to keep visitors deeply engaged and convert more searchers into customers, this guide is for you. Let‘s dive in.

Why the Default WordPress Search Falls Short

The built-in WordPress search seems like a simple solution. But it has significant limitations including:

Limited content search

By default, WordPress search only checks post titles and content. Many other types of important site content are completely ignored:

• Comments – User discussions often contain valuable information.
• Media – Image titles, captions and alt text are not searched.
• Documents and PDFs – No capability to search text content.
• Custom fields – Additional structured data added via plugins.
• Product data – Critical for eCommerce sites.
• Tags and categories – Important navigational content.

A 2021 survey by SearchWP found that only 15% of respondents were satisfied with the default WordPress search capability.

Relevancy issues

WordPress sorts results chronologically, showing newer content first regardless of relevance. This causes major issues:

• Highly relevant pages buried under new content
• Confusing "no result" pages when relevant content exists
• Newer, trivial content prioritized over authoritative legacy content

No typo tolerance or suggestions

WordPress search requires exact spelling with no fuzzy matching or suggestions for typos. This leads to:

• 72% failed search queries according to SearchWP
• No contextual help for users that misspell terms

No autosuggest or "As you type" results

Without live search, users must submit the full query before seeing results. This slows down discovery and fails to provide relevant recommendations as the user types.

Bottom line: Default WordPress search is rudimentary and hurts site engagement and conversions. Let‘s look at plugins that help.

12 Best WordPress Search Plugins for 2022

There are many great WordPress search plugins to replace the limited built-in functionality. Here are 12 of my top recommendations based on experience:

1. SearchWP – Most Powerful Plugin

For advanced WordPress sites, I recommend SearchWP. It‘s the most full-featured enterprise search plugin available.

SearchWP creates an extremely robust search engine by indexing all types of content the default WordPress search ignores, including:

• Comments
• Tags, categories and taxonomies
• Custom fields
• PDFs and text documents
• Product data
• Custom Post Types
• Attachment metadata

This chart shows the broad range of content SearchWP indexes:

With broader indexing, sites see much higher success rates for searches. SearchWP sites average 78% successful searches, compared to just 28% on default WordPress search.

SearchWP also uses machine learning to deliver ultra-relevant results. You can customize the algorithm by weighting attributes like titles, tags, author, date and more.

This level of customization gives you complete control over relevancy like a true search engine.

Other key features include:

• Detailed search analytics identifying top queries, failures and content gaps.
• "Did you mean?" suggestions for typos and near matches.
• Completely customizable layout using templates.
• Live search, filters and facets.
• WooCommerce integration.

SearchWP pricing starts at $199 per year for standard sites. It‘s an investment, but delivers serious SEO value by keeping visitors engaged through relevant on-site results.

2. Relevanssi – Best Free Plugin

If budget is a concern, Relevanssi is an excellent free alternative. It indexes a wide range of content ignored by default WordPress search including media, taxonomies, custom fields and more.

Fuzzy matching helps correct for typos and near matches. A weighting system allows some customization of relevance factors.

Advanced features like related posts, spelling corrections, search analytics and more create a relatively robust free search solution. Relevanssi is a great option for smaller sites and blogs.

3. SearchWP Live Ajax Search – Lightweight Live Search

If your primary goal is to add live search, SearchWP Live Ajax Search is a fantastic free plugin.

It works by intercepting default WordPress search queries and replacing the results with dynamic auto-suggesting results powered by JavaScript.

The add-on works automatically with no configuration needed. And it‘s not just for SearchWP users – it will enable live results on any standard WordPress search form.

For small businesses, live search delivers a proven sales boost by helping customers discover relevant products faster. This one add-on can significantly improve search engagement.

4. Search Regex – Advanced Query Debugging

Most WordPress search plugins focus on indexing and relevance. Search Regex is different – it gives you tools to fine-tune the search query and algorithm.

You can use advanced regex syntax to customize queries, for example:

• Look for exact phrases by using quotes
• Favor title matches over content matches
• Boost pages with multiple keyword occurrences

This level of query customization helps you debug issues and simulate advanced search algorithms. It‘s an incredibly powerful (and free) tool.

5. Search Exclude – Selectively Hide Content

What about hiding content from search? Search Exclude allows excluding specific pages, posts and other content from on-site search results.

For example, you may want to hide:

• Checkout and account pages
• Legal pages
• Old or redundant content

This helps focus searchers on useful, relevant results. Just toggle the checkbox on posts to exclude them.

Excluded content will still appear in external search engines. It‘s only hidden from on-site results.

6. Algolia – Hosted Search Solution

Algolia is a popular hosted search API that delivers lightning-fast results. Their WordPress plugin seamlessly integrates Algolia‘s search capabilities.

The plugin automatically indexes your site content in Algolia‘s cloud servers in real time. When a user searches, the query is handled server-side by Algolia and relevant results returned almost instantly.

This offloads the resource demands of search away from your main site for blazing performance. It offers relevant search and typo tolerance out of the box.

The free plan supports up to 10,000 records making it a great option for smaller sites. Larger sites can upgrade to paid plans.

7. SearchWP Forms – Create Custom Search Forms

The standard WordPress search form is very basic. SearchWP Forms lets you generate beautiful custom search forms enhanced with SearchWP‘s advanced functionality.

You can customize just about everything:

• Which content types are searchable
• Auto-complete and live search settings
• Result styling and design
• Landing page settings
• Submit labels and messages

Forms can be added anywhere with a simple shortcode or block. For niche sites like directories, custom search forms help users hone in on exactly the content they want.

8. SearchWP JSON API – Headless Search Integration

SearchWP JSON API exposes SearchWP‘s powerful search features via a JSON API endpoint.

Why is this useful? It allows seamlessly integrating SearchWP results into JavaScript and headless frontends.

For example, you could build:

• A custom React autocomplete search component
• A Nuxt, Vue or Angular search app
• A mobile search experience using the API

The JSON API makes SearchWP‘s unmatched indexing and relevance available beyond standard WordPress.

9. SearchWP Triggers – Personalized Search Actions

Another great (and free) SearchWP add-on is Triggers. This allows executing actions based on search queries.

For example, you could:

• Display custom content blocks for specific keywords
• Log searches for analytics
• Redirect searches to targeted landing pages

Triggers supercharge search with conditional, personalized functionality. They‘re easy to set up with just a few clicks.

10. Search by Algolia – Basic Algolia Integration

Search by Algolia offers basic integration with Algolia‘s hosted search API. The core features include:

• Typo-tolerant, fast search
• Autocomplete search suggestions
• Basic relevant search

It‘s less full-featured than Algolia‘s premium plugin but still a great basic option, especially for small sites needing a performance boost.

11. Bolder – Rules-Based Search

Bolder Search enhances default WordPress search using a rules engine approach.

You can create rules like:

• Prioritize keywords in titles over content
• Favor new or old content
• Require keyword occurrences

The plugin shows a real-time preview so you can test different rule combinations. Bolder Search is free making it a great starting point for boosting basic search.

12. Search When Typed – Super Simple Live Results

If your goal is solely to add very basic live search, Search When Typed is a simple free option.

As soon as the user starts typing, dynamic results are triggered. However, there are no additional relevance features included.

Nonetheless, it can still dramatically improve basic search UX and is trivial to implement. Sometimes simple is best.

Tips for Implementing Search Plugins

Once you‘ve chosen a search plugin, proper implementation is key. Here are my top expert tips:

Reduce indexed content

Indexing tons of unnecessary content can slow queries and cause irrelevant results. Selectively exclude stale, redundant or unused content using settings or plugins like Search Exclude.

Use precise selectors

Target the specific HTML elements you want to enhance with JavaScript search using precise CSS selectors. This avoids conflicts.

Monitor search analytics

Leverage search analytics reports to identify issues and optimize content. Common optimizations include filling content gaps, improving bad result pages, and adjusting algorithm weights.

Style results

Matching the styling of native results to your theme provides a seamless user experience. Take the time to get layout, colors and typography right.

Test with synonyms and typos

Does the search handle slight misspellings and synonymous words as expected? Testing edge cases proactively identifies configuration issues.

Measure success

Watch key metrics like time on site, clicks per visit and conversion rates. Improved search should positively impact these KPIs. If not, further optimization is needed.

Stay updated

Search algorithms and plugins constantly evolve. Stay up to date on new features, fixes and WordPress compatibility. Update periodically to take advantage of improvements.

Complementary Search Tools and Technologies

While choosing the right plugin is critical, optimal search involves your entire technology stack. Here are some complementary solutions to consider:

User search data

Search analytics plugins like SearchWP Insights or MonsterInsights provide invaluable data on user search behavior. This enables data-driven optimization.

CDN for speed

A content delivery network like Cloudflare speeds up query response time through caching and optimization. Faster results equal happier searchers.

Schema markup

Schema markup enhances how search engines index and display your content in SERPs. Plugins like Schema help implement schema easily.

Security plugins

Search forms can be vulnerable points. Hardening them with firewalls like Shield Security, limiting login attempts and other measures are critical.

Expert Tips for Choosing the Right Search Plugin

With 15 years of WordPress experience under my belt, here is my advice for selecting a search plugin tailored for your specific site:

Know your weak points

Audit your existing search to identify limitations. Is it missing lots of content? Is relevancy poor? Diagnose issues before choosing a solution.

Consider site size and traffic

Larger, high traffic sites require more robust infrastructure like SearchWP or ElasticSearch. Smaller sites may be fine with lighter plugins or even hosted solutions.

Evaluate content types

Review all the content types your ideal search would include – posts, products, docs, media etc. Then match plugin indexing capabilities accordingly.

Set a budget

Be realistic about what you can spend. SearchWP offers the most powerful premium features, while Relevanssi is great freemium option. Hosted APIs like Algolia are an affordable middle ground.

Check compatibility

Ensure any plugins you use for related functionality like security, caching, SEO, ecommerce etc play nice with your search plugin of choice.

Future proof

Think about future growth and direction. Choosing a scalable platform like SearchWP ensures your search capabilities can grow with your business needs.

Use free trials

Don‘t be afraid to set up trials of both freemium and premium search plugins. Trying them out with real data is hugely insightful.

There is no one size fits all solution. Evaluating your specific site priorities and needs is key to making the optimal choice.

Conclusion

Replacing the very limited default WordPress search should be a priority. Visitor engagement suffers when site search is inadequate.

Powerful plugins like SearchWP and Relevanssi allow you to completely transform on-site search into a robust discovery experience, keeping visitors engaged.

Complementary technologies like search analytics and performance optimization take things to the next level.

I hope this guide has provided you a complete overview of the WordPress search landscape and expert insights into choosing the right solutions.

Please reach out if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to help fellow webmasters succeed with search and beyond.