14 Best Search Plugins for WordPress 2022
Here you will find all the best WordPress search plugins for your website to replace flimsy default WordPress search.
Did you know that the default WordPress search engine isn’t as efficient (and awesome) as the rest of WordPress?
Although the search is available as a function in WordPress, it does not search custom post types and taxonomies.
If you have a custom post type as “Book” for a book review website, then the default search isn’t going to look there.
Thankfully there are a host of awesome plugins that help you implement a powerful search solution in your WordPress site, with varying degrees of specificity.
For example, some plugins help you select search categories, whereas advanced ones enable you to search for content inside PDF files!
We’ve divided this list into 3 categories – premium, free, and freemium categories.Let’s get started! The freemium ones are the most popular since they offer amazing functionality with zero cost.
Let’s look at the best WordPress search plugins you can install today.
Premium Search Plugins for WordPress
Site Search 360
Search 360 is the most popular and polished WordPress search plugin.It is easy to set up but packs loads of functionality unmatched by others.
Ensuring your user experience is top-notch is vital in today’s world, where visitors will swiftly flee if they have any difficulty finding what they need.
So, if you want to offer users a site search experience that’s fast, seamless, and looks great while doing it, install Site Search 360.It’s an easy-to-use tool that takes just moments to implement and instantly improves your user experience and article/product findability.
Site Search 360 also delivers on the analytics front, providing your business with reams of useful user data to help you understand what your audience wants.
Not only great on desktop, Site Search 360 works wonders on mobile devices.
A unique characteristic of this solution is its deep customization options.
It looks great out the box, but it’s super simple to configure Site Search 360 to match your pre-existing brand identity.There’s even CSS customization if you want to take it further.
The best thing about Site Search 360? You can install it today for free.Click the button below to see how easy it is to take your site search experience from zero to hero.
[More info / Download]
WPSolr
WPSolr – Amazon & eBay Like WordPress search plugin with Elasticsearch and Apache Solr.
Why is it so good?
Because it rocks your search completely – boosting your search with new, never seen before functionality.
Firstly –WPSolr is a plugin for big websites.Its main purpose is to optimize the speed of a search query.It is designed for WordPress or WooCommerce sites that run many pages or products.So why is it the best? A search in a WordPress website with a million pages and a million products will run amazingly fast!
Secondly –It is built to remove the headache for your users.It has search functionality, similar to Amazon or eBay.Facets are used to filter your search results.
Sorting functionality is implemented, which is easily configured in the admin panel.
It is easy to style and works with AJAX (which means, that your search will not reload the page, but will update with new products –smooth!).
Thirdly – Is the plugin compatible! It works as mentioned with Woocommerce, Advanced custom fields, WPML and Polylang , TablePress, bbPress, PDF Embedder, Google doc Embedder, and many more! It supports WordPress projects and replaces the WordPress search with a much faster search with no headache.
Lastly and most amazingly! –It has super SEO functionality.
If you read blogs about SEO –most of them will say, do not let your search results page be indexed! Well, this is because it is quite difficult to solve all the technical problems and to avoid duplicate content with search results.
However, WPSolr solves it all! It has a massive SEO infrastructure explicitly designed to make search result crawling for Google available and amazing!
[More info / Download]
SearchWP
SearchWP is currently one of the best premium search plugins, with many features.The plugin scans all your existing posts, pages, and other custom post types – every bit of (index-able) content in your WordPress site and builds a giant index that is updated periodically.
You can manually select the custom post types and categories you want to include in your search results.This feature is handy for people looking for granular search parameters.
Search settings offered by SearchWP
You can also reorder individual search elements in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) by assigning “weights” to your posts and pages.
Another feature of this plugin is “fuzzy match,” which is my personal favorite.What this does is match partial keywords supplied in the search query.For example, if you can’t remember the exact name of a particular plugin, say “Relevanssi” you can type “relevant” and SearchWP would return the partially matched posts.
SearchWP also includes a PDF search module, i.e.it indexes content within (unlocked) PDF files.
Your search results could also have results from within PDF files.Of course, this feature is configurable.
SearchWP starts at $99 a year, including updates and supports bbPress and WPML integration.
[More info / Download]
AJAX Search Pro for WordPress – Live Search Plugin
This plugin from developer wpdreams has clocked over 20,000+ sales making it one of the highest-selling WordPress search plugins on CodeCanyon.
The plugin runs on AJAX, an acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.The plugin starts working (i.e., returning search results) as soon as the keywords are typed, without refreshing the page.
This is a huge boost in user experience.
A host of settings offered by AJAX Search Pro
Imagine you wanted to search for something whose name you couldn’t remember.As you keep typing the keywords, the results are generated.This is immensely helpful in finding the correct (or relevant) result in the shortest amount of time.
The plugin features over 60 customizable themes, retina-ready graphics, multiple search result layouts, and other customization options.It also supports custom post types and taxonomies.
The plugin is compatible with WPBakery Page Builder, and multilingual plugins such as qTranslate and WPML cost $26.
[More info / Download]
Smart Ajax Product Search
>You know that you could use something extra to offer your visitors to find exactly what they are after more efficiently.To truly step up the search function of your WordPress site, you should better look into the Smart Ajax Product Search plugin.Smart Ajax Product Search is a powerful and convenient search plugin for WordPress with solid stability and compatibility.
It smoothly integrates into the default search function and WooCommerce and even other custom widgets you sport on your site.
With Smart Ajax Product Search, you can allow your guests to search by different aspects, like SKU, product variations, custom fields, product attributes, and more.In search results, you can also exclusively showcase products with a “sale” label and those items that are marked as “featured.”
Styling and customizing Smart Ajax Product Search is effortless, so make sure you tailor it exactly how you want.
In other words, make it follow your branding to feel like the plugin has been part of your webspace since the very beginning.
[More info / Download]
Free WordPress Search Plugins
Relevanssi
Relevanssi is one of the most popular search plugins in the WordPress repository.By that we mean it has over 100,000+ active installations.
Since Relevanssi is a freemium plugin, you would expect the good features to be locked behind a subscription.On the contrary, the free version of the plugin provides these amazing features:
– Exact phrase match: If you surround your query with a quote, Relevanssi will only return those results that match the exact phrase.
– Fuzzy search: Similar to SearchWP, Relevanssi offers fuzzy logic search in the free version of the plugin.
Relevanssi sorts the search results based on relevancy rather than the published date.
It also offers other features like excerpt displays in SERP, highlighted search words, typo suggestions similar to Google’s “Did you mean?” feature, and more.
The premium version of Relevanssi includes some technically advanced features which we’re not going to discuss here.
[More info / Download]
Ajax Search Lite
>Ajax Search Lite is a – hence the name – live search plugin for WordPress powered by Ajax.
It seamlessly integrates into any theme, unlocking an extra layer of professionalism.You can also elevate your page’s user experience with solid search features, making it more comfortable to skim through.This search plugin for WordPress has loads of features you can take to your advantage and create the most sophisticated live search function.
Some of Ajax Search Lite features are eight ready-made templates, WPML compatibility, over forty options in the back-end, and integration with Google Analytics.Ajax Search Lite also ensures responsiveness and cross-browser compatibility.Also, you can use the tool out of the box or improve it further; whatever option you choose, the outcome will benefit your website considerably.
[More info / Download]
Better Search
Better Search is an entirely free WordPress search plugin that indexes posts, pages, and custom post types.You can assign weights to individual elements, such as post title, excerpt, body, etc., which enables you to customize the search results.
Better Search settings panel
Better Search also has a search heatmap, which displays the most popular searches on your site.
You could also use your theme’s footer or sidebar.
[More info / Download]
Ivory Search
>Ivory Search is a tool to consider when you want to take your website’s experience to another level.After all, if you offer your visitors to find what they require as quickly as possible, they will surely return and recommend.That said, boost WordPress’s default search function with the amazing and easy to employ a tool named Ivory Search.
You can also create customized search forms that are exclusive to your online presence.
With Ivory Search, you can create unlimited search forms and have the ability to showcase them pretty much anywhere on your page.Ivory Search works everywhere from headers and footers to sidebars, navigation and widget’s area, and even posts.Additionally, you can also exclude specific content from search results and have complete control over the search function on your website.
[More info / Download]
Advanced Woo Search
>Regardless of the eCommerce website you operate, you can now take it to new heights with a proper search function.
Advanced Woo Search is a powerful and practical search plugin for WordPress that specializes in WooCommerce.As soon as your shopper types in their search query, the items start appearing automatically.They can find the product they are interested in much quicker when you have Advanced Woo Search rocking your online store.
There are numerous amenities that you can access when working with Advanced Woo Search.Advanced Woo Search has it all and then some, from a powerful settings page and a shortcode and widget to smart ordering and lightning-fast experience.
Each search result also includes product images and prices for their convenience.
[More info / Download]
YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search
If you are already getting somewhere with your online store, it is time to improve its performance and take it to a new degree.One simple yet sophisticated approach is to introduce a top-notch search feature.
And you can make it happen without the hassle by employing the outstanding YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search plugin for WordPress.To see it in action, all you need to do is install and active it, and the magic happens right away.
And if you run a store with hundreds if not thousands of products, you can also help yourself find the product you have available with the handy YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search.
What YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search does, it creates instant search results, suggesting your WooCommerce products based on the searching criteria.Just start typing, and it will emerge from the masses.
[More info / Download]
WP Extended Search
Take WordPress’s default search to another level with WP Extended Search.This free and practical plugin gives you a chance to add more features to your website or blog, like post meta, categories, tags and custom taxonomies.You can also include or exclude post types.Offer your users and readers to find what they are searching for much quicker.With WP Extended Search, you can get the job done quickly, even if you have your page translated into your local language.
What’s more, you also have total control over configuring WP Extended Search to search by title, by content, by excerpt or all.You can specify how many posts to display in a search result, customize the order of the results and even provide search by exact query or partial.
Make your website’s experience even better with the use of WP Extended Search.
[More info / Download]
Search & Filter
There is always a way to improve the search feature on your WordPress website or blog.Thanks to the collection of useful plugins that we have here, you can make it happen with little to no effort.Search & Filter is another search plugin for WordPress that adds another layer of usefulness to the default search box.With this tool, you can offer your users to search by category, custom taxonomy, post type, post date and even a combination.
Moreover, Search & Filter uses Ajax to display results, works in tune with WPML plugin, supports eCommerce websites and allows users to order results by field.The entire setup of the plugin is a little breeze, making sure beginners and experts get the most out of it.And if you ever need help, hit up Search & Filter’s support team.
[More info / Download]
ACF: Better Search
>When you find WordPress’s default search function not doing a good job, we have many search plugins for WordPress that you can implement into your websites’ designs.With ACF, adding an advanced search feature to your page is quick and straightforward.
ACF stands for Advanced Custom Fields, meaning, it offers your visitors to search for different content based on the fields they select.
In short, you install it and it is already making moves.Of course, you can also configure settings and alter it according to your needs and regulations.Besides, you do not need to play with the code if you would like to perform any improvements.ACF is as user-friendly as it could be.It is also super fast-performing, ensuring the first-grade experience at all times.
Conclusion
Deciding which search plugin is the best choice for you will depend on the size of your site, the functionality that’s most important to you, and how much you’re willing to spend to get it.
Search should be an intuitive process.
You need to study your visitor’s behavior first – do they use the search function? If so, how often? Once you resolve that your search is being utilized significantly, you can go for a free or freemium search plugin like Relevanssi.
Have we missed out on your favorite search plugin? Let us know, and we’ll add it to our list!.
