You’re probably all too familiar with WordPress’s basic built-in search tool if you’ve been using it for a time. Sincerely, it’s very basic, isn’t it? Yes, it does work, but neither its functionality nor user experience are very noteworthy.

We’ve all experienced that frustration as website owners. We want more control over the appearance of searches, the display of results, and just more power in general.

WordPress search plugins fill in all the gaps left by the default search in this situation.

In addition to using a variety of search plugins, we at WP101 have assisted users in configuring the search function on their websites.

Additionally, the team is constantly in the thick of things, searching the WordPress community for new plugins and tools, methods to enhance websites, and ways to make site management much simpler.

This guide is the culmination of our extensive collaborative study and practical testing. Everything from lightweight, basic plugins to heavyweight champions with every feature imaginable has been addressed.

I’ll provide you with an overview of the 8 Best WordPress Search Plugins for Easy Site Navigation.

Therefore, stay put whether you want to make little changes to your search or give it a total makeover. I’m going to explain how these search plugins may provide your WordPress website with the search capabilities you’ve always wanted, going well beyond what WordPress comes with by default.

8 Best WordPress Search Plugins for Easy Site Navigation

1. SearchWP

Our top choice for a WordPress search plugin is SearchWP. Without requiring any coding, it automatically makes your website searchable.

You may search your entire website after it’s installed. Posts, sites, campaigns, merchandise, media, comments, and users are all included in this. Additionally, you can index and search through the material on your website, including:

• advanced custom fields
• taxonomy terms
• eCommerce product details and descriptions
• custom database table content
• content generated by shortcodes
• shortcode output
• even PDF, Office, and document content

We adore this plugin since it perfectly integrates with your theme once SearchWP is enabled on your website. Additionally, it integrates with page builders such as Elementor, Divi, BeaverBuilder, and Avada.

Next, you can use the “supplemental engine” option to construct additional search engines. This enables you to build up different search engines with different parameters.

SearchWP Key Features

• Reliable search results
• BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and other e-commerce platforms are integrated with themes automatically.
• Compatible with Polylang and WPML
• Dependable documentation and client service
• The Metrics Extension for SearchWP provides robust search analytics.
• Anyone may easily learn how to use SearchWP because to its user-friendly design. However, there is a helpful support staff available if you need assistance or run into any problems.

Who is SearchWP For?

Owners of WordPress websites who need a highly adaptable and effective search solution are the ideal candidates for SearchWP. Advanced features like synonym support, keyword stemming, and search engine customization are available. This is effective, particularly for content-rich websites, since it will improve user experience and boost engagement.

SearchWP Pricing

For a single site license, the SearchWP Pro plugin costs $99 annually.

2. ElasticPress

One special search option for WordPress websites is ElasticPress. ElasticSearch serves as the foundation for our hosted WordPress search. You should be aware that this tool executes search queries in the cloud. Thus, your server is not under any load.

Our search results load incredibly quickly, and your website stays lightning fast as well. Content that WordPress’s default search ignores can be searched by users. This covers metadata, Microsoft Office documents, PDF files, tags, custom fields, and more.

Integrating this service with your WordPress website is simple, and it is compatible with all major hosting companies.

In addition to all of this, ElasticPress comes with a built-in live Ajax search. The closest results will show up before users have finished typing their query!

Its ability to index your comments and offer a search widget with type-ahead search capabilities is one particularly noteworthy feature. It integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce product reviews.

Because of this platform’s complete customization capabilities, you can design your own search engine algorithm. Top-performing products and search phrases can be added to show up first in search results.

ElasticPress Key Features

• Compatible with nearly all WordPress hosts
• Do quick web searches.
• Personalize the search results
• Make your own unique search algorithm.
• Make use of fast autosuggest.
• Show relevant posts
• Connect to WooCommrece

Who is ElasticPress For?

ElasticPress is made for WordPress administrators and developers who require robust and scalable search features. With capabilities like fuzzy matching, real-time indexing, and support for sophisticated search queries, it combines Elasticsearch with WordPress.

ElasticPress Pricing

A basic version of ElasticPress is available for free. The cost of a single site license for the pro plugin starts at $79 annually. A complimentary 14-day trial is offered.

3. Full Text Search

A WordPress search plugin called Full Text Search works in unison with your website. It gathers all the necessary information it requires by indexing the contents on your website. Posts, meta fields, categories, tags, and even attachment content fall under this category.

After optimization, this data is saved in a Word-based Search Index structure. To ensure that your live site is never impacted, this is maintained apart from your actual website data.

The plugin can now search through all of the indexed data and present the most pertinent results when a user conducts a search. It has sophisticated search capabilities. This enables you to search using tags, categories, meta data, post titles, and article content.

Even file types like PDF, DOC, DOCX, RTF, and more can be searched for. Both a paid and a free version are available. In this way, you can begin without investing and then improve as you develop.

Full Text Search Key Features

• Quick site search
• Data that is adaptable and configurable
• Reliable outcomes
• Consistent updates and assistance with Pro Plan

Who is Full Text Search?

For website owners who value accuracy and speed in search results, Full Text Search is perfect. It guarantees that visitors may locate pertinent information fast and effectively by enabling full-text searching across a variety of content kinds, such as posts, pages, and custom fields.

Full Text Search Pricing

A feature-limited free version of Full Text Search is available. Full Text Search’s pro plugin is available for $59 annually. A seven-day evaluation trial is available upon request.

4. YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search

YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search is a premium extension for WooCommerce. It enables users to look up products in your online store with ease. As the user types, the results are shown instantly. Additionally, the procedure is significantly faster, and they save time because there is no additional page loading with results.

This plugin allows you to filter the results and enable search inside particular tags or categories. To locate products in the catalog more quickly, users can also search by SKU.

The ability to include badges and pricing in your search results is what makes this plugin unique. For example, you can notify customers which products have reduced pricing or discounts if you’re having a sale or promotion.

YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search Key Features

• Concentrating on the product search
• In the results, show the title, picture, description, and cost.
• Emphasize your promotional items.
• Elementor and Gutenberg integration, translation readiness, and support for Multilingual plugins
• 30-day money-back promise

Who is YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search For?

YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search is designed for WooCommerce store owners that want to improve their customers’ buying experiences. Instant results are provided via its Ajax-powered search feature, which raises conversion rates and enhances user engagement.

YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search Pricing

A free version with limited functionality is available. For a single site license, the YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search pro plugin costs $79.99 annually. A 30-day money-back guarantee is offered.

5. Swiftype Search

Swiftype Search assists visitors to your website in finding the exact result of their search. A robust crawler is included to swiftly index all of your website’s content.

The search features can be customized using a drag-and-drop editor. Because of this, anyone can use the plugin to add an advanced search function to their website.

Weights are then used to regulate the impact of various attributes on search results. For example, your results may display higher-rated products first. Or, if you are a blogger, the outcomes can depend on how well-liked your articles are.

For improved search results, Swiftype also offers spell check, autocomplete, and dynamic features.

Swiftype Search Key Features

• APIs that are developer-friendly
• Dedicated security rules that are SOC 2-compliant, multilingual support
• To establish word connections, use synonyms.
• Adding a search function to your website is simple.
• A lot of paperwork

Who is Swiftype Search For?

Swiftype Search caters to website owners who value usability and simplicity. It is appropriate for people without a lot of technical expertise because it provides an easy-to-use interface for setting up and controlling search functions.

Swiftype Search Pricing

A single site license for Swiftype Search’s premium edition costs $79 annually. Although there isn’t a free version of Swiftype Search, you can request a demo.

6. Ivory Search

Ivory Search is a good option if you want a straightforward search solution. It essentially improves the built-in WordPress search feature and is free to use. You can make new custom search forms using this plugin.

There are no restrictions on how many search forms you may make using Ivory Search. Additionally, you can personalize every search form independently. As a result, you can make separate search forms for your blog, product catalog, and possibly nearby retail locations.

Users can search by product, attachment, forum, date, author, custom taxonomies, post, page, and product SKUs. Allowing users to search only articles with or without passwords is another option.

To alter the dropdown section, just expand it and make the necessary adjustments. Toggle switches and checkboxes are easily accessed with a single mouse click.

Ivory Search Key Features

• Content indexing and search
• Infinite search forms
• Using an inverted index-based search engine allows for faster searches.
• Remove particular content from the search results page.
• Allow Live Ajax Search
• Weglot offers multilingual search support.
• Connects to well-known plugins like Weglot, WooCommerce, Polylang, bbPress, and WPML

Who is Ivory Search For?

For those seeking extensive search customization possibilities, Ivory Search is the ideal choice. Its user-friendly interface allows you to customize the search capabilities to meet your unique requirements.

Ivory Search Pricing

Ivory Search has a free plugin available. The annual cost of a single site license for the premium plugin is $19.99. A 100% money-back guarantee is offered for 30 days.

7. SearchWP Ajax Live

SearchWP offers an extension called SearchWP Ajax Live. It enables you to add the live AJAX search function to your search forms. As users type in their query, the results are shown here.

The primary SearchWP plugin is not required for this plugin to function. This plugin will make use of the search engines you’ve already built, though, if SearchWP is already installed.

Upon activating this plugin, live Ajax search will be used automatically in all of your site’s search bars.  Additionally, a pre-made block is accessible in WordPress’ widget editor. Any page, post, or widget-ready area can now have a live Ajax search bar added to it.

Everything about this plugin can be altered to show your users the most pertinent results. Any WordPress theme can be used with it.

This plugin is fantastic because it loads the results using a template-based method. This doesn’t interfere with anything else on your website and keeps your search process clear.

SearchWP Ajax Live Key Features

• Simple to set up and adjust
• Developer-friendly search that can be customized
• Real-time, live results
• Works best with websites that offer online courses, memberships, and shops.

Who is SearchWP Ajax Live For?

This is the ideal plugin for you if you want real-time search capabilities with immediate results. As users type, you can display dynamic search results and suggestions. This significantly increases search engagement and efficiency.

SearchWP Ajax Live Pricing

A free WordPress plugin is called SearchWP Ajax Live. It can be used as a stand-alone WordPress plugin or in conjunction with SearchWP.

8. Advanced Woo Search

Advanced Woo Search is a WooCommrece search plugin. It enables a separate search results page in addition to Ajax results. So you may decide which one is most appropriate for your website.

Additionally, it enables you to enable search functionality for all of your WooCommerce products. All product data is automatically synchronized by the plugin. This implies that any newly added products are indexed, saving you the trouble of manually re-indexing all material following each modification.

It features a useful “search in” feature as well. Users can use this to look for results in particular product categories, tags, IDs, SKUs, and content segments. To get better results, you can even remove stop words.

Title, image, and price are all options that you can include in your WooCommerce search results.

There won’t be a learning curve when you put this up because the backend dashboard is easy to use.

Regarding translations, you can incorporate plugins such as WPML, Polylang, WooCommerce Multilingual, qTranslate, GTranslate, and others if you wish to provide your website locally in multiple languages.

The fact that this plugin is compatible with all of the well-known page builders, including Divi Builder, Beaver Builder, WPBakery, Elementor, and Gutenberg, is what we thought really stood out. such that integrating this plugin into your current WordPress ecosystem won’t provide any problems.

Multivendor plugins such as Dokan, WCFM, and MultiVendorX are also supported.

Advanced Woo Search Key Features

• Terms and search filters
• Infinite search forms
• Support for Google Analytics
• supports plurals and synonyms
• Forms and results layouts using Pro Plan

Who is Advanced Woo Search For?

Advanced Woo Search is designed for WooCommerce store owners that wish to maximize their product search capabilities. It provides rapid search results, sophisticated filtering capabilities, and WooCommerce extension compatibility. All in all, it gives clients a flawless purchasing experience.

Advanced Woo Search Pricing

This WooCommerce search plugin is free. For a single site license, the Advanced Woo Search pro plugin costs $69 annually.

What to Look For in a WordPress Search Plugin?

Not every search plugin has the same functionality or operates in the same manner. Every one on this list has something special to give. You should ensure that the plugin you select has some necessary functionality, though.

When choosing a good search plugin, keep the following in mind:

• Make all of the content on your website searchable.
• In keeping with your theme
• smoothly combines with WordPress’s built-in search feature.
• Statistics and insights regarding user activity
• Auto-detection of mistakes and spelling problems using keyword stemming

In light of this, let’s examine the top-rated and most widely used WordPress search plugins.

Which is the Best WordPress Search Plugin for You?

Which WordPress search plugin is the finest for you? That is the crucial question now.

There isn’t a single plugin that works for every user, as is typically the case with these plugin roundups, so let’s go over a few scenarios.

I would recommend SearchWP if you’re looking for the best search plugin overall. It performs a variety of tasks. It has the best feature set of any plugin on this list, including text document indexing, related content, Ajax live search, custom weighting, and enhanced relevancy.

Wrapping Up

This is our overall guide to 8 Best WordPress Search Plugins for Easy Site Navigation. I hope the article is useful to you. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the aforementioned plugins if you want to add a dynamic and engaging search function to your website. Allow your website to grow in popularity and get more visitors. Bring about more favorable outcomes for your website as a result.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best free search plugin for WordPress?

WordPress search plugins are available for free from ElasticPress, Relevanssi, and Ivory Search. Despite being a premium plugin, SearchWP is incredibly strong and has all the functionality you require to make your complete website searchable. It has a 14-day money-back guarantee and starts at $99 annually.

Does WordPress have a search engine?

Indeed, visitors may look for material on a WordPress website using the built-in search engine. It doesn’t, however, provide the greatest search experience. Plugins and content and search parameters optimization can improve its functionality.

How do I make my native WordPress search better?

Installing and configuring a search plugin like SearchWP, which provides sophisticated features like term stemming, synonym support, and live search, can enhance WordPress’s built-in search capabilities. Additionally, you should make sure that all of the material on your website—including custom post kinds, taxonomies, and custom fields—is appropriately indexed by search engines.