30+ Best WordPress Search Plugin to Improve Your Site Search & SEO

Do you know that the native WordPress search functionality is not that efficient? WordPress is one of the best Content Management Systems that are available and has outstanding features. However, the native search is not one of the good features of WordPress. Even though the search is available as a function in WordPress, it does not search custom post types and taxonomies. This means that if you create a website, the search function will not work.

Most internet users use the search engine to look for a product instantly. If the search engine does not work, they often leave your site to look for the product elsewhere. To avert this problem, you will need a WordPress search plugin, which will improve the user search experience.

Best WordPress Search Plugins

Which search plugin should you choose? Most of you are wondering about this question. With the plethora of plugins available, it is hard to pick the best search plugin. However, this list has been curated to provide you with 30 of the best search engine plugins that are available for WordPress. They are powerful solutions that help to reduce website bounce rates and increase user engagement.

Some of the plugins mentioned here are free while others are premium. They offer different features that you may want to include on your site. Without wasting time, lets us have a look at 30 of the best search plugins that you can include on your site.

1. Site Search 360

Site Search 360 is one of the best premium search plugins for WordPress. This plugin is packed with many features, which would greatly take the user experience of your site to the next level. Search is a very important aspect of any website.

Site Search 360 offers you a top-notch solution for efficient searches, which visitors will love. It offers a smart semantic search that gets instant results with autocompleted suggestions. Moreover, it offers you Analytics to help you get more from your search and provides your business with reams of useful user data to help you understand what your audience wants.

This plugin offers you deep customization options that perfectly fit your website’s design and structure. Additionally, it has a clever content grouping functionality that offers a great user experience on your site. It offers a free package but for more features, the pricing starts at $9 per month.

Here are some of the features:

It is easy to install.
It gets instant results.
It offers you analytics features that will help you to make well-informed decisions.
It offers you many customization features.
It is translation ready.

2. WPSolr

WPSolr is a search plugin for WordPress that offers you search and filters that are powerful and accurate. This plugin boosts your search engine with new functionalities that will improve the user experience on your site.

This plugin is built for big websites and the main purpose is to optimize the speed of a search query. It seamlessly integrates with any WordPress or WooCommerce sites that have a big number of pages or products. This means that even if you have millions of products, the search engine will work just fine.

Once you activate this plugin, it will remove the headache of users trying to find a product. This plugin will give you top-notch search functionalities similar to Amazon or eBay. Additionally, Facets are used to filter your search results. Moreover, it works with AJAX which means, that your search will not reload the page, but will update with new products.

This plugin is compatible with TablePress, bbPress, PDF Embedder, Google doc Embedder, and many more. If you also need a search plugin that has an SEO functionality, this is the plugin for you, specifically to make search result crawling for Google.

3. SearchWP

SearchWP is a premium search engine plugin that offers you a plethora of features for your site. This plugin is priced at $99 for the cheapest package. It helps you to scan all your existing posts, pages, and other custom post types and builds a giant index, which is updated periodically.

This plugin has an easy to use dashboard that has an intuitive design, which lets you manually select the custom post types and categories you want to include in your search results. It offers spectacular results especially for people looking for granular search parameters. Moreover, it only improves your keyword search without writing a line of code.

The unique feature of this plugin is the ‘fuzzy match’. This functionality matches partial keywords supplied in the search query especially if you do not remember the exact name of what you are looking for, this plugin will return the partially matches posts. Additionally, it includes a PDF search module and supports different plugins such as bbPress.

4. AJAX Search Pro for WordPress

AJAX Search Pro for WordPress is a fully customizable premium search plugin that replaces the WordPress search bar with a better looking, more efficient search engine. This plugin is priced at $36 and has accumulated more than 13,000 sales over at CodeCanyon, making it one of the highest-selling search plugins. It comes loaded with many features that you can include on your site.

Additionally, this plugin runs on AJAX, meaning that the plugin starts to give you search results as soon as keywords are typed into the search bar. You do not have to wait for the page to load, as you will instantly get the results that you want. This is helpful especially if visitors on your site do no remember a certain keyword.

Once you activate this plugin, you will get more than 60 customizable themes that are packed with retina ready graphics. Moreover, you can choose between the search layouts that you can customize to fit your brand.

5. Smart Ajax Product Search

Smart Ajax Product Search is a premium search plugin that helps you to add the search function of your WordPress site. It is priced at $39.This plugin helps visitors on your site to search for products-related words in the search box and land on the product page quickly. This search solution is very effective for large websites that have many products listed.

This superior plugin automatically replaces the standard WordPress search widget with a powerful search engine. It is compatible with other plugins such as WooCommerce. It is very easy to customize this plugin as it offers you many customization features to make it blend in with your brand.

Here are some of the features:

It offers simple integration into default search widgets.
It effectively gives you detailed search results.
It offers you many customization features.
It allows you to easily add labels on search results such as out of stock label, sale label, or featured label.
You can search for custom post types.
It allows you to search for a product by SKU.
You can exclude out of stock products from the search results.
It has a visual composer.
It allows users to search through custom taxonomies.
It is mobile friendly.
It supports a fuzzy search.
It supports custom Post Type user interfaces.

6. Swiftype Search

Swiftype Search is another search plugin that aims to deliver the best search results to visitors on your site. With more than 1,000 active installations in the WordPress community, this plugin replaces the standard WordPress search with a polished search engine that is powerful.

This plugin offers you analytics features that help you to get search insights to help you make informed decisions. It has a lot of customization features that you can utilize to personalize this plugin.

Here are some of the features:

It is fully managed in the cloud to ensure that your site stays fast.
No technical skills are required as there is no need for coding.
It works out of the box.
It automatically synchronizes with your content even if you make changes.
It has an intuitive dashboard design.
It has analytical features.
It is translation ready.

7. Relevanssi

Relevanssi is one of the best search engine plugins that replaces the default WordPress search with a better search engine. With more than 100,000 active installations, this plugin comes with a lot of features and configurable options to customize the search engine to your liking.

However, this plugin requires a large amount of space therefore; if your hosting setup has a limited amount of space for database tables then this might be a limitation. It also has a premium version that is packed with additional features like adjusting the weight of titles, logs queries, restrict searches to certain categories, custom post types, and taxonomies, among many other features.

Here are some of the features:

It displays search results in the order of relevance.
It supports fuzzy matching.
It allows you to add multiple sites.
It supports the Gutenberg editor.
It supports other plugins.
It highlights search terms for custom excerpts that show where the hit was made.

8. Better Search

Better Search is a search plugin for WordPress that provides you with a powerful search engine. With more than 8,000 active installations in the WordPress community, this plugin assists visitors on your site to get relevant search results bases on title and content in the post. If you are looking for a search plugin that delivers search results in an instant, this is the plugin for you.

Additionally, this plugin searches through all pages and custom post types that lets visitors easily find what they are looking for. Moreover, it is fully customizable as it is packed with options that allow you to easily customize your output. You can also configure the search results by assigning a greater weight on certain aspects such as the title.

Here are some of the features:

It automatically replaces the standard WordPress search engine.
It integrates seamlessly with other themes.
It displays search results by relevance and not by date.
It allows you to fine-tune search results.
It provides you with relevant information, such as popular searches.
It is fully customizable.
It supports cache plugins like W3 Total Cache.
It has a profanity filter.
It is translation ready.

9. Ivory Search

Ivory Search is one of the best search engine plugins, which is simple yet advanced with a plethora of features. With more than 40,000 active installations, this plugin allows you to create new custom search forms and replaces the standard WordPress search engine.

Additionally, the search forms created do not have any restrictions and you can configure each one of them individually to perform different types of searches. Moreover, you can place the search bar anywhere on your site using generated shortcodes.

Here are some of the features:

It supports the WooCommerce product search.
It supports a multilingual search to give you the best results.
It allows you to add search forms anywhere on your site.
You can exclude certain content from search results.
It allows you to configure search form to search specific content.
It has analytical features to help you track popular searches.
It is developed on an AJAX Framework meaning that search results are displayed as you type on the keywords.

10. Ajax Search Lite

Ajax Search Lite is a search plugin that provides a responsive search engine that will boost user experience on your site. This user-friendly plugin has more than 50,000 active installations and it is AJAX powered to filter results based on category and post type filter boxes as well.

Additionally, Google autocomplete and keyword suggestions are built in this plugin. It provides you with sleek animation features that you can use to customize your search bar. Moreover, it supports mobile devices to ensure that the search bar is responsive across different devices. This efficient plugin supports custom post types and custom fields as well.

Here are some of the features:

You can search in posts and pages.
It is fully AJAX powered.
It is integrated with Google Analytics.
It is highly responsive.
It provides you with more than 40 options in the backend.
It has 8 built-in templates and different color customization features.
It is retina ready.
You can add search settings on the front-end.
It allows you to exclude certain categories.

11. Advanced Woo Search

Advanced Woo Search is a search plugin that replaces the default WooCommerce search engine with a powerful one. With more than 40,000 active installations in the WordPress community, this plugin supports AJAX search to instantly display search results as you type in the keywords. It allows you to effectively search for products in your WooCommerce store.

Additionally, this plugin has an easy to use settings page that is user friendly with a lot of options. It has a shortcode generator, which allows you to place the search box anywhere on your site. it also supports widgets.

Here are some of the features:

Each search result has a product image and price.
It allows you to search for product categories.
Search results are ordered according to priority.
It is fast.
It allows you to exclude certain words from a search.
It automatically synchronizes data on your site even if it is updated.
It has search results page support in the layout you choose.
It has synonym support.
It has Google analytics features to help you make informed decisions.

12. YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search

YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search is an easy to use search plugin for WooCommerce store. With more than 70,000 active installations, this plugin creates a simple search box that shows you instant search results. If the product does not exist, it suggests products that match the searching criteria.

This plugin simply allows users to insert keywords in the search bar and provides them with relevant results by browsing through the categories one at a time. It works just like Google suggests enabling users to complete a fuzzy search.

Moreover, it has a premium version that gives you additional features such as a filter for search fields, extended search features, show a list of product categories, among other features.

Here are some of the features:

It supports shortcodes and widgets.
It offers you many customization options.
It allows you to set the maximum number of results to display.

13. WP Extended Search

Just like most search plugins, WP Extended Search automatically replaces the default WordPress search bar. With more than 10,000 active installations in the WordPress community, this plugin allows visitors on your site to search in post meta, categories, tags, or custom taxonomies.

Additionally, this plugin has an admin dashboard, which is very easy to use and one can control the default behavior of search in the post title or post content. Moreover, you can include or exclude post types to appear in search results.

Here are some of the features:

You can search in custom taxonomies.
It is fully responsive.
It allows you to include or exclude any public post type.
It allows you to control whether to search in titles or content.
It allows you to customize the order of search results.
It is compatible with WPML.

14. Disable Search

Disable Search is a plugin that helps you to lock or disable the search feature on your website. This plugin has more than 20,000 active installations. At times, you may want to disable the search function because of some reason.

For example, your store may have run out of stock and you may want to disable the search feature. This plugin will do the trick for you effectively. However, this plugin only removes the search bar function in the front-end. It does not disable the admin dashboard’s search function.

15. Search & Filter

Search & Filter is one of the best search plugins that you can include on your site. With more than 40,000 active installations, this plugin will help you to do simple searches and filtering content on your WordPress site.

This plugin allows you to search by Custom Taxonomy, Post Type, Category, Tag, Post Date, or any combination of all of them to create custom searches. Additionally, you can remove the search box and use the filtering system for your content. It also offers you different formats in which you can display fields. Moreover, it has a premium version that has the following additional features:

It allows you to search custom fields, post meta, authors, taxonomies, post types, among other categories.
It uses AJAX to display results without reloading the page.
It has a drag and drop editor that is easy to use.
It allows you to use custom templates.
There are no restrictions on the number of fields or search forms that you can create.
It has an easy to use User interface.

16. ACF: Better Search

ACF: Better Search works like most search plugins, and adds to the default WordPress search engine the ability to search content. With more than 20,000 active installations, this plugin allows you to search for content from selected fields of advanced custom fields.

Moreover, this plugin does not need additional lines of code. It works automatically and does not create a search results page. To show you results, this plugin modifies the SQL database query to make your search engine work better. It assures that you get accurate results by allowing you to search whole phrases instead of a single word phrase.

17. Category Wise Search

Category Wise Search is a search plugin for WordPress that adds functionality to the default search and allows you to search specific category content. This plugin has more than 2,000 active installations and allows you to set a default category. Moreover, it is very easy to exclude categories so that they do not appear on the search engine using a child theme.

18. Toolset Search

Toolset Search is a premium search plugin that allows you to create simple yet effective search engines that delivers everything that you need. It is highly customizable and allows you to configure how your search looks. Additionally, you can also display search results on a map.

Moreover, this plugin is compatible with WooCommerce to allow visitors to your online store to effectively search for products that they want. This in turn creates a good user experience. You can also add filters on search results for a more refined search.

This plugin is built on an AJAX framework ensuring that you do not have to reload the page every time you are searching on the site. This complete plugin has been designed to offer you a ton of features that are at your disposal without writing a single line of code.

For you to enjoy the features offered by this plugin, the pricing starts at $69 up to $299.

Here are some of the features:

It allows you to customize the search bar to your liking.
You do not have to write any line of code for added functionality.
It is fully AJAX enabled.
It allows you to add multiple filters that create a more refined search for users on your site.
It is fully compatible with WooCommerce and WPML.
You can paginate search result pages.

19. Dave’s WordPress Live Search

Dave’s WordPress Live Search is a search plugin that allows you to add the search functionality to your site. With more than 8,000 active installations, this plugin allows visitors to get refined searches by continually querying your WordPress site depending on the keywords that you search.

This plugin provides a live search on your site, meaning that users will find what they are looking for even before they finish typing the query. It is compatible with WPML for the internationalization of search results. Additionally, you have a range of filters that you can add to your site for refined searches. However, these filters only work for this plugin and not the default search bar.

20. Reactive Search Pro

Reactive Search Pro is a premium search plugin that is available at CodeCanyon for a one-time price of $29 with more than 3,000 sales. Once purchased it unlocks a plethora of features. This filter and grid plugin is very simple to install and offers you more than 15 search attributes out of the box for more refined searches.

Additionally, it has a drag and drop editor that even WordPress beginners will find easy to use. Moreover, you can create a map-based search, home page search, and top bar search. It has a geo box and location searching facility that some sites will need.

Here are some of the features:

It is a simple, fast plugin that is very easy to use.
It offers you multiple post types.
It offers you different layout styles.
It is compatible with other plugins like WooCommerce.
It allows you to make a category search.
It offers premium support.

21. WP Google Search

WP Google Search is a free search plugin that adds a Google search function on your WordPress site. This plugin has more than 10,000 active installations in the WordPress Community. It is very easy to install and configure this plugin, as you just have to register to Google Custom Search, get your Google Search Engine ID, and enter it in the plugin settings page.

This plugin offers a simple way to add Google search into any site. The unique feature of this function is that you can use it to search on your site or search the World Wide Web using Google to get the search results. It is also a fully customizable plugin and offers you many options to customize the search bar.

Additionally, it provides a shortcode that allows you to add the search bar anywhere on your site. You can also add widgets. This plugin greatly improves the search of your site.

22. FacetWP

FacetsWp is one of the best search plugins for WordPress. This plugin has a smart filtering feature that helps users find what they are looking for faster because only relevant filtering choices are shown. It helps you to improve your sales.

This plugin uses your site’s existing post types, custom fields, and taxonomies to help users fin what they want. It automatically works on your existing archive pages too. Additionally, it is lightning fast as it is built on an AJAX based environment. This means that filtering happens quickly and without page refreshes. It also uses an index table for extra speed.

Moreover, it works with most themes and you can add anywhere on your page using shortcodes or PHP. It also includes many facet types, including checkboxes, dropdowns, date ranges, sliders, and even proximity. This developer friendly plugin helps developers take advantage of the plugin’s many hooks for a high degree of customization.

23. Swiftype Site Search Plugin for WordPress

Swiftype Site Search Plugin for WordPress is a search plugin that replaces the standard WordPress search with an effective search engine. This plugin has a more polished design that you can customize to fit your brand.

Additionally, this plugin has some analytics features that help you to gain more search insights about your site. It has more than 1,000 active installations in the WordPress community.

Here are some of the features:

This plugin is managed on the cloud, ensuring that your site remains speedy all through.
It just works. No coding skills are required.
It automatically synchronizes with your content even when you make changes to it.
It has an intuitive dashboard that offers you many tools to customize your search relevance.
It has analytics features.
It is translation ready.

24. SearchAzon

SearchAzon is a premium plugin that allows you to add Amazon Search functionality into your WordPress site. This plugin has a one-time price of $17 over at CodeCanyon. Moreover, this is the best plugin for you if you have affiliate accounts at Amazon as you can redirect traffic to Amazon and make money with minimal effort. This means that you will earn a commission and at the same time, your visitors will be happy.

This plugin makes it easier to integrate Amazon on your site, as no coding skills are required and no amazon AWS keys are required. Additionally, it also comes with geo-targeting, a feature that automatically detects your client’s location to give them Amazon products that are available near them.

Here are some of the features:

It is easy to install.
It offers you detailed documentation.
It is compatible with plugins like WooCommerce.
It offers you geo-targeting options.
It has analytics features.
You can set the default search category.

25. Search in Place

Search in Place is one of the best search engine plugins that improve your blog or site by displaying query results in real-time. With more than 2,000 active installations, this plugin groups search results by their type, labeling them as post, page or the post type entered. Once you search a keyword, this plugin highlights the searched terms in the search page and results pages.

Additionally, this plugin has a premium version that offers you more features like performing a real-time search as you enter search criteria, AJAX technology for searching, grouping searches by post type, limits the number of elements in the dynamic search results, and offers you more customization features.

26. Booking.com Official Search Box

Booking.com Official Search Box is a search plugin for WordPress that creates a search box that Booking.com Affiliate Partners can implement into their site using their affiliate ID. With more than 8,000 active installations, this plugin lets you customize the color, text, and the size of the search box to fit your website design.

However, if you are not a partner in the affiliate program, this plugin would still let you implement it.

Here are some of the features:

It is easy to use as you don’t have to code anywhere.
It has a responsive design that works across all devices.
It allows you to preview the plugin before you add it to your site.
It has a multilingual search box.
It is lightweight.

27. SearchIQ

SearchIQ is an effective search plugin for WordPress that delivers fast and accurate search results as you type. With more than 1,000 active installations, this plugin provides an enhanced search experience to your WordPress site. Moreover, it includes a real-time analytics dashboard that helps you understand your users’ search intent. This means that you can make informed decisions on how you can optimize your content strategy to help your site grow.

Here are some of the features:

It is very easy to set up and install.
It has a customizable user interface.
It allows you to prioritize relevant content.
It has built-in artificial intelligence to handle typos, synonyms, and fuzzy matches.
It allows you to search against custom fields and taxonomies.

28. Search Live

Search Live is one of the best search plugins for WordPress that comes with effective integrated live search facilities and advanced search features. With more than a thousand active installations, this plugin provides a smooth interactive experience with immediate results for your site’s visitors, making it more efficient to find the right results.

This plugin provides instant live search results with thumbnails, where matches are found for one or multiple search keywords in titles, excerpts, or content. Additionally, it has a flexible shortcode that can be placed anywhere to provide an interactive search form and a widget for use in sidebars.

Here are some of the features:

It has instant results by replacing the default WordPress search bar.
It provides you with shortcodes.
It supports custom post types.
It is WPML compatible.

29. Showcase IDX Real Estate Search

Showcase IDX Real Estate Search is one of the best search plugins that helps the real estate agents in getting more leads. More than 1,000 website owners trust this plugin and it allows you to search across seamlessly across multiple MLS feeds and display your expertise with neighborhood and community pages.

This user-friendly plugin helps to drive more traffic with great content that is optimized for search and social. Additionally, it offers you state of the art mapping tools with the ability to drill down to search detailed MLS features without feeling overwhelmed. It has analytics features that help you to gain more insight on popular searches on your site.

Here are some of the features:

It provides you with widgets and shortcodes.
It has an SEO feature that works.
It is easy to add a search map.
It allows you to build neighborhood pages.

30. Search Regex

Search Regex is a search plugin that adds a powerful and effective set of searches. With more than 200,000 active installations, this plugin replaces functions to WordPress posts, pages, custom post types, and other data sources.

Additionally, this plugin allows you to search and replace almost any data stored on your site. This makes it fast and easy when it comes to updating your content.

Here are some of the features:

It is responsive.
It has a good design.
It helps you to migrate a site from one domain to another.
It updates URLs in links and images.
It can be used on small and large sites.

Conclusion

That concludes the list for 30 of the best search plugins that you can include on your WordPress site. However, choosing the best plugin can be a tough choice but here are some expert suggestions that may help you.

If you are looking for the best overall plugin, SearchWP stands out. This is because it is packed with amazing features like Custom weighting, improved relevancy, Ajax live search, related content, and text document indexing, making it an all in one plugin.

However, if you are looking for a plugin that lets you add filters on your site for a refined search, then FacetWP is the best solution for your site.

For affordable an affordable solution that works best on small sites, Ajax Search Lite will be your cup of tea. This is because it is built on an AJAX framework to give you real-time search results and to top it all off, it is free.
Finally, if you are looking for the best free search plugin for WordPress, the Ivory search is the solution for you. Additionally, Relevanssi also offers the same as the latter and both are very efficient in getting detailed search results for visitors on your site.

Editorial Staff

30+ Best WordPress Search Plugin to Improve Your Site Search & SEO

Best WordPress Search Plugins

1. Site Search 360

2. WPSolr

3. SearchWP

4. AJAX Search Pro for WordPress

5. Smart Ajax Product Search

6. Swiftype Search

7. Relevanssi

8. Better Search

9. Ivory Search

10. Ajax Search Lite

11. Advanced Woo Search

12. YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search

13. WP Extended Search

14. Disable Search

15. Search & Filter

16. ACF: Better Search

17. Category Wise Search

18. Toolset Search

19. Dave’s WordPress Live Search

20. Reactive Search Pro

21. WP Google Search

22. FacetWP

23. Swiftype Site Search Plugin for WordPress

24. SearchAzon

25. Search in Place

26. Booking.com Official Search Box

27. SearchIQ

28. Search Live

29. Showcase IDX Real Estate Search

30. Search Regex

Conclusion

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