WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world. With 23% of the websites made in WordPress, the CMS has left its footprints on the web already.

But, it has some drawbacks. The vanilla WordPess installation does not come with an excellent search functionality.

The default search is simple. With WordPress ecosystem in place, there are other tons of search plugins for WordPress.

Today, we will go through the best search plugins for WordPress.

Search is always an integral part of any website. It gives the visitor a chance to dive deep into the content offered by the website. By having a more functional search plugin, you are giving the power in the hands of the visitor.

They can perform complex search tasks and find what they are looking for, eliminating the unnecessary posts/articles. The search plugin can also enhance the 404 error page.

Let’s start our journey of best search plugins for WordPress. The plugins are hand-picked and will enhance your website both in terms of usability and search functionality.

Best search plugins for WordPress

1. Relevanssi

Our first plugin for the list is Relevanssi. A great plugin for WordPress website owner who are looking to enhance the search features of the website.

The plugin has tons of features including keyword spell auto-checker that further improves the search features of the website. On top of that, the plugin offers muti-site support and search indexing.

The search indexing helps the webmasters or blogger to understand the user behavior — using that data to improve user experience.

So, what makes it tick? The Fuzzy logic makes it easier for the plugin to search through the posts. On the other side, it also indexes custom post types, shortcodes and more.

2. SwiftType Search

SwiftType Search plugin is one of the hidden gems. The plugin provides extensive customizability, improved dashboard, and the most important analytics.

So, if you are looking for a search plugin that can bring value to the search feature of the website, then SwiftType Search is for you.

According to the author, the plugin uses ranking algorithm that sorts the results in the best possible way. The plugin also comes with developer API’s.

You can also choose to manage the search results with the help of the drag and drop functionality. To do all of these, you need to create a SwiftType account and get started.

3. Search Everything

Search Everything is yet another WordPress plugin that feels right in terms of both search features and integration with the existing website. The plugin offers basic search features. In addition, it can be configured to search drafts, comments, attachments and much more.

With the control in the hands of the administrators, each facet of the search can be controlled through the plugin.

What’s more? It also includes a sub-plugin called Research Everything that enables the bloggers/writers to search posts during the writing sessions. This helps them to interlink the website and improve its on-page SEO performance.

4. Search WP

Until now, all the plugins that are discussed are free. But, if you are looking for a premium WordPress plugin, then Search WP is the perfect choice for you.

The plugin improves the basic search functionality and capitalizes on it to provide an amazing user experience. With the help of the SearchWP plugin, you can set the search engine of the website to index video, audio and other forms of the media including PDF’s.

The plugin uses relevance factor to showcase the result. This helps users to get the most appropriate search result.

The plugin also comes with API’s so if you are a developer then you can easily configure some of its functionality.

The plugin price starts from $49. The most expensive package is $249. The middle one is only $129. All the packages offer lifetime updates and support for a year. The difference between the packages is the number of sites the plugin can be used with.

5. WordPress Sphinx Search plugin

WordPress Sphinx Search plugin is designed to work with large websites. The search plugin utilizes the Sphinx Server power to create powerful search results. The indexing is done on regular basis, which in turn improves the results on the website.

The plugin indexes different facets of the WordPress website including pages, posts and comments. The results can be sorted according to the post release date or relevance.

The plugin can be used as a widget. It also offers a search statistical tool.

6. Custom Search

A simple plugin that offers post search functionality on your WordPress website. The plugin works out of the box and you don’t have to customize it.

With the custom search plugin, you add a lightweight search functionality.

7. Better Search

Another great plugin for WordPress users. It replaces the default search plugin and improves it in many ways. The better search plugin offers different type of indexing features including pages, posts and other forms of media.

With full control, the webmaster can customize the results and even track the keywords that are searched on the website.

8. WP Ultimate Search

Another great search plugin in our list. The plugin offers the right feature for WordPress search. It uses AJAX based search into your website.

This means that your website need not be reloaded to show the results. You can check the demo here.

Wrap Up

Improving the search functionality of a website is important. Improving search features improve user experience, site functionality and decrease the bounce rate of the website. All of these factors helps the SEO of the website and help it rank better compared to other websites that stay with vanilla search plugins.

So, which plugin did you choose? Comment below and let us know. If you have a different plugin in your mind that needs to be mentioned in the list, comment below and share it with the community.