There are very few times when you search on Google and get no results at all (unless you search for something absurd, but even then…). Using WordPress’s built-in search function, this may happen often.
Inquiries about you, your business, and/or your products are likely to abound on your website.
Customers are more likely to leave your site if they are presented with a blank page after submitting a search query. This is especially true if they often use Google to get answers.
A website’s functionality is expected by visitors. Adapt to their search expectations. To keep them interested, you may create a search page that includes their favorite items.
Our goal in writing this post is to provide a clear understanding of what SERPs are and why they are important.
As the last step, we’ll show you how to customize your WordPress search results page for your audience. Begin!
Table of Contents
Exactly what are the search results pages in WordPress?
The search tool on your WordPress site will provide a page including all of the posts that match the search query of anybody who visits your site. This is how a search results page appears.
This means that what appears on a search engine like Google is not always what appears on an internal search results page! The only content on your site will be included on the internal page at first, rather than the whole internet.
The importance of an internal search results page cannot be overstated for any website containing searchable text content. Most of your site’s visitors will find you through a simple internet search.
A search option will help your customers find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. It’s crucial that your site’s users can quickly find what they’re looking for.
Allowing users to search and explore results on your site is one of the easiest ways to keep them there for longer.
How to Customize WordPress Search Results Pages?
As a consequence of WordPress’ adaptability, you can easily customize your search results. Code or a plugin are two examples of ways to alter the search.php file, for example.
Plugins are preferred by most WordPress users since they are easier to set up and maintain. Many options are available for customizing the internal search results page.
Plugins may be used to make comparable changes to the search.php code without having to tinker with it (though this is best left to experienced users who are familiar with PHP and CSS coding).
Ultimately, it’s up to you and your website to find out which features are most valuable to your customers. Free plugins for personal websites may not be enough for larger websites, which may need a premium solution.
Do a full backup of your WordPress site before making any updates or changes. The time has come to begin!
1. Be Sure to Mention or Emphasize the Original Search Term
The more like Google’s search results you can make your internal site search results pages, the better. Adding the visitor’s search term at the top of the results page is one way to do this.
A simple approach to show visitors that even if their search was unsuccessful, it was still carried out by the website (and perhaps a typo was the culprit).
Your readers may use this tool to double-check that they entered the proper phrase and spelled it correctly. A free plugin called Search & Filter may enhance WordPress’ built-in search capability.
A search engine will be able to find all non-password-protected pages on your site. Users may also choose how search results are sorted, such as having the search term show at the top of the list (note this is in the Pro version).
2. Suggested Spellings for Typos may be added to the text
Because of the extensive usage of search engines like Google and others, most site visitors expect to receive spelling suggestions when using your search tool.
Add this feature to your search results pages so that users may find what they’re looking for even if they don’t know how to spell it. The WordPress search plugin Relevanssi has more than 100,000 active installs.
Search Everything, unlike Relevanssi, does not rely on WordPress’ built-in search engine. For small and personal websites, the free services are excellent; for large and multi-site administrators, the premium services are perfect.
In addition to its suggested-spelling feature, this plugin has the ability to search for tags, comments, and categories.
3. Keep Your Visitors Engaged with Your Site by Adding Suggested Pages
Add a search box to the page that shows the results of people’s searches if your theme doesn’t already have one. For instance, if no results are returned, and you want to urge visitors to try again with a different query, this is a valuable tool.
Adding a search box to your menu is as easy as installing the free Add Search To Menu plugin. In order to customize the search form and its results, you must activate this plugin first.
4. Include a Box for Searching
Add a search box to the page that shows the results of people’s searches if your theme doesn’t already have one. For instance, if no results are returned, and you want to urge visitors to try again with a different query, this is a valuable tool.
Adding a search box to your menu is as easy as installing the free Add Search To Menu plugin. In order to customize the search form and its results, you must activate this plugin first.
5. Ajax Your Internet Search
In terms of keeping people on your site, we’d like to talk about Ajax search results, which enable users to do “live” searches. Visitors may search your site with the free Ajax Search Lite plugin and have the results updated instantly.
Google autocomplete, keyword suggestions, and category filtering is all included in the new plug-in. You may expand your search options by purchasing Ajax Search Pro.
The premium version of the plugin includes bbPress, BuddyPress, WooCommerce, and JigoShop support. This implies that your site’s visitors will be able to look up any of your custom post kinds.
More than one hundred different design themes and four different layouts are included in the bundle. Alternatively, you may use Toolset Search.
Other features of this plugin include Ajax-based search results, flexible filtering, map-based results, grid and list layouts, and page numbering choices.
Quick Links:
- How To Remove URL Field From Comments in GeneratePress
- How to Find Which WordPress Theme a Site is Using
- How to Make a Business Logo for Free using Themeisle?
Conclusion: How to Customize WordPress Search Results Pages?
Many WordPress users install the search widget but ignore the results. Error.
Even search results pages should help you. Most visitors don’t come for your homepage or major merchandise. Users seek assistance even if your site isn’t a search engine.
One page may surprise people. If you provide the appropriate visitor the right information at the right time, you may convert them.
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