Search Tools plugin brings settings to enable search in the parts of the websites which are hidden to the default WordPress search:
Make All Parts of the Website visible
Custom Post Types
WordPress doesn’t search in the custom post types. In the plugin settings you can choose, which post types should be visible to the search engine.
Meta data
if using plugin like Advanced Custom Fields, Pods, Metabox or page builder like Elementor or Divi, you may store lots of content via the meta data which are not screened by default in the search. You can define, which meta data should be available for the search.
Taxonomies
Even default taxonomies (categories and tags) must be defined to be searchable. If you use custom ones, add them to be visible for the search.
Authors
Plugin enables to search in the authors name.
Other Search Settings
By default, WordPress search results are ordered by date, the latest comes first, in many cases this might not be the best.
In the Search Tools Extend options, you can choose the “order rule”. Probably the best option to select is by “Relevance”.
There are also other options, you may find useful in some specific scenarios:
- Search in “Title”, “Content”, “Excerpt” (all enabled by default)
- “Term Relation Type” – “AND” is a default
- Match the search term exactly
- Select date to exclude older results
- Posts per page
- order results either Descending or Ascending
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