Want to enable fuzzy search capabilities in WordPress and improve user experience? You‘ve come to the right place!
Why Fuzzy Search is Vital for WordPress Sites
With over 60% search queries containing spelling mistakes [1], getting fuzzy search correctly implemented is key.
Without fuzzy capabilities, wrong spellings lead to "no results" and 75% users won‘t retry [2] the query.
This results in up to 15% loss in conversions and revenue [3].
By matching misspellings and typos to correct pages, fuzzy search:
- Prevents drop off due to wrong queries
- Helps discover relevant content
- Improves findability across the site
Choosing the Best Fuzzy Search Plugin
While the default WordPress search offers exact keyword matching, plugins extend capabilities via fuzzy search and relevant ranking algorithms.
Here is a comparison of the top 3 WordPress fuzzy search plugins:
| Plugin | Fuzzy Matching | Custom Weighting | Category Search | Page Speed | Compatibility | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SearchWP | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Optimized | 5.6+ | $199/lifetime |
| Relevanssi | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Moderate | 5.5.1+ | $129/lifetime |
| Patel Search | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | Heavy | 4.6+ | $249/2-years |
Based on features, optimizations, and own testing – SearchWP emerges as the best fuzzy WordPress search plugin for 2023.
It offers full capabilities while being fast and compatible. The pricing is competitive too for unlimited sites.
Let‘s configure SearchWP for enabling fuzzy search now!
Step 1 – Installing & Activating SearchWP
Install SearchWP just like any other WordPress plugin:
- Get SearchWP premium plugin from official website
- In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add New
- Click Upload Plugin and choose the searchwp.zip file
- After installation completes, click Activate
Step 2 – Entering License Key
Your license key will be available after purchase in account area of SearchWP site.
- In WordPress admin sidebar, go to SearchWP > Settings
- Scroll down and enter the license key into License Key field
- Click Activate to verify and enable premium features
With that, SearchWP fuzzy capabilities will be unlocked!
Next, we‘ll configure the settings.
Step 3 – Enabling Fuzzy Search in SearchWP
Fuzzy search support is available but disabled by default. Let‘s enable it:
- From SearchWP settings sidebar, go to General tab
- Scroll down and toggle ON the switch for Partial Matches
- Set Partial Match Weight to between 5 and 15
I like 10 for balancing fuzzy relevance without diluting exact matches.
And done! Fuzzy search is now active for your WordPress site‘s search performance 🎉
Step 4 – Customizing Search Results Ranking
You can customize how SearchWP ranks results for relevance.
- Go to SearchWP Algorithm settings tab
- Set relative weight against different attributes:
- Post title
- Content
- Tags
- Categories
- Custom fields
- Authors
- And more!
For example, I use higher factors for titles and page content:
Experiment to see what works best for your content.
Step 5 – Adding a Search Form
Lastly, ensure your WordPress site shows a search bar for visitors to enter queries.
You can easily add a search form using:
- Default WordPress Search Widget
- Search Block in page editor
SearchWP will now power results from these search inputs.
Enable Category Search for Better Findability
Visitors can better isolate relevant content by searching within categories too.
For this, turn on Taxonomy support in SearchWP Sources & Filters:
I hope this detailed guide helped you get fuzzy search capabilities activated in WordPress!
References
- Spell Check Stats – www.grammarcheck.me
- Nielsen Norman Group
- Blueprint Search Marketing
