Your website includes an enhanced search experience powered by SearchWP, a WordPress plugin that replaces the default WordPress search. This article explains what SearchWP is, why we use it, and how you can adjust search behavior over time as your content and needs evolve.
This guide is designed for site administrators and editors. You do not need development experience to follow these steps.
Why we use SearchWP
WordPress’s built-in search is very limited. It often misses relevant content and gives you little control over how results are ordered.
We use SearchWP because it allows:
More accurate search results
Control over which content is searchable
Better ranking of results based on relevance
Support for real-world user language through synonyms
Flexibility as your site grows
SearchWP runs in the background and controls how search results are generated. It does not change your content.
What is SearchWP?
SearchWP is a WordPress plugin that determines:
What content appears in search results
Which results appear first
How different types of content are prioritized
It works by indexing your site’s content and assigning relevance scores based on where search terms appear (for example, in titles versus body content).
Official SearchWP overview and help center:
https://searchwp.com/documentation/faq/
Our default search setup
When your site launches, SearchWP is configured with a custom setup based on the answers in your discovery worksheet at the beginning of the project. However, our standard setup also works well for most websites. At a high level:
Page and post titles are weighted most heavily
Excerpts are weighted highly when available
Body content is weighted lower to prevent very long pages from dominating results
Categories, tags, and structured metadata are included when relevant
SEO fields (such as Yoast focus keywords and meta descriptions) are included to improve relevance
This setup provides accurate, predictable results without over-tuning.
How search weighting works
SearchWP does not show results based on date or popularity. It shows results based on relevance.
Relevance is influenced by:
Where a search term appears (title vs. body text)
How often it appears
Which fields are given more importance through weighting
For example:
A page with the keyword in the title will usually rank higher than one where the keyword appears only once in the body.
A short, well-written summary can outperform a very long page if excerpts are weighted more heavily.
How to change search weighting
You can adjust how important different content fields are.
Step-by-step instructions
Log in to your WordPress administrator interface
In the left-hand navigation menu, click SearchWP
Click Engines
You will see one or more “engines” (an engine controls how search behaves)
Under each post type (Pages, Posts, or custom content), adjust the sliders for:
Title
Content
Excerpt
Categories / Tags
Custom fields (if applicable)
Click Save
When prompted, allow SearchWP to rebuild the index
Official documentation on engines and weighting:
https://searchwp.com/documentation/setup/engines/
How to exclude content from search results
You may want to exclude:
Utility or administrative pages
Landing pages not meant for discovery
Archived or outdated content
Common options
Exclude an entire post type
Exclude individual pages or posts
Exclude specific fields from indexing
SearchWP documentation on excluding content:
https://searchwp.com/documentation/knowledge-base/exclude-content/
How to increase prominence of a specific page or post
SearchWP does not “pin” results, but you can strongly influence ranking.
Best practices:
Make sure the primary keyword appears in the title
Add or improve the excerpt
Add SEO focus keywords
Adjust weighting so titles or excerpts matter more
Add synonyms (see below)
If you find yourself needing editorial control over results frequently, that usually indicates a more advanced search setup may be appropriate.
Using synonyms to improve search results
Synonyms help SearchWP understand different ways users might describe the same thing.
Examples:
“Staff” → “Team”
“Resources” → “Guides, Tools, Reports”
Acronyms → full names
How to add synonyms
In your WordPress administrator interface, go to SearchWP
Click Settings
Open the Global Rules tab
Find the Synonyms section
Add groups of related terms (one group per line)
Save your changes and rebuild the index
Official SearchWP synonyms documentation:
https://searchwp.com/documentation/setup/global-rules/
A note about content quality
Search can only surface what exists on the page. If a page does not appear for a keyword:
Make sure the term appears naturally in the title, excerpt, or body
Use language your audience actually uses
Avoid relying only on internal or program-specific terminology
Good content makes search better. Search cannot replace content clarity.
When to contact us
You should reach out if:
Search results consistently feel wrong
You need search to behave differently in different sections
You want to support advanced features like filters, PDFs, or predictive search
Your content volume is growing significantly
You need assistance writing or optimizing content
We’re happy to review search behavior and recommend improvements as your site evolves.