Using a search box or search bar on your site facilitates the users’ experience in exploring the contents of your site and reaching the desired page, whether on your personal blog, online store, or whatever type of site your site is. Advanced search features help users reach what they want easily.
The hassle of searching requires the visitor a long time to reach what he wants, and he may not reach what he wants in the end. As for the search bars, which contain a wonderful feature, which is search filters, which help greatly, unlike traditional search boxes that do not facilitate the process of reaching the visitor. Have you ever tried using the Google search engine to access some information, and comparing it to the Yahoo search engine to access the same information? You will find that the difference is huge, as is the case with traditional search boxes on sites and advanced search boxes.
Therefore, in today’s article, we will learn how to create a box that contains some features and tools that help the visitor complete the search better.
Why do I need to improve search features on my site?
There is no doubt that every element on the site has its importance and function, and it should not be placed in vain in order to preserve the quality of the site and its content. As we mentioned, one of the most commonly used components is the search box, especially if the site has many classifications and content, which accessing them takes time and effort. However, if your site is simple, the need for it may be less.
Here are most of the cases in which you need to use the search box on the site:
- Increasing the visitor’s time on the site : When the visitor finds the experience of being on the site comfortable for him and reaches what he wants with ease, the idea of leaving the site will not be present in his mind. On the contrary, if the site is wasting his time without benefit, he will be forced to leave the site immediately. To search for a better alternative, and the search box enables you to avoid this problem with ease and help the visitor reach what he wants with ease.
- Search engine optimization for the site : As a natural result of the visitor staying on the site for a longer period, this will improve the search engines for the site and it will become more visible and suggested to users than ever before, and thus you will have obtained a distinctive site with additional internal features.
- Controlling the display of results : When users of your site search for a specific thing, there is no doubt that the way it appears to them will affect their interaction and presence on the site. If the way the results are displayed is inappropriate and does not meet the desired purpose, or even the results themselves are undesirable, the visitor will feel bored and alienated, and thus lose visitors. From the site, the site lost its popularity, and the various search box components allow complete control and customization of the results in a professional and attractive way.
- Obtaining search records : One of the things that we should not forget about on the site is search records. Just as the search box provides a unique user experience for visitors, it also provides many benefits to website owners, including: obtaining search records and detailed statistics about what users search for. For example, if We had an e-commerce website and we found in the search statistics that a product had a large number of searches. This would certainly benefit the management and development of the website and better meet the needs of customers.
Methods and steps for creating a search box
After launching your site properly , there is more than one way to add a search box on the site pages or any designated place you want. It may seem simpler to you than another method, but they all perform the same task in addition to the individual characteristics of each of them. These methods are divided as follows:
1. Add a search box through the component editor
This method is considered the easiest and fastest way through which you can attach a search box, using the component editor on the site without any external additions, and you can add it wherever you want, and in it we will learn how to create a search box in different areas of the site, through some steps. Simple as follows:
1) First, we will add a prominent search box on the main page. Through the control panel, we go to “ Pages ” and then choose “ Edit ” for the main page.
2) Click on the “ + ” button located at the top right of the page; To add a new component to the page, we choose the “ Search ” component from the drop-down list. The search bar will appear in the middle of the page (depending on where it was added) and we can adjust all its settings now.
3) We give a title to the search bar, adjust the settings related to it, and customize the way it appears from the settings bar located above and from the menu on the left of the page, then click “ Publish .”
Now we easily have a prominent search bar on the main page of the site, as in the previous picture, through which we can search for any components within the site, such as pages or any files and attachments. For example, on the main page of the library website shown in the picture above, we can search for any book that has been completed. Attach it to the site.
But if your purpose is to create a search box, but you want it included in a side menu of the site, the site header , or the site’s footer , you can do that easily from the control panel itself by going to “Appearance,” then “Widgets,” and choose the “Search” component from it and drag it to the The desired display location, whether in the side menu (Side bar), the site header, or any other place you want.
The same function as the previous step can be performed, but with greater control options, by customizing the template installed on the site. Most WordPress templates support customizing many widget sections on the site and the places where they appear. The most famous of these templates that support this are: the Astra template and the GeneratePress template .
We go to “ Widgets ” and choose the section specialized in building the page’s header, “Header Builder Widget,” then we give it a name and place of appearance, then “ Add Widget ,” and then “ Publish .”
Note: There are ready-made templates that contain a search box in the basic template structure, and this will make the matter much easier for you. Examples of these templates are:
2.Create a search box using plugins
The previous method may seem easy and direct; But in fact, it lacks many advanced features and functions. For example, you cannot control the content of search results and customize the way they appear, and you cannot exclude certain results; Therefore, your best choice may be WordPress plugins. Because it gives you advanced features that are more professional than the previous method, examples of these additions include:
- Ivory Search : It is an easy add-on that has many features that enable you to specify search locations accurately
- WP Google Search : It is specialized for searching search engines and external sites from within your site
- Relevanssi : It supports searching through filters and searching for texts within PDF files on the site
- Advanced Woo Search : It is suitable for online store owners , as it offers many features that are consistent with it
- ACF: Better Search : It is an add-on that can be beautifully customized, control the way search results appear, and have extensive control over settings
- Better Search : It is easy to use, can be customized and can control its search results, and is ready for translation
There are other paid additions that have many features that may not be present in previous free versions:
These add-ons support most of the features found in the free versions, in addition to additional features they include.
Below we will explain creating a search box by using and installing the free Ajax Search Lite add-on , which has more than 60,000 installations with a 5-star rating. It contains many features, the most important of which are:
- Provides a search form that contains filters by classifications on the site.
- The appearance of the search box can be customized extensively.
- The ability to customize the results display page.
Let us now begin installing it through the site’s control panel. Go to “Add-ons,” then choose “Add New.” In the search box, type the name of the add-on (Ajax Search Lite), then install the add-on shown above through the “ Install Now ” button.
After successfully installing the add-on, you will now need to activate it on the site, to benefit from its features, through the “Activate” button.
Then, after you activate the add-on, a tab will appear in the control panel called “Ajax Search Lite.” After clicking on it, choose the first option with the same name, and a new page will appear for you with all the settings related to the add-on.
Let us now come to customizing and adjusting these settings, and we will discuss the most important settings that we need, knowing that you can control all of the add-on settings.
From the “General Options” tab, then from the “Sources and basics” option, select the places you want to search and the categories you want to exclude from the results. You can activate the option to replace the default search box on the site.
Then to activate the auto-complete feature, through “General Options” we choose “Autocomplete and suggestions”, then from the settings shown above we activate the auto-completion feature from Google and activate the turn on suggestions, specify the maximum words, word length, and language. Suggestions, then click “Save Settings”.
From the “Front End” options, categories and filter classifications can be specified when searching.
Now customize the appearance of the search box that will appear on the site and control all settings for how results appear through “Layout Options.” You can control the rest of the settings, such as showing images in search results and adjusting advanced settings.
Thus, you have a professional and advanced search box on the site, and this is its final form.
It is worth noting that this add-on uses the “Ajax” technology, which allows modifications to be made without the need to re-download, but rather the part to be modified is changed. This reduces the time required for the site to respond.
If you need to search for results on another site or in an online search engine, you can include a search bar on the site from the “ WP Google Search ” extension through the following steps:
1) With the same steps to activate the previous add-on, activate this add-on.
2) Then adjust all the search bar settings by going to the “Programmable Search” page from Google and creating a new search engine.
3) Enter the sites you want to search in and the desired language, then “Create.”
4) Then choose “Control Panel” and you will be taken to a page with all the settings. Adjust them as you want and copy the “Search Engine ID” code.
5) Go to “ Settings ” in the site’s control panel, then choose “ WP Google Search ,” paste the code in the designated place, then click “Save Changes.”
6) Now the search box is ready and the results will appear on the site as you want.
What happens after creating the search box?
After you create the search box, the process should not stop there only, but it is recommended to add some additional features that will give more accurate search results and a better user experience, and we suggest the following things to you: To use the search box correctly and effectively:
- Pay attention to the location of the search box : Place the search box in a suitable and prominent place on the page so that visitors can see it and access it easily.
- Make the appearance attractive : Use an appropriate style, colors, and display style for the search box and the way it appears, taking into account the general appearance of the site and the styles and colors of the template used in it.
- Follow updates constantly : Make sure to install the latest updates for components related to the search box, such as add-ons and others.
- Make searches known to visitors : It is recommended to make users aware that there is a search feature on the site through informative phrases such as: “Search for the highest rated books”; This makes it easier for users and makes them aware of the site’s services.
After you learned about the various methods of creating a search box on your site on WordPress, which we made sure to be suitable for your different needs in more than one place and in more than one way, you can choose what suits you from them, as they are very effective if you follow the correct steps mentioned and the important tips that must be taken into consideration. Consideration
