In this post, you are going to learn all about installing a WordPress search plug-in. I've just installed it on my website bestroofbox.com, and I want to show you how it works and looks.
You can add a search box wherever you'd like:
- in the WordPress menu
- anywhere within your content
- in a sidebar widget
It's a shortcode. So, it's straightforward to add, and it's compatible with all the main page builders like Elementor. Check out the Ajax Search plug-in here.
Ajax Search – How it looks?
When people start typing stuff into the search box, it displays the results straight away. And it displays them in a nice layout with the featured image. It looks great.
And they're customizable as well. So, you can have them vertical or horizontal.
How to download & install Ajax plug-in
First, you need to get yourself a copy of the plug-in. It's available here at Code Canyon.
It's currently on sale. You can pick up the plug-in for just $21. It's usually $36, so that's quite an impressive saving.
Once you have purchased it, you download it onto your computer. Then you need to extract the zip file that you download. And then within there is another zip file that you're going to upload to WordPress.
You can do that just by going into the plug-ins section within WordPress. Then click add new and then selecting that zip file on your computer. Once it's uploaded, you just got to activate the plug-in, and then you're ready to create your search box.
Quick note: You can have as many search boxes as you want. Maybe you want a search box for your posts and another one for your woo-commerce products. You can have as many as you want.
General options & How to add search box?
You type in a name for that search box and then click add, and then you can dive into the different options.
Here are some of the more important ones.
Sources & Attachments
You've got a load of flexibility in terms of the content that this search box is going to return. I've just gone for posts because the bulk of my content are posts. But maybe you're running a woo-commerce shop, or you've got some other custom post type.
You can even include things like attachments and uploads within the search results if you want.
Layout options
Here you can decide your placeholder.
That's a text that's in the box before someone types. The next thing you can do is adjusting the alignment. You can also have a play around with the results layout. You've got options for the mobile and tablets as well.
Key takeaway: This plug-in is flexible. You're going to get a look and feel that fits your website perfectly.
Plug-in themes
The plug-in comes with different themes to get you started. I chose one, and then I customized it a little bit just to fit with my site.
You can choose a theme, and then you can change:
- color
- fonts
- borders
- shadow
On the other hand, you may not want to change anything because the themes are good-looking. And there are so many to choose from. You'll probably find one that can slot straight into your site and look fantastic.
Autocomplete & Suggestions options
Here you can control the suggestions that are returned when someone starts typing in. They can either come from google keywords or your post titles.
You can set to post titles because I think that's more obvious and more relevant. When someone types stuff in, it will only return suggestions based on the content that you have on your site.
Add Ajax Search plugin – Use a short-code
I've dropped this new plug-in onto my home page using the Elementor shortcode widget.
Just add that widget and then copy and paste the shortcode from the plug-in options. It will work perfectly.
You can change:
- the color,
- increase the font size quite a bit,
- increase the search box's height
That way it will look nice and big on the home page.
How to add a search box to the menu?
That's easy to do as well. You go into your menus, add a custom link add a little hashtag sign as the URL, and then paste the shortcode into the navigation label. Here's how it looks.
Conclusion
Ajax search plug-in enhances the overall search experience that people have on your website.
Certainly worth checking out if you're still just using the default WordPress search.
