Trying to choose the best product search plugin for WooCommerce?
To achieve higher store conversion rates, visitors to a WooCommerce store need to be able to easily search for and find available products. However, the default WooCommerce search is too basic to support the in-depth product searches that many users require.
The Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce plugin addresses this by providing an advanced search engine that transforms the search bar into a high-converting tool and enriches the search experience. This article closely examines the capabilities of Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce to determine whether it truly delivers on its promises.
📑 Table of Contents
What Is Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce?
Elevated Product Search is a modern, premium solution for lightning-fast product searches in WooCommerce stores. It provides live results as customers type, transforming the search bar into a sales engine and enabling a seamless user experience.
The Elevated Product Search plugin offers a sleek user interface that makes setting up the search form quick and simple. With a live preview window on the settings page, users can easily see exactly how their form will appear on the frontend, saving time that would otherwise be spent making changes and manually refreshing to view the updates.
Although Elevated Product Search is relatively new compared to other popular WooCommerce search plugins, its features, such as the ability to search across all product data (including custom fields) and to display rich, styled results in a dropdown without a page refresh, make it a worthwhile investment.
The next section explores the plugin’s core features more closely and how they greatly improve WooCommerce’s default search.
Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce Core Features
Elevated Product Search offers many useful WooCommerce search features that elevate the user experience; here are a few that stand out.
Wide Search Scope Across All Product Data
One of the main drawbacks of WooCommerce’s default search is its limited search scope. Users can only find products by title and description, which can be frustrating for those who prefer to search by attributes such as product color or size, SKU, or custom fields.
Elevated Product Search addresses this issue by covering all the data that WooCommerce site visitors might search for. The plugin includes toggles that let users select which fields are indexed.
Users can enable or disable searching by description, short description, SKUs, attributes, categories, tags, and custom fields.
This feature greatly improves product discoverability, enhances relevance ranking, and boosts overall conversion rates.
Fuzzy Matching and Typo Tolerance
When site visitors search for products in a WooCommerce store, spelling mistakes are almost inevitable from time to time. With the default WooCommerce search, this automatically results in the “no results found” message, even for minor misspellings.
This can harm a business because visitors typically leave a site if they cannot easily find what they need or at least see search suggestions when they make an unintentional mistake.
With the Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce plugin, visitors are assured to always find what they’re searching for as long as it exists in the store.
This is made possible by the fuzzy matching feature, which allows users to control how closely search terms must match to accommodate typos and even synonyms.
The strictness of the match can be set from very tolerant (Soft match) to very strict (Hard match). It can also be completely turned off if necessary.
Live AJAX Results as Customers Type
One of the most exciting features of Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce is its AJAX integration, which displays live results as visitors type their search terms. This occurs within milliseconds.
The results dropdown shows product images for matches and includes details such as price, SKU, and description. It also features an instant add-to-cart button and a quick-view button directly in the results, reducing the number of clicks needed to reach checkout.
This feature alone greatly optimizes the search experience by eliminating the need to reload the page each time a visitor searches for a product.
Deep Search Configuration and Filtering
To further improve the quality of product search results shown to site visitors, Elevated Product Search offers advanced options, such as search filters and limits on the number of results displayed on the frontend.
Users can choose to exclude out-of-stock products or include/exclude specific items based on their category or tags.
There are settings that also allow users to control the minimum number of characters required in the search bar to trigger search results, as well as set a cap on the number of results displayed per search.
Granular Design Customization
An essential part of delivering the best user experience for shoppers on a WooCommerce site is ensuring visual elements are engaging enough to keep them browsing longer.
Elevated Product Search makes it simple for users to customize every visual aspect of the search form and results dropdown to match their brand and increase store conversion rates.
A streamlined settings panel is provided, allowing users to configure elements such as colors, padding, image sizes, widths, borders, font sizes, and more.
The included live preview window also makes it easy for users to see how their changes will appear on their site frontend in real time.
Index Build Scheduling and Search Logging
A WooCommerce store’s catalog frequently needs updates to keep products in stock for customers. This also involves updating the search index so visitors can easily find new items.
The Elevated Product Search plugin includes an index-scheduling feature that lets users configure how often the product catalog index is rebuilt automatically. Options are available to schedule a rebuild at specific times, either daily, weekly, or monthly.
Another helpful feature the plugin provides is a Debug Mode toggle that activates search logging and indexing events for troubleshooting. When Debug Mode is enabled, a new Logs tab appears in the plugin menu, displaying all logged data.
Setting Up and Configuring Elevated Product Search
The steps for setting up and configuring Elevated Product Search are simple and effortless. This section offers guidance on getting the plugin up and running quickly.
Installation and Initial Setup
The first step to setting up and configuring Elevated Product Search for a WooCommerce store is to purchase a license and download the plugin ZIP file.
Users can then install and activate the plugin on their site by following the standard WordPress process.
Upon activation, users can access the Settings page, which provides all settings for the product search form and a live preview panel, all within a clean, user-friendly interface.
Since the plugin is designed to be simple and intuitive, with all settings logically organized, there is no built-in onboarding wizard. However, an Overview page with a quick tutorial that guides users through the plugin’s features is included.
Configuring the Search Engine
To meet the needs of their WooCommerce store, users can customize the search engine of their search form in various ways.
The Advanced Settings panel offers all the options for setting the search scope by toggling which fields to include or exclude from search results, choosing which custom fields should appear, controlling how strictly search terms must match, and adding search filters.
The Indexer setting is also found within the Advanced Settings panel. The search index keeps Elevated Product Search fast by allowing the plugin to create its own optimized index instead of relying on the live WordPress database for each search.
The indexer can be scheduled to run automatically or manually started by clicking Force Index Rebuild.
Customizing the Search Form and Results
The Basic Settings, Results Area, and Product Preview panels each include options for customizing every aspect of the search form to align with a site’s overall user experience.
In the Basic Settings panel, users can adjust the search form input styles, padding, borders, layout, and width.
The Results Area panel offers styling options for the results section, letting users customize typography, colors, and image borders, as well as choose metadata options to display, such as images, prices, descriptions, and SKUs.
In the Product Preview panel, users can choose whether or not to display a product preview. It also offers options to customize image and button styles and set the length of the product description displayed.
Embedding the Search Bar
After configuring all settings for the search form, the final step is to embed it on any page, widget area, or theme location, such as the header or footer, where it is relevant.
To do this, users simply need to click "Copy Shortcode" to copy the shortcode to the clipboard, then embed it wherever they want.
Allowing users to embed search forms via shortcode ensures the plugin works with most major page builders and themes, including Breakdance, Divi, and Elementor.
Elevated Product Search Pros & Cons
Pros
- Clean and modern user interface.
- Searches across all WooCommerce product fields, including custom fields.
- Fast, responsive, index-powered engine that delivers results in as little as 0.15 seconds, even on large catalogs.
- Returns highly relevant search results.
- Includes a live preview panel to eliminate trial and error.
- Flexible customization options.
- Easy integration with WooCommerce.
Cons
- No free version available.
- Search form only works with WooCommerce stores.
- Features can be overkill for very small stores with a limited product range.
Elevated Product Search Pricing
Elevated Product Search is a premium plugin offering four simple pricing options, which are distinguished only by the number of site licenses included in each one.
The Single Site plan costs $49 per year and includes a license for one site. The Up to 5 Sites plan is priced at $99 per year and allows usage on up to five sites. The Up to 100 Sites plan provides licenses for up to 100 sites.
The All Access Pass, which costs a one-time fee of $399, offers the best value by providing lifetime access and support for the Elevated Product Search plugin. It can be used on unlimited sites and also grants users access to all current and future extensions created by the Elevated Extensions team.
All licenses come with a 90-day money-back guarantee, making the trial completely risk-free for new users.
Final Thoughts – Is Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce Worth It?
Reviewing the Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce plugin clearly shows how powerful and efficient its search function is. Its fast, accurate product search, combined with a modern, intuitive user interface, makes the plugin a worthwhile investment.
Any WooCommerce store where product search significantly impacts how quickly visitors find products and convert into customers will find Elevated Product Search a valuable addition. Features like live preview, instant add-to-cart, and live suggestions elevate the search experience and address common limitations of the default WooCommerce search.
Smaller stores with simple product catalogs and low search traffic might find the investment and features unnecessary for their simpler needs. However, at $49/year for a single site with a 90-day money-back guarantee, the financial risk remains minimal.
Overall, Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce is a worthwhile choice for any WooCommerce store that takes product search seriously.
Frequently Asked Questions
The steps to add a search box in WooCommerce are as follows:
1. Install and activate the Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce plugin on your website.
2. Adjust the settings for your product search box, including search filters, typography, product images, search term matching, and more.
3. Save your changes and copy the search box shortcode.
4. Paste the shortcode anywhere on your website where you want the search box to appear, such as a page, widget area, header, or other locations.
Elevated Product Search is the best WooCommerce product search plugin. It provides lightning-fast, AJAX-powered search to visitors, boosting conversions and enhancing their search experience. It also features a clean, user-friendly interface that makes setting up a search form quick and simple for both beginner and advanced WordPress users.
To search only for product titles in WooCommerce, you can use a plugin like Elevated Product Search, which allows you to control which fields are searchable in your WooCommerce search form. By default, it enables site visitors to search only by the title, so you don’t need to adjust any settings to make it work the way you want.
