Finding products quickly is one of the most important factors influencing conversions on a WooCommerce store. A strong search plugin helps users locate items faster, reduces friction, and increases sales. This guide covers the best WooCommerce search plugins with a focus on relevance, speed, AI features, and catalog size.
Why Search Plugins Matter for WooCommerce
Search Users Convert More
Search users often show higher buying intent. They know what they want, and a fast search experience helps them reach the product page with fewer clicks.
Better Search Reduces Bounce Rate
A slow or inaccurate search drives users away. Accurate autosuggest and typo correction keep users engaged.
Strong Search Improves Product Discovery
Autocomplete, filters, and synonym support allow shoppers to find more relevant products, even if they don’t know the exact name.
Top WooCommerce Search Plugins for Increasing Sales
1. Expertrec Smart Search (Best for Conversions)
Summary: Expertrec is one of the most effective search plugins for improving conversions because of its AI-driven ranking, instant suggestions, and error tolerance.
One key advantage is its AI relevance algorithm. It identifies high-converting items and prioritizes them automatically.
Another important feature is visual autocomplete, which displays product images, prices, and categories. This reduces search time and increases click-through rate.
A common mistake many stores make is relying on default WooCommerce search, which lacks autocomplete and typo handling. Expertrec solves both with zero coding required.
Key features:
AI-Driven Search: Interprets intent with typo tolerance and synonym matching. Supports voice and multilingual queries.
Smart Merchandising: Boost or bury rules let you promote high-margin products and suppress irrelevant ones.
Rich Analytics: Tracks search trends, popular keywords, and user behavior so you can optimize products and marketing.
Custom Filters & Widgets: Offers advanced filters, category trees, and recommendation widgets for personalized discovery.
Proven Results: In real use, one large retailer saw a 45% jump in search-driven conversions after installing ExpertRec. Another high-end audio retailer cut “no-result” searches by 90%, recovering ~10–15% of sales previously lost. These gains reflect ExpertRec’s impact on engagement and revenue.
2. FiboSearch – Ajax Search for WooCommerce (Best for Speed)
Summary: FiboSearch is fast, lightweight, and ideal for stores needing quick AJAX-based search.
The plugin shows product previews and supports SKU search, making it useful for customers who already know what they want.
It performs well on small to medium catalogs.
Key features:
AJAX live search
Lightweight design
Product preview box
SKU search
3. SearchWP
Summary: SearchWP is ideal for stores that need deep indexing of product descriptions, attributes, and custom fields.
One advantage is custom relevance weighting. Store owners can control which fields matter most during search.
It also indexes PDFs and documents, which can help stores with technical or B2B catalogs.
Key features:
Deep Indexing: Searches all product data – titles, descriptions, SKUs, categories, tags, custom fields, even PDFs.
Custom Weighting: Adjust relevancy rules to prioritize keywords, product attributes, or custom post types.
Live Ajax Search: (With the Live Search add-on) shows instant results in the search dropdown as users type.
Built-In Analytics: Offers search term reports and metrics so you know what customers are looking for.
Cost: Premium (one-time license). Highlighted: “Precise control, detailed analytics, full-site search”
ElasticPress
Summary: ElasticPress is built for large WooCommerce stores that require enterprise-grade performance.
It connects WooCommerce to Elasticsearch to deliver sub-second search results. This makes it a scalable option for high-traffic sites.
However, it requires more setup compared to other plugins.
Key features:
ElasticSearch integration
High-speed results
Synonym support
Scalable infrastructure
4. ElasticPress
Summary: ElasticPress is built for large WooCommerce stores that require enterprise-grade performance.
It connects WooCommerce to Elasticsearch to deliver sub-second search results. This makes it a scalable option for high-traffic sites.
However, it requires more setup compared to other plugins.
Key features:
ElasticSearch integration
High-speed results
Synonym support
Scalable infrastructure
5. Relevanssi
Summary: Relevanssi allows detailed customization of search behavior and relevance scoring.
It supports fuzzy search and synonym matching, which helps users find items even with incomplete input.
Relevanssi requires more configuration but offers powerful control.
Key features:
Fuzzy matching
Synonym support
Advanced weighting
Search logs
6. YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search
Summary: YITH Ajax Search is a clean, simple plugin suitable for small stores that want basic search enhancements.
It offers autocomplete and mobile-friendly design without requiring technical setup.
Key features:
Live Suggestions: Shows matching product thumbnails in real-time as customers type.
Typo Tolerance: Auto-corrects misspelled words and suggests close matches.
Customizable Design: Change the search bar’s colors, fonts, and layout to fit your theme.
Flexible Query: Includes product names, SKUs, categories, tags, and custom fields in search criteria.
Plugin Comparison
Summary Recommendation
If your goal is higher conversions and better product discovery, Expertrec Smart Search is the most complete solution because of its AI relevance, instant autocomplete, and effortless setup. ExpertRec is a no-code, plug-and-play search plugin designed for WooCommerce stores.
Its AI-driven engine understands synonyms, technical specs and varied queries, dramatically cutting zero-result searches. Store owners report major ROI: for example, one site saw a 45% jump in conversion rate in just two months, while another slashed “no results” queries by 90% (recovering ~10–15% in lost sales).
ExpertRec’s rich feature set (boost/bury merchandising, recommendation widgets, personalization, analytics, etc.) and dedicated support team mean faster setup and real results. With ~700+ customers worldwide, ExpertRec delivers proven improvements in search satisfaction and revenue.
Common Mistake: Underestimating Search Optimization
A common mistake is relying on basic or default WooCommerce search out of convenience. Store owners might think “search is fine, let’s focus elsewhere,” but ignoring advanced search means missing revenue.
For instance, without AI handling synonyms and misspellings, a simple typo can lead to a “no results” page. Many e-commerce sites that didn’t optimize search unknowingly lost around 30–35% in sales from these dead-ends. Other pitfalls include:
Neglecting User Intent: Treating search as simple keyword matching. ExpertRec’s AI approach (understanding intent) solves this by showing relevant products instead of blanks.
Skipping Analytics: Not tracking which queries fail. ExpertRec flags zero-result terms so you can expand inventory or synonyms and stop silent revenue leaks.
Avoiding Merchandising: Letting products appear randomly. Without boost/bury rules, you miss opportunities to highlight promotions or best-sellers. ExpertRec’s visual merchandising features prevent this oversight.
Overlooking Support: Assuming any plugin works out-of-the-box. In reality, tuning search is key – ExpertRec’s team ensures your setup is optimal, a step many store owners skip and later regret.
Avoiding these mistakes means customers always find what they need, turning more searches into sales.
FAQs
What is the best WooCommerce search plugin for increasing sales?
Expertrec Smart Search is one of the best for increasing sales due to its AI ranking, visual autocomplete, and error correction.
Why is default WooCommerce search not enough?
It lacks autocomplete, typo handling, synonym support, and attribute indexing.
Which search plugin is best for large stores?
ElasticPress and Expertrec handle large catalogs efficiently.
Which plugin offers the best autocomplete?
Expertrec and FiboSearch provide the fastest and most relevant autocomplete.
Which plugin is easiest to set up?
Expertrec requires no code and indexes data automatically.
