Better Search – Relevant search results for WordPress
by Ajay · Search
Also makes 10 other plugins · 67.6K+ installs across the portfolio →
Better Search replaces the default WordPress search with a better search engine that gives contextual results sorted by relevance.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
A 87/100
no flags
Active installs
5K+
≈5.5K estimated
Momentum
+26%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “search” for “fulltext”. “search” isn't earning its slot: it only gets you to #22. “fulltext” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
87 health vs 63 average across 979 Search plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.5%
of downloads still active
At least 5K of 326K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Search plugin keeps 0.7%, across 645 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Search plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 15 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Excellent listing optimization
Well tuned across the board
Updated 15 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
4.4★ over 61 reviews, smoothed to 4.26★
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
43
Momentum
Holding steady
+0.1
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
28%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
+0.1
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| relevant search your tag | #1 | #2 | 0 |
| relevant | #2 | #4 | — |
| profanity | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| relevance your tag | #3 | #5 | 0 |
| search results | #4 | #4 | up 2 |
| better search your tag | #4 | #5 | 0 |
| related search your tag | #4 | #4 | 0 |
| fulltext search | #2 | #2 | 0 |
| profanity filter | #2 | #1 | 0 |
| results | #7 | #11 | 0 |
| fulltext | #4 | #3 | 0 |
| result | #5 | #9 | 0 |
| better | #9 | #8 | 0 |
| contextual | #8 | #10 | down 2 |
| fuzzy search | #6 | #5 | 0 |
| better search replace | #4 | #6 | 0 |
| relevance search | #4 | #5 | — |
| internal search | #10 | #11 | 0 |
| word search | #10 | #8 | 0 |
| wordpress search | #16 | #20 | 0 |
120 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 20 listed. 77 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).
What to do about it
- Swap “search” for “fulltext”. “search” isn't earning its slot: it only gets you to #22. “fulltext” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 10.3K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
15
releases in the last 12 months
15d ago
latest release · v4.5.2 · 16 Oct 2026
71
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “5K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 12 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 18 Jun 2015
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 4.3.2 Release Date – 12 July 2026 Enhancements: Search term highlighting now keeps double-quoted phrases intact: searching for "richard harding" highlights the whole phrase instead of its individual words. Mixed queries (e.g. 4.3.2
- — Version 4.3.1 Release Date – 8 July 2026 Bug fixes: Fixed phrase search: double-quoted terms (e.g. "WordPress" or "WordPress plugin" ) now always perform a phrase search by automatically enabling boolean mode when quoted terms are det 4.3.1
- — Version 4.3.0 Release Date – 3 May 2026 Read more in the Better Search Pro 4.3.0 release post . Features: [Pro] New: WP-CLI support with comprehensive command-line interface (search, cache, db, stats, settings, tables, status, stopwor 4.3.0
- — Version 4.4.0 Release Date – 2 August 2026 Read more in the Better Search v4.4.0 release post . Features: Added a Feature Manager to toggle optional features from a new Features tab. [Pro] Added “Did you mean” suggestions for zero-res 4.4.0
- — Version 4.4.1 Release Date – 20 August 2026 Improvements: Setting defaults are now resolved from a single lightweight list instead of building every settings field, so reading an option early in the page load no longer risks loading t 4.4.1
- — Version 4.4.2 Improvements: Updated the Settings API to version 3.0.0, adding missing sanitizers for radio, select, wysiwyg, file, password, css, html and other field types, and preventing unregistered submitted settings from being sa 4.4.2
Security history
via Wordfence IntelligenceAll 8 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (4.5.2). Sites still on an older version should update.
- 2025-11-22 CVE-2026-24938 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 4.2.1 Patched in 4.2.2
- Patched Medium · 6.4 Better Search <= 4.1.0 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗2025-05-07 CVE-2025-47507 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 4.1.0 Patched in 4.1.1
- 2024-03-18 CVE-2024-29142 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 3.3.0 Patched in 3.3.1
- 2023-04-10 Cross-Site Request Forgery Affects <= 3.1.0 Patched in 3.2.0
- 2021-03-01 CVE-2021-4373 Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel Affects < 2.5.3 Patched in 2.5.3
- 2019-03-15 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command Affects < 2.2.3 Patched in 2.2.3
- 2014-12-16 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.3.4 Patched in 1.3.5
Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.
CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 30 languages, 0 at 90% or more
Plus 6 more locales with partial translations.
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
7 of 8 pass · checked 26 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Better Search replaces the default WordPress search with a better search engine that gives contextual resul..."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 6 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 6 of 6 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("if you want"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WPML, Polylang, TranslatePress, REST API and 1 more.
- ✓ Headings and lists 6 headings and 4 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 4,260 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "related search", "relevant search" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2025-11-01 6K+ → 5K+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2025-10-30 5K+ → 6K+ up after 3 days in tier
- 2025-10-27 6K+ → 5K+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2025-10-26 5K+ → 6K+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2025-10-24 6K+ → 5K+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2025-10-22 5K+ → 6K+ up after 4 days in tier
- 2025-10-18 6K+ → 5K+ down after 3 days in tier
- 2025-10-15 5K+ → 6K+ up after 3 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ installs · 4.7★ · 3 shared tags A -
Swiftype Site Search Plugin for WordPress 400+ installs · 3.7★ · 3 shared tags D -
Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter 70K+ installs · 4.7★ · 2 shared tags A -
ACF: Better Search 40K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags A -
SearchIQ – The Search Solution 1K+ installs · 4.8★ · 2 shared tags B -
WP Fast Total Search – The Power of Indexed Search 1K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Better Search – Relevant search results for WordPress into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/better-search" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Better Search – Relevant search results for WordPress — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Better Search – Relevant search results for WordPress: 5K+ active installs, 4.4★ (61 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/better-search
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