Multisite Global Search

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

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.

Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.

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.

1 search this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 0 listed. 1 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.

Directory rank

Ranked about #30,100 to #45,000, alongside the other plugins at 10+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 21 Oct 2026.

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 4.1 years ago; the previous band took 5.8 years to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.

1. ★★★★★ mludwick

   8.9y ago

   Broke the site on 4.9.1. This topic was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by mludwick.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ katearpi

   11.1y ago

   The plugin works, but returned the following errors on the results page: Warning: Missing argument 2 for wpdb::prepare(), called in /home/macdnet/public_html/wp-content/plugins/multisite-global-search/inc/shortcodes.php on line 223 and defined in /home/macdnet/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php on line 1210 It also broke the layout of one of my widgets (but not the plugin widget, ironically.) Search results page definitely needs some customization before going live, but I think the plugin will be useful.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ dangtrinhnt

   11.5y ago

   Working perfectly.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ OneWordPresser

   12.1y ago

   Poor design, both for the search box and for the results. If you value the quality of your site forget about this plugin.

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ WebPrezence

   12.1y ago

   I’ve tried all kinds of solutions for this – including WPMU’s Global Search Plugin (a mistake). This plugin really does work. There are a few kinks, as some have intimated (shortcodes / html, etc.) show up in search results. Additionally, I cannot get excerpts to work for the life of me, so I just changed the following on /inc/shortcodes/php, lines 271-274: if(strcmp($excerpt, "yes") == 0)<br /> echo ms_global_search_get_the_excerpt( $s );<br /> else<br /> echo ms_global_search_get_the_content( $s ); ?> And replaced the_content with the_excerpt on line 274, thus forcing the excerpts. I’m happy with the results! But I can live with that; it actually does search all blogs — in my case, subdomains. Other than that, it just takes knowledge of coding to work out the kinks. I hope the author takes pride in this plugin and continues development!

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ Josh

   12.8y ago

   Works perfectly. I modified some of the css to fit my theme. I would give five stars if the plugin included the ability to exclude specific posts and pages. Overall a very useful product that fills a much needed gap in WP Multisite functionality.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ antonchanning

   13.0y ago

   Just installed on a network with a simple search across the whole site, including pages, and it works just fine. Results look fine as is, although I may style them a little to fit in with my theme. Luckily the plugin provides plenty of hooks in the html for me write css rules against. All in all, exactly what I was looking for.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ andrewpaulbowden

   13.3y ago

   It certainly gives you a search over multiple WordPress sites and is probably the easiest way to do this, but it’s missing some key features such as controlling which sites it searches (the default is all), pagination of results and customising the search form and search results. In excerpt mode it also doesn’t strip HTML out, so you can end up with an opening of an HTML tag in your search results, but if the close if not part of the excerpt your search results screw up. All of this means that whilst there’s the potential to have a truly great plugin here (and boy do we NEED a good solution for multisite search – it’s appalling that it doesn’t exist as part of the core WordPress if you ask me), at the minute it’s not quite there. However if you can put up with its flaws, or are prepared to do some hacking of the plugin code, this could be idea for you.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.4

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.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2022-10-06 30+ → 10+ down after 2112 days in tier
2. 2016-12-24 40+ → 30+ down

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).

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Multisite Global Search into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Multisite Global Search: 10+ active installs, 3.4★ (11 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/multisite-global-search