Ivory Search plugin review and common issues

Go to Ivory Search → Search Forms → [form] → Search In tab. Verify that the content types you want to search are enabled: Post Title, Post Content, Post Excerpt, and any custom fields. Also check the Post Types tab to ensure the relevant post types (Posts, Pages, Products, custom types) are included in this form’s search scope. If custom fields are needed, add the specific meta key names in the Custom Fields tab. After configuration changes, test the search form directly (not a cached version) to verify the changes take effect.

Ajax live search is an optional feature that must be enabled per search form. Go to Ivory Search → Search Forms → [form] → Ajax Live Search tab. Toggle Ajax Live Search to “On.” Configure the trigger (character count before search activates — typically 2-3 characters), the result display format, and the number of results shown. Ensure the search form is embedded on your site using the Ivory Search widget or shortcode (not the default WordPress search widget) — the Ajax functionality is tied to Ivory Search’s own form output.

Go to Ivory Search → Search Forms → [form] → Post Types tab. Uncheck the post types you want to exclude from this search form’s results (e.g., uncheck Attachments/Media, Pages for product-focused search, or internal post types from plugins). For excluding specific categories or tags from results, use the Exclude tab to specify which terms should never appear in results. This per-form configuration allows the same site to have a product-only search form and a general content search form side by side.

Go to Ivory Search → Search Forms → Add New. In the Post Types tab, uncheck all post types except “Products.” In the Search In tab, enable Product Title, Product Description, and Product Short Description. Optionally add the _sku meta key in the Custom Fields section (Pro Plus required for SKU search). Style the form in the Appearance tab. Embed this form using the shortcode [ivory-search id=”X” title=”Product Search”] wherever you want a product-only search bar. The main header search can use a different form with broader scope.

Ivory Search provides a widget that can be placed in widget areas. For adding a search bar to a navigation menu: (1) if your theme supports a menu widget area, add the Ivory Search widget there; (2) use a menu plugin (Max Mega Menu, ElementsKit Mega Menu) that supports embedding widgets or shortcodes in navigation items — place the Ivory Search shortcode in the menu widget area; (3) for Elementor-built headers, add an Elementor Search widget or use the Ivory Search shortcode in an Elementor shortcode widget within the header template.

Relevanssi is the stronger choice for content-heavy blogs at any scale. Its TF-IDF relevance ranking, phrase search, boolean operators, and search term highlighting in results produce search quality that Ivory Search’s simpler approach does not match. Ivory Search’s multiple-form architecture is useful for blogs with distinct content sections needing different search behaviors, but for pure search relevance quality on a large content site, Relevanssi is the preferred option — particularly considering Relevanssi free is also available at no cost.

Ivory Search is compatible with WPML and Polylang. When used on a multilingual site, each search form respects the currently active language and returns results only in that language. Configuration of which post types and content fields to search applies across all languages. For sites with language-specific search requirements (different stopwords, different content sources per language), creating separate search forms per language using Ivory Search’s multiple-form system provides the needed customization.

Yes, that can happen, especially on older sites with many plugins. This usually happens when the plugin, theme, and add-ons are updated out of sequence. In most cases, testing on staging catches the issue before it reaches the live site. From experience, backups and changelog reviews save a lot of cleanup time.

Start by checking whether another plugin already does the same job. In most cases, overlap is what creates avoidable conflicts and performance issues. A common issue is installing a plugin because it looks convenient without checking the stack first. From experience, a short compatibility review avoids most of the pain later.