Organising understandable WordPress navigation
28/10/2026Choosing fields for a WordPress enquiry form
28/10/2026Testing WordPress search with realistic queries
Practical WordPress guides · Structure and navigation
At a glance
Search can help people navigate a larger website. Its quality depends on whether real visitor questions return useful, recognisable results.
Approach and context
Collect phrases from support enquiries and everyday visitor language. Try familiar page names and common alternatives. The content searched and the ordering of results depend on the installation. Before adding a search extension, distinguish missing content from unclear naming and technical coverage problems. A more prominent search box does not solve all three.
Implementation checklist
- Define several important search tasks and expected target pages.
- Review result titles, excerpts and the no-results experience.
- Improve terminology, content or search behaviour according to the findings.
Illustrative example
Customers search for “invoice” while a help page uses only an unfamiliar accounting term. A clearer title or explanation may help before a more complex search system is introduced.
A common pitfall
Testing only exact page titles gives an unrealistic view of everyday usefulness.
How to check the outcome
Important search tasks return a recognisably suitable result.
Further official documentation: WordPress: Search block. The exact controls depend on your theme, extensions and installed versions.