ROBook a free call
← All plugins

WordPress plugin · Free

Search Steer

WordPress search only looks at a post's title, excerpt and content. Search Steer lets you decide, post by post, what your site search finds: hide a post, add keywords that bring it into the results, or stop keywords that keep it out.

Coming soon to WordPress.org
Requires WordPress 6.6+ · PHP 7.4+
A search for "refund": the returns page is found by its keyword and listed first, and the 2019 refund policy is kept out by its stop keyword

What it does

Hide from site search

Keep thank-you pages, landing pages and old announcements out of every search.

Search keywords

Give "Returns and exchanges" the keyword refund, and a search for "refund" finds it, even though the word isn't in the post.

Stop keywords

Give an old "Refund policy (2019)" the stop keyword refund, and a search for "refund" never shows it.

Set them where you work

In the editor sidebar, in Quick Edit, or for many posts at once with Bulk Edit. A Search column shows which posts have settings.

Move from another plugin

Import the posts that Search Exclude, Hide from Search or Hide Posts hide, with one click. Their data stays untouched.

Matching your way

Whole or partial words, which list wins, keyword matches first, and whether it also applies to REST API and AJAX searches.

Built to stay out of the way

  1. Only the search changes

    Menus, archives, widgets, related posts and every other query on the page are left alone. Nothing is hidden in wp-admin.

  2. Nothing extra to maintain

    No search index, no custom tables and no migrations. Settings live in post meta and private taxonomy terms that WordPress already indexes.

  3. Keywords stay private

    Visitors never see a post's keywords or that it is hidden, and the REST API only shows them to people who can edit posts.

Good to know

  • No ads, no dashboard widgets, no upsells and no outside service.
  • It controls the search on your own site, not Google. To keep a page out of search engines, use your SEO plugin's noindex setting.
  • Works with the WooCommerce product search. It doesn't work with plugins that replace WordPress search, like Relevanssi, SearchWP or ElasticPress.
  • Case and accents are ignored, so "Café", "cafe" and "CAFE" are the same keyword.

Screenshots

The editor sidebar: hide the post from site search, and add its keywords and stop keywords
The Search column shows each post's keywords, stop keywords and whether it is hidden
Quick Edit changes keywords, stop keywords and "Hide from site search" without opening the post
The settings: post types, how keywords match, which list wins, the order of the results and where they apply
Import the posts that Search Exclude, Hide from Search or Hide Posts hide, with one click

Questions

Does a hidden post disappear from my site?

No. It only stays out of your site's search results. It is still in menus, archives and widgets, and reachable at its own address.

Does it hide posts from Google?

No. Search Steer controls the search on your own site. To keep a page out of search engines, use your SEO plugin's noindex setting.

Why does a hidden post still show in my live search?

Live search boxes often search through the REST API or admin-ajax.php. Turn on "Also apply them to REST API and AJAX searches" in the settings.

Does a search need to match every word?

No. A post is added when any of its keywords matches. With the keyword refund, a search for "refund status" finds it.

Works well with

Search Analytics for WP

Not sure which searches to fix? Search Analytics for WP shows the searches that find nothing, so you know which keywords to add.

Plugin details

Need a plugin built for your site?

We build and maintain WordPress plugins like this one for client sites. Tell us what yours should do.

Talk to us

Our other plugins

wordpress.org/plugins/search-analytics

Search Analytics for WP

See what visitors search for on your site and which searches find nothing. The data stays in your own database.

3,000+ active installs5/5 from 30 reviews
Plugin details
wordpress.org/plugins/feature-request-system

Feature Request System

A public feature request board. Visitors vote on ideas, you move them through statuses like Planned and Shipped, and followers get an email when a status changes.

New on WordPress.org
Plugin details