{"id":2633,"date":"2021-04-08T14:34:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T14:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rengga.dev\/blog\/?p=2633"},"modified":"2023-02-28T04:58:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T04:58:11","slug":"how-to-make-blog-post-comments-searchable-in-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rengga.dev\/blog\/how-to-make-blog-post-comments-searchable-in-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Blog Post Comments Searchable in WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you want to make blog post comments show up in WordPress search results?<\/p>\n

By default, WordPress search doesn\u2019t include comments. This can make it difficult for your visitors to find interesting conversations and engage with other users.<\/p>\n

In this article, we will show you how you can make blog comments searchable on your WordPress website.<\/p>\n

Why Make Blog Post Comments Searchable in WordPress?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A lively and interesting comment section can keep people on your\u00a0WordPress website\u00a0longer and create a sense of community around your site.<\/p>\n

Because of that, comments are valuable content, and you\u2019ll want to do everything you can to\u00a0get more comments on your WordPress blog posts.<\/p>\n

However, since WordPress doesn\u2019t include comments in its search results by default, visitors may struggle to find interesting discussions and connect with other users or revisit a specific comment thread on your\u00a0WordPress blog.<\/p>\n

You might even be using the comment section for your visitors to submit reviews or testimonials. Having searchable reviews can help to boost sales on your\u00a0online store, since people will be more likely to find the exact product they\u2019re searching for.<\/p>\n

That being said, let\u2019s see how you can fix these problems by making blog post comments searchable in WordPress.<\/p>\n

How to Make Blog Post Comments Searchable in WordPress<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The easiest way to make blog post comments searchable in WordPress is by using the\u00a0SearchWP\u00a0plugin.<\/p>\n

SearchWP is the\u00a0best custom search plugin\u00a0for WordPress, used by over 30,000 websites. It\u2019s easy to use and lets you\u00a0improve the built-in WordPress search.<\/p>\n

You can also easily configure the plugin\u00a0to include custom post types in WordPress search results, as well as\u00a0registered users.<\/p>\n

To make your blog post comments searchable, you\u2019ll need to install and activate SearchWP. If you need more details, please see our guide on\u00a0how to install a WordPress plugin.<\/p>\n

Upon activation, you will see a popup telling you that SearchWP has already created an engine for you to use. The first step is customizing this engine.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll show you how to change the default engine in this guide, so you can go ahead and click on the \u2018Close\u2019 button to exit the popup.<\/p>\n

\"SearchWP's<\/figure>\n

You will now be taken to the\u00a0SearchWP \u00bb Settings<\/strong>\u00a0page automatically.<\/p>\n

On this screen, click on the \u2018License\u2019 tab. You can now paste your key into the \u2018License\u2019 box.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n

You\u2019ll find this information in the email you got when you purchased SearchWP and in your account on the\u00a0SearchWP site.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve pasted the license key, click on the \u2018Activate\u2019 button next to it.<\/p>\n

Next, just click on the \u2018Engines\u2019 tab so that you can customize everything that the plugin will display in search results.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n

You will see here that by default, posts are searchable and are broken into title, content,\u00a0slug, and\u00a0excerpt.<\/p>\n

To allow comments to be searchable on your site, you want to click on the \u2018Sources & Settings\u2019 button near the top-right part of the screen.<\/p>\n

\"Configuring<\/figure>\n

A popup will appear in the middle of your screen. Under the \u2018Sources\u2019 heading, you\u2019ll see all the different types of content that SearchWP is capable of searching.<\/p>\n

By default, the plugin searches your site\u2019s posts, pages, and media.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/figure>\n

Go ahead and check the \u2018Comments\u2019 box. You can then click on \u2018Done.\u2019<\/p>\n

This includes all comments in the search results on your site.<\/p>\n

You can further customize how your blog comments are searched by scrolling to the bottom of the \u2018Engines\u2019 tab. You\u2019ll see a new section where you can configure how your comments will be searched.<\/p>\n

To get started, click on the \u2018Add\/Remove Attributes\u2019 button.<\/p>\n

\"Configuring<\/figure>\n

On this screen, you\u2019ll see sections for the different parts of the comments that SearchWP includes in its search results, such as author name, email, and comment text itself.<\/p>\n

SearchWP can search the comment\u2019s author name and\u00a0email address, plus the content of the comment itself.<\/p>\n

In the following image, we\u2019re telling SearchWP to look at the comment\u2019s content by checking the \u2018Comment\u2019 box, as well as the name and email address of the person who posted it.<\/p>\n

After making your selection, click on the \u2018Done\u2019 button.<\/p>\n

\"Searching<\/figure>\n

Whatever options you checked will now appear under the \u2018Comments\u2019 section of the \u2018Engines\u2019 tab.<\/p>\n

For each one, SearchWP has an \u2018Applicable Attribute Relevance\u2019 scale. This is the weight that SearchWP will give to each attribute when searching the comments on your blog.<\/p>\n

\"Configuring<\/figure>\n

Content that matches an attribute with high relevancy will appear higher in the search results. By contrast, content that matches an attribute that has less relevancy will appear lower in the user\u2019s search results.<\/p>\n

By default, all the attribute sliders are set to \u2018low,\u2019 but you can change that by simply dragging the slider to the right.<\/p>\n

Every site is unique, so you may want to try different relevancy settings to see what gives you the most accurate and helpful search results.<\/p>\n

\"Changing<\/figure>\n

If you decide later that want to remove an attribute from your search, you can simply repeat the steps above, but uncheck the box next to it.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re happy with how the search feature is set up, you can go ahead and click on the \u2018Save Engines\u2019 button.<\/p>\n

\"Saving<\/figure>\n

After a few moments, SearchWP will show a message \u2018The index needs to be rebuilt.\u2019<\/p>\n

If you do get this message, then go ahead and click on the \u2018Rebuild Index\u2019 button. This will add all of your site\u2019s comments to the search index, so they appear in relevant results.<\/p>\n

\"Rebuilding<\/figure>\n

Once you\u2019ve done that, SearchWP will look at your WordPress site\u2019s comments when creating its search results.<\/p>\n

How to Change SearchWP Settings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now that your blog post comments are searchable, you may want to enable some advanced settings that will make it easier for visitors to find what they\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n

To take a look at these advanced search settings, click on the \u2018Advanced\u2019 tab.<\/p>\n

\"SearchWP's<\/figure>\n

On this screen, you can change a lot of the plugin\u2019s behavior such as making adjustments for misspellings.<\/p>\n

For example, if someone makes a spelling mistake when typing in their search term, then SearchWP can show a \u2018Did you mean?\u2019 correction box with results that are similar to what the search query should have been.<\/p>\n

The following image shows an example of how this might look on your website.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n

To use this feature in your searches, go ahead and check the \u2018Automatic \u201cDid you mean?\u201d corrections\u2019 box.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll also need to check the \u2018Partial matches (fuzzy when necessary)\u2019 box, since the \u2018Did You Mean?\u2019 feature uses partial matches.<\/p>\n

\"Enabling<\/figure>\n

For more tips on SearchWP\u2019s advanced settings, please see our step-by-step guide on\u00a0how to improve WordPress search with SearchWP.<\/p>\n

We hope this article helped you learn how to make blog comments searchable in WordPress. You may also want to see our picks of the\u00a0best live chat software for small businesses\u00a0and the\u00a0ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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