AJAX Search WordPress Tutorial: Easiest Way to Add Live Search

Looking for the Best AJAX Search WordPress Plugin?

Adding AJAX-powered live search to WordPress is a great way to improve the user experience (UX) of your site and boost the discoverability of content.

In this post, you will learn step-by-step how to set up AJAX search in WordPress using a completely code-free solution.

In fact, you can be up and running in a matter of minutes, having access to functionality to refine the way your site’s AJAX search works.

All you have to do is:

1. Establish otter block plugin,
2. Add a search block where you want your AJAX WordPress search box to appear and enable the live search toggle.
3. Customize the AJAX Live Search functionality as needed, such as configuring it to search only blog posts, not pages.

If you want to go directly to the tutorial, You can click on this jump link,

What is AJAX Search for WordPress?

You likely use the Live Search functionality on a daily basis. For example, all major search engines and video sites such as YouTube offer this feature.

You start typing in the search box and you immediately see a list of suggested queries (or suggested results) – no need to load a page.

While WordPress has its own search bar, it does not use AJAX by default. Instead, users enter a search term into a box, press Enter, and a new page with results loads.

To add live search to your site, you will need the help of a plugin, which is what this post is about.

Benefits of Live AJAX Search in WordPress

Anything you can offer that enhances UX will provide value to your site. However, Live AJAX Search for WordPress can give your users something special:

• You can provide a way for users to “self-service” their needs. They’ll have a faster way of searching your entire site and finding the right page.
• Interactive elements can provide a better connection between your site and users. This is because you can be provided with relevant search results faster and without the need for additional button clicks.
• You can keep page load times to a minimum, as live AJAX search doesn’t require making further HTTP requests or loading other pages.

Why Manual Coding Solution May Not Be Best for Live Search

Given that AJAX uses Javascript, you might consider “rolling your own” using a programming language.

In theory, it’s a great idea, but wouldn’t be the best way to add live AJAX search to WordPress. here’s why:

• Firstly, you can make only those solutions which are good according to your skills. If you don’t have expert-level JavaScript knowledge, it will show in the results.
• Apart from this, you also need to know about the file structure of WordPress, template structure and many more. There are many cogs that make up the wheel of WordPress.
• Even if you have the necessary skills to code a live search solution, you will also need the time and money to develop and implement it. This can be difficult to do, especially if development is not your primary occupation.
• If you need to troubleshoot your manual solution, it can eat up more of your time, money, and resources. You may bite off more than you can chew.

Instead, there’s a better way to implement the functionality right within WordPress: plugins. Let us see how it works next.

Use an AJAX Search WordPress Plugin Instead

For most people, a better option is to use an AJAX search WordPress plugin.

While there are plenty of AJAX search WordPress plugins to choose from, not all are created equal. For example, some plugins are limited when it comes to styling options or controlling what content to search.

For this reason, we are going to be using the Otter Blocks plugin for this tutorial.

As the name suggests, Otter Blocks is a collection of elements for the basic WordPress block editor.

In terms of AJAX search functionality, the most relevant feature is the search block.

It lets you choose which post types to search in and completely customize the design of your search box. You can add it to any part of your site, including posts, pages, sidebars, etc.

Beyond the AJAX search WordPress functionality, Otter Blocks gives you a few additional ways to spice up your layout and design:

• You can add titles with a higher level of customization than you get by default.
• There’s an option to create a responsive section that includes advanced customization and space for up to six columns.
• You’ll be able to add stunning animations like Lottie effects and flip cards.
• If you sell products through your site, Otter Block includes pricing tables, the ability to implement “Add to Cart” buttons, business hours, and more.

In fact, Otter Blocks provides additional functionality to all of the blocks on offer – even the native ones. For example, you can set visibility conditions, custom CSS, and more from the typical block editor interface.

How to Use Otter Blocks to Add Live AJAX Search in WordPress

You will only need a few steps to set up Otter Blocks to add live AJAX search in WordPress. Let’s start with the installation process:

1. Install and activate Otter Blocks
2. Enable Live AJAX Search for WordPress in Otter Blocks’ Settings
3. Tweak settings to refine the search experience on the front end of your site

1. Install and activate Otter Blocks

First, you need to install Otter Blocks and activate it for your website. There are lots of ways to do this, but we’ll reiterate what we already have in our second article on the ThemeEil blog.

This wikiHow teaches you how to install both the free and premium versions of Otter Blocks. However, for the sake of this post, you will need the premium version as it gives you live search functionality.

2. Enable Live AJAX Search for WordPress in Otter Blocks’ Settings

Once you have installed the plugin, use Block Inserter to add Search Blocks from Otter Blocks.

After doing this, it will add a form field and a button to your page layout.

It implements the core search functionality, but it is not a live AJAX search in WordPress.

In its default setup, it will function as a typical WordPress search.

Turn on to Enable AJAX Search WordPress Feature enables live search Toggle in the right-hand sidebar:

3. Modify settings to refine the search experience on the front end of your site

Once you have live search functionality on your site, you can refine it in a number of ways.

Of course, there are many cosmetic and UX options.

For example, you can change the position of the buttons, whether you use a label for the search box, and tweak the colors, animations, and borders for the search section:

From there, you can also narrow down where on your site to look by choosing what post types to search.

For this you will use in search of Box on the right sidebar:

This enables you to add “entities” where you want the search to operate.

For example, you can choose to search only the content of your posts or the products in your store.

If you leave this field blank, Otter Blocks will search your entire site’s content.

Set up AJAX search WordPress functionality today

However, WordPress does not offer it by default. instead, you can use Otter blocks To add it to your site. There’s no code involved, and you get a lot more functionality than a live AJAX search.

While Otter Blocks is a free plugin, the premium version offers the ability to set up live AJAX search in WordPress, among other options.