The email lands on a Tuesday afternoon. Subject line: "Search is broken."
You know what's coming before you open it. The client tried to find their product page. Or their FAQ. Or that blog post they published last month. They typed a perfectly reasonable query into the search bar you built, and WordPress returned... a list of vaguely related posts from 2019, their "About Us" page, and nothing actually useful.
They're frustrated. You're about to spend an hour troubleshooting something that isn't technically broken - it's just working exactly as poorly as WordPress search always has.
If you've been running a WordPress agency for more than a year, you've had this conversation. Multiple times. With multiple clients. And somewhere around the third or fourth time, you probably started wondering: is there a better answer than "that's just how WordPress search works"?
There is. But before we get there, it's worth understanding what's actually happening. Because the real problem isn't what most clients think it is.
The Complaint Isn't Really About Search
When clients complain about WordPress search, they're usually reporting a symptom, not the disease.
What they say: "Search is broken."
What they mean: "I expected to find what I was looking for, and I didn't."
The gap between those two statements matters. WordPress search isn't broken in a technical sense. It does exactly what it was designed to do: match keywords in post titles and content, then return results sorted by date. For a personal blog with 50 posts, that's often fine.
The problem is that most business websites don't work like personal blogs. They have:
- Products with names that don't match how customers describe them
- Documentation where the answer lives in the middle of a page, not the title
- Content that uses industry terminology while visitors search in plain language
- Years of accumulated posts where the most relevant content isn't the most recent
WordPress's default search has no way to handle any of this. It doesn't understand that "laptop bag" and "notebook sleeve" refer to the same product category. It can't tell that someone searching "refund" probably wants the returns policy page, not a blog post that mentions "refund" once in paragraph seven.
Your clients aren't wrong to be frustrated. They just don't have the vocabulary to describe why.
Why This Keeps Becoming Your Problem
Here's the operational reality: search complaints create disproportionate support load.
Unlike a broken contact form or a crashed plugin, search issues are difficult to diagnose and impossible to "fix" in the traditional sense. You can't point to an error log. You can't roll back a version. The client says search doesn't work, you test it, it returns results - just not the ones they expected.
This puts you in an awkward position. Do you:
A) Explain the limitations? Telling a client "that's just how WordPress search works" sounds like an excuse, even when it's accurate. It doesn't solve their problem, and it can erode confidence in your expertise.
B) Build a custom solution? You could write custom search logic: extending WP_Query, weighting certain post types, maybe adding some jQuery autocomplete. It works. It also takes 20-40 hours you probably didn't scope, creates ongoing maintenance burden, and needs to be rebuilt differently for each client.
C) Recommend a third - party tool? This is often the right answer, but which tool? And does the benefit justify the added cost and complexity for this particular client?
None of these options are obviously correct. The best choice depends on the client, their budget, their content volume, and how much search actually matters to their users.
A Framework for Evaluating Search Solutions
Before recommending any solution - including paid tools - it helps to understand where a client actually falls on the search needs spectrum.
Low complexity (native search is probably fine):
- Under 100 pages/posts total
- Simple content structure (blog posts, basic pages)
- Low traffic volume
- Search isn't a primary navigation method
Medium complexity (basic improvements needed):
- 100-1,000 pages/posts
- Multiple post types or custom content
- Some e - commerce or documentation
- Search used by 10-20% of visitors
High complexity (dedicated search solution warranted):
- 1,000+ pages/posts
- E-commerce with product variations
- Multiple content types with different relevance needs
- Search as a critical user path
- Multi - site or multi - language
Most WordPress client complaints come from the middle category: sites that have outgrown native search but don't obviously need enterprise infrastructure.
What Other Agencies Actually Do
Through conversations in agency communities and mastermind groups, a few patterns emerge in how agencies handle search at scale:
The "make it someone else's problem" approach: Some agencies simply don't include search optimization in their scope. They build with native WordPress search, document its limitations, and move on. When complaints arise, they treat it as a change request. This works for the agency's workflow but doesn't build client satisfaction.
The custom solution approach: Other agencies have developed internal search solutions: custom queries, relevance scoring, maybe some JavaScript enhancement. The upside is full control. The downside is maintenance: every WordPress update is a potential break, every new client requires adaptation, and the solution is only as good as the time invested.
The plugin approach: Plugins like SearchWP extend WordPress's native capabilities: adding custom field indexing, relevance controls, and stemming. They're affordable and familiar. The limitation is that they're still keyword - based, so they don't solve the fundamental "laptop bag vs. notebook sleeve" problem.
The API service approach: Tools like Algolia, Elasticsearch, and WPRAG offload search to dedicated infrastructure. They offer semantic understanding, faster results, and analytics. The tradeoffs vary: Algolia uses usage - based pricing that can spike unpredictably; Elasticsearch requires significant technical resources to implement; WPRAG was built specifically for WordPress agencies with flat per - site pricing and multi - client management in mind.
There's no universally correct answer. The right approach depends on your client mix, your team's technical depth, and whether search quality is a differentiator for your agency or just a checkbox.
When Search Becomes a Retention Issue
Here's where this gets strategic: search quality correlates with client satisfaction in ways that aren't always obvious.
A client whose visitors can't find products doesn't usually say "our search is poor." They say "conversions are down" or "people keep calling about things that are on the website" or "our competitors seem easier to use."
If you're hearing these broader complaints, it's worth auditing whether search is a contributing factor. A few diagnostic questions:
- What percentage of visitors use site search? Analytics can tell you this. Industry benchmarks suggest 10-30%, with search users converting at 2-3x the rate of non - search users - when search works well.
- What's the bounce rate on search results pages? High bounce here indicates users aren't finding what they need.
- What are the top "zero result" queries? These are searches where WordPress returned nothing. They're often your highest - intent visitors leaving empty - handed.
- How does search experience compare to competitors? Sometimes the gap is obvious once you look.
If search is contributing to retention problems, it moves from "nice to have" to "necessary to address." The cost of a solution looks different when compared to the cost of losing the client.
Building Search Into Your Service Offering
Some agencies have started treating search as a productized service rather than a one - off fix. The logic is straightforward:
- Search quality is an ongoing concern, not a one - time project
- Clients benefit from continuous improvement and monitoring
- Recurring revenue is more stable than project fees
The execution varies. Some agencies white - label search solutions and include them in maintenance retainers. Others offer search optimization as a separate monthly service with analytics reporting.
For this to work economically, you need a solution that:
- Deploys consistently across different client sites
- Doesn't require per - client customization for basic functionality
- Provides analytics you can report on
- Has pricing that allows healthy margins
WPRAG was designed with this use case in mind - flat per - site pricing, centralized dashboard for managing multiple clients, and analytics that translate into client - facing reports. But it's not the only option, and whether any search service makes sense depends on your specific business model.
Practical Next Steps
If client complaints about WordPress search are a recurring issue for your agency, here's a reasonable evaluation path:
Week 1: Audit the scope. Review your client portfolio. How many have search - related complaints in the last 6 months? What's their content volume? How critical is search to their user experience?
Week 2: Test alternatives. Pick 2-3 clients that represent different use cases. Try different approaches: a plugin for one, a service trial for another. Document setup time, results quality, and client feedback.
Week 3: Model the economics. What would it cost to offer improved search across your portfolio? What could you charge? Does the margin work?
Week 4: Decide on positioning. Is search something you include by default, offer as an upsell, or handle case - by - case?
This isn't about committing to a particular solution. It's about making an informed decision rather than continuing to handle complaints reactively.
The Conversation Shifts
There's a meaningful difference between saying "that's just how WordPress works" and "here's what we can do about it."
The first response positions you as limited by your tools. The second positions you as the expert who understands both the problem and the solution space.
Whether you solve search with custom code, a plugin, or a dedicated service matters less than whether you solve it confidently. Clients don't expect you to control WordPress's core limitations. They do expect you to have answers when those limitations create problems.
Search complaints will keep coming - WordPress's native capabilities aren't changing anytime soon. The question is whether you treat them as nuisances or opportunities.
WPRAG is AI-powered search built specifically for WordPress, with pricing and features designed for agencies managing multiple client sites. View our pricing plans to learn more.