AI Search for WooCommerce — Semantic & Live Search

Yes, and there is no migration to do. AI Search runs alongside your existing search plugin during testing. Install it, click Sync content in the setup screen, and the traditional results your current plugin provides continue exactly as before, AI results are added below them, never on top. If the AI layer doesn’t work for you, deactivate AI Search and your previous plugin keeps working as if nothing happened. Most stores test both in parallel for a week and decide.

Relevanssi and SearchWP are keyword-quality plugins. They rank keyword matches better than WordPress default (title weighting, stemming, relevance boosts). AI Search does something keyword search cannot do: it finds products that mean the same thing as the query even when they share zero keywords with it. “Cozy winter sweater” finds “merino wool pullover”. Relevanssi and SearchWP can’t, because no keyword overlaps. In practice, many stores that already run keyword-quality search still benefit from AI Search because it fills the long-tail: queries WordPress and its keyword extensions cannot match. AI Search never replaces existing keyword matches, only adds semantic matches below.

FiboSearch focuses on live dropdown UX, great AJAX search-as-you-type, styled results panel. AI Search does both: an AI Search Box block with keyword matches on every keystroke plus AI semantic suggestions on pause, AND a semantic layer on the main results page. If you’re happy with FiboSearch’s dropdown, install AI Search without a block, you keep FiboSearch’s UI, and the results page silently picks up semantic matches. If you want a single-plugin setup, remove FiboSearch and place the AI Search Box block, same live dropdown experience, plus semantic ranking behind it.

Elasticsearch and Algolia are search infrastructure: you configure indexes, ranking rules, synonyms, typo tolerance, boost rules. Powerful. Also heavy, and typically needs a dedicated search team. AI Search is a drop-in semantic layer for stores that don’t have one: one-click sync from the plugin admin, no ranking rules to write, no index to manage. If you already run Elasticsearch or Algolia with a real search team, AI Search is probably not for you; if you have a WooCommerce store and want semantic search without hiring one, it is.

Yes – four. wp-search.ai/demos runs the real plugin on a clothing store, a bookstore and an electronics store, each with its own catalogue. Type any query – your own words, an exact product name, or a SKU – and the page shows traditional search results and AI Search results side by side, each result labeled by tier. You can also drag the similarity threshold and watch the AI results change live.

There is also a live search demo for the dropdown: type into any of the three boxes and watch keyword matches appear as you type, with the AI suggestions joining when you pause. Nothing on any of these pages is staged.

The plugin ships two blocks. Edit any page, template or header in the block editor, click the + button and search for “AI Search”. Pick AI Search Box for a search field with a dropdown, or AI Search Button for a search icon that opens a full-screen overlay – the button works well in a site header. There is nothing to configure to get started, though you can turn thumbnails, prices and the result count on or off in the block sidebar. See both in action.

Barely. Every keystroke runs a keyword and SKU search, which costs nothing. Only when the user stops typing does the plugin make a single AI lookup. So a ten-character search costs one AI request, not ten – and repeated searches are served from a five-minute cache, costing nothing.

No. They are entirely optional. If you place no block, your site is untouched, no extra scripts load, and the plugin works exactly as it did before – improving the results page users reach after pressing Enter.

Yes. They read your theme’s own colour palette, typography and corner radius settings rather than shipping a fixed design, so they look native on light and dark themes alike. If you use a block theme, you can also adjust spacing and alignment from the block editor as usual.

No. Results your search already finds are kept and shown first: exact SKU/title matches, then every traditional keyword match (ranked by relevance instead of date). AI results are only added below them: extra content the keyword search missed. If a user searches for something that literally exists on your site, they will still find it, in the same or a better position.

On top of indexing each product, AI Search also indexes every category, tag, and WooCommerce attribute term. At search time, each product gets a small boost from its best-matching term. The practical effect: a user searching “trainers” surfaces products tagged “Sneakers” even when no product description contains the word “trainers”. You can manage this on the Term Embeddings tab (opt out of specific taxonomies, bulk-index existing terms) and tune the boost strength via the slider on Search Configuration.

Cost note: each unique category or tag counts as one indexed item against your quota. A typical WooCommerce store has 50-500 unique terms, so the one-time cost is small. If you have an unusually large taxonomy (e.g., thousands of free-text tags), you can disable that specific taxonomy on the tab.

Yes. As of v1.25.0, AI Search exposes the following filters for developers:

• ai_search_embedding_content: Modify the text sent to the AI provider when generating embeddings. Useful for injecting taxonomy names, stripping boilerplate, or normalizing terminology.
• ai_search_should_generate_embedding: Return false to skip embedding generation for specific posts. Useful for excluding drafts in certain categories or low-content posts.
• ai_search_query_before_embedding: Rewrite the user’s search query before it’s embedded. Useful for synonym expansion, spell correction, or locale-specific normalization.
• ai_search_similarity_threshold: Override the similarity threshold per-query or per-post-type. Useful for stricter matching on products vs. looser on blog content.
• ai_search_results: Re-rank or filter the final search results. Useful for boosting in-stock products, hiding restricted content, or injecting pinned results.
• ai_search_term_embedding_content: (v1.26.0) Customize the text fed to the AI provider when embedding a taxonomy term. Useful for injecting parent-term names, synonym hints, or stripping boilerplate from term descriptions.
• ai_search_exact_matches: (v1.27.0) Add or remove post IDs pinned to the top of results as exact lexical matches (SKU / title) before AI ranking. Useful for EAN/GTIN, supplier references, or brand codes.

Plus the existing ai_search_searchable_post_types filter. Code examples are included in the inline PHPDoc above each filter in the plugin source.

Yes, WooCommerce is the primary use case. The plugin indexes product titles, short and long descriptions, SKUs, categories, tags, and product attributes. When you activate the plugin on a store with WooCommerce, the setup wizard automatically prioritizes products and pre-selects the most useful product fields.

Yes, and an exact or prefix SKU match is always returned first, regardless of the AI score. Random-looking codes like B08M5XDKFG carry no meaning for an AI model, so before the semantic step the plugin checks the query against product SKUs (including variation SKUs, which resolve to their parent product) and against exact product titles. Matches are pinned to the top with a green “Exact Match” badge for editors. Partial SKUs work when the query is a single token of 4+ characters (WOO-HOOD finds WOO-HOODIE, WOO-HOODIE-LOGO, …). SKUs are part of the indexed content too, so mixed queries (“black shoes SKU-2024”) still work.

Yes. Attributes like size, color, material, and any custom attributes you configure are indexed as part of the product’s searchable content. Shoppers can search by attribute values (“large cotton”) and the plugin will match products with those attributes.

The plugin indexes the parent product (including its attributes and description). Individual variation-level descriptions aren’t separately indexed, but since attributes like size and color are included in the parent, searches for variation-specific terms still surface the right product.

Nothing. Our free service covers up to 10,000 products per site, out of the box. Power users can also bring their own provider key for unlimited indexing.

The plugin logs the error and falls back to WordPress default search automatically, so users never hit a broken search page.

Automatically, when you publish a post, page, or custom post type. You can also reindex individual items from the post editor, or bulk-reindex the whole catalog from the Indexing tab.

No. Indexing runs in the background when content is published, not during searches. Search results stay fast because the hard work is pre-computed and stored in your database.

Up to 10,000 per site. For unlimited usage, you can bring your own provider key.

Yes! AI Search works with any public custom post type. You can select which post types to make searchable in the setup wizard or settings page.

Yes! You can configure custom post meta fields to be included in the search index. This is perfect for ACF fields, custom taxonomies, and other metadata.

The similarity threshold (0.1-1.0, displayed as 10%-100%) determines how closely search results must match the query. Higher values (70%-80%) give more precise results; lower values (30%-50%) return broader matches. The default is 30%, which is a good starting point for most sites, adjust down if users see too few results, adjust up if results feel loosely related.

AI Search has a smart 4-tier fallback system that ensures users always get results, falling back to WordPress default search if needed.

Yes. The Advanced tab (AI Search > Advanced) lets you switch from our free service to your own provider key for unlimited indexing.

Yes. Search queries are processed through the AI service to generate matches but are not stored externally. All search results and indexed data are stored in your WordPress database.