SearchWP Custom Results Order is a feature in the SearchWP plugin for WordPress that allows you to control and customize the order in which search results are displayed. By default, WordPress search results are shown in a chronological or default order, but with SearchWP Custom Results Order, you can fine-tune how search results appear based on your specific needs, such as prioritizing certain content, products, or categories. Here’s how SearchWP Custom Results Order can be useful and how it typically works:

Key Features of SearchWP Custom Results Order:

1. Prioritize Content Types:
   • You can assign different "weights" to different content types (e.g., posts, pages, WooCommerce products, custom post types). This allows you to prioritize certain content types in search results.
   • For example, you might want blog posts to appear before pages or product listings to appear at the top of the results for an eCommerce site.
2. Custom Ranking Based on Attributes:
   • SearchWP allows you to set ranking criteria based on various attributes such as titles, tags, categories, custom fields, and more.
   • This feature enables you to ensure that certain keywords or content attributes (like specific product attributes) are given higher priority in the results.
3. Advanced Weighting:
   • You can assign "weights" to different elements of your content, including titles, content body, custom fields, product descriptions, etc. The more weight you assign to a specific element, the more likely it will appear higher in search results if that element matches the user’s query.
   • For example, you might give a higher weight to product titles for an eCommerce store to ensure relevant products appear at the top of search results.
4. Custom Search Queries:
   • Using SearchWP's advanced search options, you can create custom queries to change how search results are ordered. This can include filtering results by date, relevance, or any other parameter that fits your site’s needs.
   • You can also define specific rules for what gets displayed at the top of search results (e.g., posts with specific tags or categories).
5. Relevance Boosting:
   • You can boost the relevance of search results by adjusting how content matches the search query. For example, if a user searches for a specific keyword, you can boost results that have a higher concentration of that keyword.
   • This is particularly useful for eCommerce stores where you might want products with specific tags or keywords to rank higher in search results.
6. Manual Sorting Options:
   • For some implementations, you might want to manually adjust the order of specific results. SearchWP allows you to reorder results using custom queries or through manual sorting in certain configurations.
7. Integration with WooCommerce:
   • For WooCommerce stores, you can control the display of product search results based on factors like price, availability, or sales data. For example, you could set products in a specific category to be ranked higher or prioritize products that are in stock over those that are out of stock.

Benefits of Using Custom Results Order:

• Enhanced User Experience: By customizing search results, you ensure that users see the most relevant content first. This can improve their experience by saving time and guiding them directly to the products or content they’re looking for.
• Improved SEO: By tweaking search result priorities, you can optimize which content is linked and displayed most often, helping internal linking and boosting the SEO value of key pages or posts.
• Increased Conversions: For eCommerce sites, ensuring that the most relevant or profitable products are shown first can lead to more sales. For blogs, ensuring that the most popular or most recent content appears can increase engagement and interaction.

Example Use Cases:

• E-commerce: You could configure the search to prioritize products that are on sale, in stock, or have a higher customer rating.
• Blogging: For a blog, you could prioritize showing posts with certain tags, categories, or the ones with higher engagement metrics (e.g., more comments or social shares).
• Custom Content: If you use custom post types (e.g., events, portfolios), you can rank those types based on custom fields like date, location, or other factors.

How to Set Up Custom Results Order:

1. Install and Configure SearchWP:
   • First, make sure you have the SearchWP plugin installed and activated on your WordPress site.
2. Adjust Search Settings:
   • Navigate to the SearchWP settings page and click on the “Weights” tab to configure the priority of different content types and fields.
   • Adjust the weight for each content type (posts, pages, WooCommerce products, etc.) based on your needs.
3. Fine-Tune Content Weighting:
   • Within the SearchWP dashboard, you can assign weights to specific aspects of your content (title, body, tags, categories, custom fields). This is where you can decide what should appear first in search results.
4. Test and Monitor:
   • Once you've configured the search results order, you should test your site’s search functionality to see how the results display.
   • Make any necessary adjustments to further refine the results based on how your users interact with the search.

In summary, SearchWP Custom Results Order provides you with powerful control over how your content is ranked in search results, helping you ensure that the most relevant, valuable, or popular items appear first. This leads to a more user-friendly and optimized search experience, increasing engagement, satisfaction, and conversions on your site.