# FiboSearch: AJAX product search for WooCommerce

> FiboSearch (formerly AJAX Search for WooCommerce) is a WordPress plugin that adds a search bar with live suggestions to WooCommerce stores and shows the same results on the WooCommerce search results page. The Free version searches product titles, descriptions and SKUs with the native WooCommerce search and suggests products, categories and tags. FiboSearch Pro adds its own inverted index with a fast search endpoint, fuzzy search, synonyms, search in attributes, custom fields, variation SKUs and GTIN, exact SKU match, and brands, posts and pages in suggestions. Both versions include the details panel, the mobile search overlay and FiboSearch Analytics. The Free version is on WordPress.org (slug ajax-search-for-woocommerce, 100,000+ active installs); FiboSearch Pro is a separate plugin sold on fibosearch.com. Built by the same team as FiboFilters.

Documentation lives at https://fibosearch.com/documentation/ (144 articles in 8 categories, including one-click search bar replacement guides for 56 WooCommerce themes). FiboSearch 2.0, a rebuild of the search core (indexing reliability and diagnostics, relevance, merchant-oriented settings, actionable analytics), is in development with an early access program; search stays fast, deterministic and self-hosted.

## Product and pricing

- [Pricing](https://fibosearch.com/pricing/): Three FiboSearch Pro plans for 1, 3 or 25 sites with product limits per site, annual billing and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- [Pro vs Free comparison](https://fibosearch.com/pro-vs-free/): Feature-by-feature comparison of Free and Pro: search engine, search sources, appearance, suggestion types, integrations and support.
- [Showcase](https://fibosearch.com/showcase/): Animated examples of FiboSearch Pro in action in online shops, followed by customer reviews.
- [FAQ](https://fibosearch.com/faq/): Pre-sale questions: what Free and Pro do, search speed, self-hosting, embedding in themes, payments, refunds, license use and renewals.
- [Changelog](https://fibosearch.com/changelog/): Release history of FiboSearch Pro with dates and changes; the Free changelog is on WordPress.org.
- [Documentation](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/): Documentation home with 8 categories: get started, themes and plugins integrations, features, tips and tricks, pricing and license, troubleshooting, developers.
- [Contact](https://fibosearch.com/contact/): Contact form for pre-sale questions, technical support, feature requests, bug reports and refund requests.
- [About us](https://fibosearch.com/about-us/): Why FiboSearch was built, the mission and vision for WooCommerce search and filtering, the team and company values.

## Features

- [Search engine](https://fibosearch.com/feature/search-engine/): Search sources in Free (title, descriptions, SKU) and Pro (attributes, categories, tags, brands, custom fields), fuzzy search, synonyms and product exclusion filters.
- [Details panel](https://fibosearch.com/feature/details-panel/): Panel shown on hover over a suggestion (desktop only) with a larger image, price, SKU, stock status, description and an add to cart button.
- [Unbelievably fast](https://fibosearch.com/feature/unbelievably-fast/): Why FiboSearch Pro is fast: inverted index and a lightweight search endpoint, search response under 0.2 seconds with 500 or 50,000 products.
- [Mobile friendly](https://fibosearch.com/feature/mobile-friendly/): Responsive suggestions, full-screen search overlay on mobile (on by default), mobile keyboard support and an icon-only search bar for small screens.
- [Design](https://fibosearch.com/feature/design/): What suggestions can show: product image, price, SKU and description, grouped by type (products, categories, tags, brands, posts, pages), plus the details panel.

## Get started

- [How to add FiboSearch to your website?](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/get-started/how-to-add-fibosearch-to-your-website/): There are 6 ways to add FiboSearch to your website.
- [Customize search appearance](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/get-started/customize-search-appearance/): You can manage colors via the plugins settings page. Go to WooCommerce -> FiboSearch and make sure you have enabled advanced settings.
- [Using a \[fibosearch\] shortcode](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/get-started/using-a-fibosearch-shortcode/): The [fibosearch] shortcode accepts a handful of parameters that change the appearance of the search bar.
- [Full Site Editing (FSE)](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/get-started/full-site-editing-fse/): Two blocks integrate FiboSearch with Full Site Editing: the FiboSearch Navigation Item block for the Navigation block in headers and the FiboSearch block.
- [“My Account” Area](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/get-started/my-account-area/): Once you’ve purchased the Pro version of the plugin, you will be assigned an account, which you can log into at any time. You can log into your account by going to the Account page.

## How features work

- [Fuzzy search](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/fuzzy-search/): FiboSearch Pro uses fuzzy search to find matching products, even if the user makes a typo, eg. types ‘iphome’ instead of ‘iphone’. Learn what “fuzzy search” means and it will help you with your sales.
- [Search in custom fields](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/search-in-custom-fields/): What’s the use of searching in custom fields? More often than not it is important to allow your clients to search according to additional data you’ve added to your products.
- [Search bar layout](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/search-bar-layout/): FiboSearch allows you to choose from four search bar layouts. To select a layout for your search bar, navigate to WooCommerce → FiboSearch → Search bar in your dashboard.
- [Overlay on mobile](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/overlay-on-mobile/): What the mobile overlay is, why it helps on small screens and how it looks in the Pirx (default) and Solaris layouts.
- [Displaying more than just products on the WooCommerce search results page](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/displaying-more-than-just-products-on-the-woocommerce-search-results-page/): If users submit Fibo’s search form, they will be redirected to the WooCommerce search results page.
- [Exclude/include groups of products from search results](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/exclude-include/): To use this feature, go to WooCommerce → FiboSearch → Search config and scroll down to the “Exclude/include products” section. Exclude Use it every time you don’t want products to be searchable.
- [Synonyms](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/synonyms/): Learn how to handle synonyms – related issues that prevent your customers from getting relevant search results.
- [Search by exact SKU](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/search-by-exact-sku/): Available since FiboSearch 1.31.0. FiboSearch now supports narrowing down search results to products with an exact SKU match.
- [Searching by GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/searching-by-gtin-upc-ean-or-isbn/): WooCommerce now supports a unique identifier called “GTIN, UPC, EAN, or ISBN” which is stored as _global_unique_id in the wp_postmeta table of the database.
- [Searching for custom post types](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/searching-for-custom-post-types/): Starting with version 1.30.0, FiboSearch now supports displaying custom post types (CPTs) in search results.
- [FiboSearch Analytics](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/fibosearch-analytics/): FiboSearch Analytics – Our custom built analytical tool.
- [Index scheduling](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/index-scheduling/): One advantage of using FiboSearch Pro is that it allows you to build a custom index. This is the main reason why our search engine stands out from the competition in terms of search speed.

## Troubleshooting

- [The search results page created in Elementor doesn’t display products](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/troubleshooting/the-search-results-page-created-in-elementor-doesnt-display-products/): One common mistake might occur while creating a search results page in Elementor – picking the wrong page template.
- [The search index could not be built](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/troubleshooting/the-search-index-could-not-be-built/): About 2% of FiboSearch Pro users experience issues with index building. The main reasons are server limitations or blocked HTTP requests. Most of these cases are easy to fix.
- [The search endpoint URL is blocked](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/troubleshooting/the-search-endpoint-url-is-blocked/): FiboSearch Pro uses a custom AJAX endpoint URL for search requests; some security plugins and firewalls block it, and the article shows how to unblock it.
- [Search bar is not responding](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/troubleshooting/search-bar-is-not-responding/): On rare occasions the search doesn’t work properly — customers type in a query and the results are not presented.
- [Known conflicts with security plugins](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/troubleshooting/known-conflicts-with-security-plugins/): Known conflicts with popular security plugins, for example the iThemes Security option Disable PHP in Plugins, which blocks all AJAX calls, with the fix for each.
- [Debugging FiboSearch](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/troubleshooting/debugging-fibosearch/): FiboSearch provides built-in debugging mechanisms that allow you to identify and isolate issues related to the plugin, without deactivating it.

## Tips and tricks

- [How to change the order of search results?](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/how-to-change-the-order-of-search-results/): FiboSearch calculates a score for every relevant product. The higher the score, the higher the product will be in the search results. How does FiboSearch calculate the score?
- [How to change the magnifier icon?](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/how-to-change-the-magnifier-icon/): The search icon may appear in three places depending on the settings (inside the input, inside the submit button or as the search bar trigger); the article shows how to replace it.
- [Custom sorting on the search results page](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/sorting-on-the-search-resutls-page/): WooCommerce sorts search results by its default criteria; when a plugin or your business rules add a custom sorting option, FiboSearch Pro needs a snippet to recognise it.
- [How to display extra text in search suggestions?](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/how-to-display-extra-text-in-search-suggestions/): You can display a few things in a search suggestion: the product name, image, SKU, a short description, and the price. Sometimes it’s not enough.
- [How to change the number of products on the search results page?](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/how-to-change-the-number-of-products-on-the-search-results-page/): FiboSearch does not set the number of products displayed on the WooCommerce search results page. This can probably be changed in your WordPress dashboard.
- [How to search for brands?](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/how-to-search-for-brands/): Don’t read this if you use one of the supported brand plugins! At the very beginning, consider whether you handle brands in your WooCommerce via a plugin or you have a custom solution.
- [How to search for products by custom taxonomy?](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/how-to-search-by-custom-taxonomy/): The following example is taken from our mockup store, The Bookstore Online. book_author is a custom taxonomy.
- [Adding non-standard data to the search index](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/adding-non-standard-data-to-the-search-index/): FiboSearch is a powerful and highly customizable search solution for WooCommerce, enabling users to search for products by a variety of data such as descriptions, tags, categories, SKUs, and more.

## Developers

- [Indexing](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/developers/indexing/): FiboSearch plugin has its own independent search index. The index is built automatically after the first plugin installation, every plugin update and after changing some settings.
- [Understanding search templating in WordPress and WooCommerce](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/developers/understanding-search-templating-in-wordpress-and-woocommerce/): There are 3 different URL structures that load the search results page template. WordPress default search – Displays all Post Types including Products.
- [JavaScript events](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/developers/javascript-events/): You have the opportunity to listen to FiboSearch JS events and make the most of them.
- [Granting access for the Shop Manager role](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/developers/granting-access-for-the-shop-manager-role/): For a user to be able to manage FiboSearch settings, they have to be assigned the manage_options value. By default, only site admins were able to manage FiboSearch.

## Integrations, license and the rest of the documentation

- [Compatible filters plugins](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/plugins-integrations/compatible-filter-plugins/): The WooCommerce market includes dozens of filter plugins. A lot of them don’t work well together with search plugins. The conflict area is usually the WooCommerce search results page.
- [Multilingual plugins](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/plugins-integrations/multilingual-plugins/): FiboSearch is integrated with popular WordPress multilingual plugins. We are considering adding new plugins in the future.
- [Search in single variations](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/plugins-integrations/search-in-single-variations/): FiboSearch in the pro version supports search in product variations.
- [How to upgrade the plan?](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/pricing-license/how-to-upgrade-the-plan/): There are two ways to upgrade the plan: directly via the checkout on the pricing page or in your account area.
- [License utilization](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/pricing-license/license-utilization/): You can use one license for live, staging, dev and localhost sites if the domain name is clearly a dev or staging domain; the article lists the criteria.
- [Themes integrations (56 articles)](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/themes-integrations/): One-click search bar replacement guides for 56 WooCommerce themes (WoodMart, Flatsome, Astra, Divi and others).
- [Plugins integrations](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/plugins-integrations/): Compatible brands and filter plugins, multilingual plugins, single variations, GTIN, product tabs and product specifications plugins.
- [Features](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/features/): All 18 feature articles.
- [Tips and tricks](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/tips-tricks/): 29 how-to articles with code snippets: result order, labels, limits, exclusions, custom taxonomies and search results page tweaks.
- [Troubleshooting](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/troubleshooting/): All 18 troubleshooting articles: index build, blocked endpoint, security plugins, page builders, prices, license.
- [Pricing and license](https://fibosearch.com/documentation/pricing-license/): Invoices, plan upgrades, license e-mail, reactivating a subscription and license utilization.

## Optional

- [Sitemap index](https://fibosearch.com/sitemap_index.xml): XML sitemaps for posts, pages, documentation articles and categories, feature pages and authors.
- [FiboSearch on WordPress.org](https://wordpress.org/plugins/ajax-search-for-woocommerce/): The Free version (100,000+ active installs), user reviews and the support forum.
- [FiboSearch 2.0 is on the way: what we’re rebuilding and why](https://fibosearch.com/fibosearch-2-0-is-on-the-way/): FiboSearch 2.0 is not just a UI refresh, but a rebuild of the foundations that make WooCommerce search more reliable, easier to tune, and ready for the next stage of product discovery.
- [Blog](https://fibosearch.com/blog/): Articles in the categories Optimization, Product (release notes) and Integrations.
- [FiboFilters](https://fibofilters.com/): WooCommerce product filters plugin from the same team; the filter plugin FiboSearch recommends first, with a built-in integration.
- [Terms and conditions](https://fibosearch.com/terms-conditions/): Terms of sale: annual subscriptions, GPL license of the Pro plugin, one license for production and staging, 30-day refund policy.
- [Privacy policy](https://fibosearch.com/privacy-policy/): How the fibosearch.com website processes personal data: forms, purchases, server logs, cookies and your GDPR rights.