Search Analytics for WP - Site Search Tracking

Yes. WooCommerce's product search box opens the normal search results page, so each product search is recorded with the number of products it found, just like a blog search. A live search that only shows results in a dropdown needs a line of code (see "Why aren't some searches being recorded?" below).

On the Search Analytics page, click "Only Without Results" and pick a time range. Then sort by "No. of Searches" to put the most common dead ends first.

Yes. In the settings, choose the roles to ignore under "Ignore search queries for these user roles", for example Administrator and Editor. To keep ignoring those users after they log out, also tick "Ignore search queries for the above user roles even after the user has logged out". This sets a cookie in their browser when they log in. You can list IP addresses to ignore too, like your office's.

The plugin records searches that load your site's search results page (the ?s= address). If one is missing, check these:

• Ignored roles, IP addresses, the minimum length, blocked words and the repeat-search interval all skip searches on purpose. If your own role is ignored, test in a private browser window.
• Opening page 2 of the results or the search feed doesn't count as a new search.
• If your search form uses its own URL parameter instead of s, add it under "Add custom search parameters for recording the searches".
• A live search that shows results without loading the search results page has to record its searches itself. Call this from the code that handles it, once per finished search rather than on every keystroke:

Only searches do any work. Each search is saved with a few small database queries. Other pages only check whether they are a search, and the plugin loads no scripts or styles on the front end. With "Save Search Country" on, the first search from a new IP address waits for the country lookup, which gives up after 2 seconds. The result is then cached for a day. The history table grows with every search and nothing is deleted automatically. To trim it, use "Delete data older than" in the Erase History section of the settings.

Here is everything it keeps and shares, so you can check it against the GDPR or your local rules:

• Each search is saved with the term, the date and time, and the number of results. IP addresses are not saved.
• Search terms are whatever visitors type, which now and then includes a name or an email address. You can delete any term from the statistics page.
• "Save Search Country" (off by default) adds the visitor's country. To find it, the visitor's IP address is sent to ip-api.com or ip2c.org (see External services), and the country is cached for a day under a hash of the IP address.
• "Save Search By User" (off by default) links logged-in users' searches to their accounts.
• A cookie is only set if you use the repeat-search interval or the "even after the user has logged out" option. It holds the IDs of recently searched terms and when they were searched, or a flag that the user's role is ignored.
• You can erase all data, or everything older than a number of days, from the settings at any time.

Yes. The "Export Data" button on the statistics page downloads what you're looking at as a CSV file, with the same time range, filters and grouping.

Yes, with two shortcodes:

• [mwtsa_display_search_stats] lists the most searched terms, plus the visitor's own recent searches if they're logged in and "Save Search By User" is on.
• [mwtsa_display_latest_searches] lists the most recent search terms.

No. Deactivating the plugin always keeps the search history. To remove it, check "Delete all search data and settings when the plugin is deleted" on the plugin's settings page, then delete the plugin from the Plugins screen. On multisite, each site's data is only removed if that site has the setting checked.

You can use the Support Forum or open new issues on the GitHub repository: Search Analytics for WP.

Please report security bugs found in the source code of the Search Analytics for WP plugin through the Patchstack Vulnerability Disclosure Program. The Patchstack team will assist you with verification, CVE assignment, and notify me, the developer of Search Analytics for WP.