Search

Live search

Customize → Misc → Enable live search, on by default. It suggests matching post titles under the search field as the reader types, so a search can be finished from the suggestions without loading a results page.

Switching it off leaves the search field working exactly as WordPress’s own — it submits, and the results page answers.

Exclude pages from search results

Customize → Misc → Exclude pages from search results, on by default. Search returns posts only, leaving out pages such as About or Contact. On a blog that is usually what the reader wants; on a site with real content sitting in pages, turn it off.

Notes and projects in results

Each content type carries its own switch, and they are set differently out of the box:

• Notes are in the results by default — see Exclude notes from search results.
• Projects are out of the results by default — see Exclude projects from search results.

Both switches cover the live-search suggestions as well as the results page, so the two never disagree about what the site contains.

None of these settings affect Google or any other external search engine. They only shape this site’s own search.

A search page

Setup creates a page called Search holding the core search block, and deliberately leaves it out of the primary menu — a search page belongs in a footer menu or a widget rather than in a five-item nav.

You do not need that page for search to work; WordPress answers ?s= on its own either way. It is there so you have somewhere to link to.