How to make WordPress Portfolio Grid Gallery searchable for the WordPress search function

Product:

WonderPlugin Portfolio Grid Gallery

Tutorial:

The default WordPress search function does not search the final webpages and only searches in the WordPress database. It also does not search the shortcode content. Due to these limitations, the default search function can't find the images and videos added to the grid gallery.

This tutorial will guide you how to make the gallery searchable by using the free plugin Relevanssi – A Better Search .

Please note, the limit of the default WordPress search does not affect Google indexing. It's because Google indexes the final webpages so it doesn't have this problem.

Step 1 - Prepare the gallery and make it compatible with the search plugin Relevanssi

In WonderPlugin Portfolio Grid Gallery, edit the gallery, in step 4 Options tab, Text Options, select the option Text Overlay -> Use the following template for text overlay content.

The plugin Relevanssi does not index image filenames, so in the plugin, step 1, make sure you have entered title or description text for the image or video. The search function will index the text and use it to find the gallery webpage.

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Step 2 - Install the search plugin Relevanssi and build the index

In your WordPress backend, goto left menu Plugins -> Add Plugin, search Relevanssi, then install and activate the plugin Relevanssi – A Better Search .

After the plugin has been activated, goto the left menu Settings -> Relevanssi, click the tab Indexing and click the "Build the index" button.

After the building is done, you can test the WordPress search function.

Please note, whenever you make changes to the gallery or your page/post content, you need to build the index again, otherwise the change will not be shown in the search result.

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