WordPress.org

Author: Bennett McElwee

If you have a Search box on your blog, Search Meter automatically records what people are searching for -- and whether they are finding what they are looking for. Search Meter's admin interface shows you what people have been searching for in the last couple of days, and in the last week or month. It also shows you which searches have been unsuccessful. If people search your blog and get no results, they'll probably go elsewhere. With Search Meter, you'll be able to find out what people are searching for, and give them what they want by creating new posts on those topics.

You can also show your readers what the most popular searches are. The Popular Searches widget displays a configurable list of recent popular successful search terms on your blog, with each term hyperlinked to the actual search results. There's also a Recent Searches widget, which simply displays the most recent searches. If you are happy to edit your theme, both of these functions are also available as template tags.

Search Meter installs easily and requires no configuration. Just install it, activate it, and it starts tracking your visitors' searches.

View Statistics

To see your search statistics, Log in to WordPress Admin, go to the Dashboard section and click Search Meter. You'll see the most popular searches in the last day, week and month. Click "Last 100 Searches" or "Last 500 Searches" to see lists of all recent searches.

Manage Statistics

There are a couple of management option available if you go to the Settings section and click Search Meter. Use the Reset Statistics button to clear all past search statistics; Search Meter will immediately start gathering fresh statistics. If you're technically-minded, you might want to check the "Keep detailed information" checkbox to make Search Meter save technical information about every search (the information is taken from the HTTP headers).