Using the default WordPress search widget
The most convenient way to add a WordPress search to your website is to do it right from your Dashboard.
WordPress comes with an in house search widget, which is fairly simple to set up.
All it takes is 4 steps:
Step 1: Go to the Widgets tab
From the Admin Dashboard go to Appearance -> Widgets.
Here you’ll see a list of available widgets that you can add to your website.
Step 2: Add the search widget
Once you locate the search widget, simply drag and drop it in the section you where you want it displayed.
Step 3: Add a search title
Next, you add a title for the search form.
You can change the title of the search bar to say something fun or something more relevant to your website like ‘Search the blog’ or ‘Find other recipes’.
Then you click on save and voila! You have a search bar.
Step 4: Customization
The appearance of the search widget is conformed to the theme you’re currently using. And there’s not much you can do about that unless you want to get into changing the CSS.
You can get more out of your search bari.e Enhancing the Default Search with WordPress plugins . There are a few WordPress plugins you can use to easily add more functionalities to your default search. It’ll help you offer a more advanced search on your website with features like:
1. Highlighting search terms:
You can use the free plugin Highlight Search Terms to draw attention to words that the user has searched for. This helps the user easily make a decision about whether that search result is relevant to him.
2. Live search:
SearchWP Live Ajax Search helps you display live search results as the user types. Compatible with any WordPress theme, it works seamlessly for your website.
You can check here for the pros & cons associated with the above two methods : https://epitrove.com/add-search-bar-to-wordpress/
