Title: Problem with WordPress Search
Last modified: August 31, 2016
---
# Problem with WordPress Search
* [kcox117](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kcox117/)
* (@kcox117)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/)
* Hello,
* I’m having problems with the native search on my wordpress site. I followed all
the instructions on this page…
* [https://codex.wordpress.org/Creating_a_Search_Page](https://codex.wordpress.org/Creating_a_Search_Page)
* … and I set up a search page using a search page template. For now this is just
a blank page with URL /search with the search box on it.
* However, when I type a keyword into the search box, such as “irrigation” (which
should bring up tons of results on my website), and click the search button,
it brings me to the **/?s=irrigation** results page successfully, but it doesn’t
display the actual results – only grey dotted lines. When I inspect element on
the page, I can see that these dotted lines are just CSS borders for what should
be the results themselves, and I can see the individual divs for the specific
search results in the code, but they’re just empty – as shown:
* ```
```
* The system knows how many and which exact products/pages/etc should be returned
in search results, but it doesn’t display the actual content.
* Any idea on what could be causing this problem?
* Thanks!
Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
* Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
* (@sterndata)
* Volunteer Forum Moderator
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453296)
* pastebin the code for your custom search page (search.php) if you created a custom
search results page.
* Use pastebin.com or wpbin.io.
* [cedcommerce](https://wordpress.org/support/users/cedcommerce/)
* (@cedcommerce)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453362)
* Hie kcox117,
* The problem seems like to be in your search.php file.
In your active theme,
please make a file named “search.php” and just write the following code :
* ```
if(have_posts())
{
while (have_posts())
{
the_post();
the_title();
the_excerpt();
}
}
else
{
echo “No Search Results To Show”;
}
```
* Hope this will work.
Once you got the core result, page can be designed accordingly.
* [AjitKhodke](https://wordpress.org/support/users/ajitkhodke/)
* (@ajitkhodke)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453371)
* Maybe something in the functions.php filtering/excluding from queries?
* Thread Starter [kcox117](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kcox117/)
* (@kcox117)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453403)
* I will be posting that code shortly, but I just wanted to let you know I tried
cedcommerce’s code. I created a search.php file in my active theme folder with
that code pasted in between tags, and when I search, I’m getting a
PHP error, just a white screen.
* Thread Starter [kcox117](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kcox117/)
* (@kcox117)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453410)
* Based on the instructions for “Creating a Search Page” (link in parent post),
I created a Custom Search Template and called it **searchpage.php** that has
the following code:
* [http://pastebin.com/7ZFt4Hxd](http://pastebin.com/7ZFt4Hxd)
* And I created a page in wordpress with url **/search** that uses that search
template. When I go to **/search** in the browser, I see a blank page with the
search box on it, which is good, but when I try to search, it takes me to a **/?
s=(keyword)** page with the proper amount of returned search results, but the
results themselves are not displayed, just dotted borders. When I firebug the
page I see that the Divs are all empty.
* My theme folder does not have a **search.php** file in it. When I create one
and use the code from cedcommerce in conjunction with my search template, the**/?
s=(keyword)** page instead shows just a blank white screen, indicating some sort
of php error, I believe.
* Also, per AjitKhodke’s suggestion, i tried deleting all my custom functions,
then i retried it, and the same result – all divs still empty.
* Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
* (@sterndata)
* Volunteer Forum Moderator
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453412)
* what is it you’re trying to accomplish? If you just want to format the search
results, create / edit the search.php from your theme. You said your theme does
not have a search.php file. What theme are you using?
* Thread Starter [kcox117](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kcox117/)
* (@kcox117)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453414)
* What I’m trying to do is set up a standalone search page on my website – basically
a page with a search box on it. When the user executes a search, it takes them
to a page showing all the search results. Let me know if I need to further clarify.
I’m using an older theme called “thesis_18”
* Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
* (@sterndata)
* Volunteer Forum Moderator
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453416)
* OMG — thesis 1.8.6 is several years old and only barely works with the current
version of WordPress and is not mobile friendly. You should make a new theme
for your site. Seriously, stop what you’re doing and consider that direction.
* Thread Starter [kcox117](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kcox117/)
* (@kcox117)
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453418)
* Sterndata, I do realize it’s a really old theme, problem is though that it is
extremely customized with all of our own pages, the theme serves more of just
a framework than anything. How difficult is it to change a theme and still maintain
all our custom designs? Our website is a woocommerce store that handles several
transactions every day.
* Moderator [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
* (@sterndata)
* Volunteer Forum Moderator
* [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453419)
* You should invest in a new theme.
Viewing 10 replies - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
The topic ‘Problem with WordPress Search’ is closed to new replies.
* In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
* 10 replies
* 4 participants
* Last reply from: [Steven Stern (sterndata)](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sterndata/)
* Last activity: [9 years, 11 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/problem-with-wordpress-search/#post-7453419)
* Status: not resolved
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