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Free Plugin by bennettmcelwee v2.14.1

Search Meter

Search Meter tracks what your readers are searching for on your site. View full details of recent searches or stats for the last day, week or month.

Search Meter

The facts

Rating
4.3★ from 29
Active installs
20k+
Price
Free
Last updated
3 Dec 2025
Added
Jun 2008
Requires WP
3.2
Tested up to
WP 6.9.7
Downloads
434,964

Our analysis

AI-assisted

Search Meter is a WordPress plugin that tracks what users are searching for on your site and whether they find relevant results. It provides an admin interface to view search statistics over various time periods, including popular and unsuccessful searches. This information can help you create content that meets user needs and improve site engagement.

The plugin is easy to install and requires no configuration. It includes features such as displaying popular searches and recent searches as blocks or widgets. Users can also manage visibility settings for search statistics and filter out specific search terms.

Best for: This plugin suits website owners who want to understand user search behaviour and improve content accordingly.

What it does well

  • Automatically records user search queries
  • Displays popular and recent searches
  • Easy installation with no configuration needed
  • Allows downloading of search statistics
  • Configurable visibility settings for statistics

Where it falls short

  • Limited information on advanced features
  • No mention of support or documentation

Verdict

Search Meter provides useful insights into user searches on your site, helping to enhance content relevance. However, details on support and advanced features are lacking.

From the developer

bennettmcelwee's own description of Search Meter, lightly tidied.

If you have a Search box on your site, 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 site 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. Customize your theme and add the Popular Searches block, which displays a configurable list of recent popular successful search terms on your site, with each term hyperlinked to the actual search results. You can also add a Recent Searches block, which simply displays the most recent searches. Both blocks are also available as widgets for older WordPress installations. And if you want 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. On your dashboard you will see a Search Meter widget listing search statistics from the last seven days. For more details, go to the Dashboard menu on the left 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. You can download the statistics as a file that you can open in Excel or a similar program.

Manage Statistics

There are a few options available if you go to the Settings section and click Search Meter. Use the radio buttons to determine who will be allowed to see the full search statistics. You can also type in a list of filter words; any search terms containing these words will not show up in the Recent Searches and Popular Searches blocks.

Advanced users: You can check the “Ignore” box to tell Search Meter to ignore searches made by logged-in administrators, so you can test things without cluttering your search statistics. You can also check the “Keep detailed information” checkbox to make Search Meter save technical information about every search (the information is taken from the HTTP headers).

Use the Reset Statistics button to clear all past search statistics; Search Meter will immediately start gathering fresh statistics.

Read the full description on the official page →

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