Do you want to change the default search URL slug in WordPress? By default, WordPress search URLs are not user friendly. In this article, we will show you how to easily change the default search url slug in WordPress and make it more SEO and user friendly.
Why Change Default Search URL Slug in WordPress
WordPress uses SEO friendly URL structure for all pages on your website. Typical SEO friendly WordPress URLs look like this:
http://example.com/some-page/
http://example.com/2018/03/some-article/
http://example.com/category/some-category/
As you can see, these URLs are quite easy to understand for users as well as search engines.
However, WordPress still uses non-friendly URL for search results page. A typical search URL in WordPress looks like this:
http://example.com/?s=search-term
This URL structure doesn’t match the rest of your website URLs. While some WordPress search plugins improve the search results, most don’t do anything about the search URL itself.
What if you can make your search URL look like:
http://example.com/search/your-search-term/
Let’s take a look at how to make the WordPress search page URL slug more SEO friendly.
Video Tutorial
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Changing Search Page URL Slug in WordPress
For this tutorial you will need to edit your WordPress theme files. If you haven’t done this before, then please take a look at our guide on how to copy and paste code in WordPress.
Method 1. Change WordPress Search URL Slug via Functions File
This method is easier and recommended for most users.
First, you need to copy and paste the following code in your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin:
function wpb_change_search_url() {
if ( is_search() && ! empty( $_GET['s'] ) ) {
wp_redirect( home_url( "/search/" ) . urlencode( get_query_var( 's' ) ) );
exit();
}
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'wpb_change_search_url' );
Don’t forget to save your changes.
You can now go to your website and try using the search feature. You will notice that the search URL looks like this:
http://example.com/search/your-search-query/
Method 2. Change Search URL Slug via htaccess File
The .htaccess file is often used to set up redirects and other website configuration tasks. You can also use it to change the default search URL slug in WordPress.
Your .htaccess file is located in your website’s root folder, and you will need to use FTP or File Manager app in cPanel to edit it. Refer to this guide, if you can’t find the .htaccess file.
In your .htaccess file, you need to paste the following code at the bottom:
# Change WordPress search URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \\?s=([^&]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^$ /search/%1/? [NC,R,L]
Don’t forget to save your changes and upload the .htaccess file back to the server.
You can now go to your website and use the search feature. You will notice the search URL will now look like this:
http://example.com/search/your-search-query/
We hope this article helped you change the default search URL slug in WordPress. You may also want to see our list of 55+ most wanted WordPress tips, tricks, and hacks.
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Kedar Bhogle says
Thank you Respected Sir/Madam,
I am looking for such code because I want to use theme default theme’s search box using “Google Custom Search Engine” for extra revenue. Finally I have done using this code (all credit goes to you Sir / Madam). I have basis knowledge about html ( I don’t learn @ any institution, I learned online….. Let’s go),
Very Very Thanks again…..
WPBeginner Support says
Glad our guide could help
Admin
mostafa elaissaoui says
thank you
this is helpful
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome
Admin
Josh says
Is there a way to change /search/ to /somethingelse/
WPBeginner Support says
You would use the first method and replace the word search with the word you wanted
Admin
Josh says
Works great. Any idea why this might leave off closing / as in url.com/search/search-term instead of /search-term/
WPBeginner Support says
For the first method, depending on your permalinks it may not automatically add a trailing slash, if you wanted one you would need to add the trailing slash to the wp_redirect function or modify your permalink settings.
Admin
Carlos says
Method 1 doesn’t work if I change “/search/” for another term. I triead “/busca/” that means search in portuguese…
Richard Talbot says
Carlos is right. Same goes for method 2 (htacess method. The only word it will work for is “search”. If you try any other word like “result”, “busca”, “whatever”, etc, then you get a 404.
Very confusing as to why it only works for the word “search”.
WPBeginner Support says
You may want to ensure you cleared your caching if you’ve edited the code from the article for a word other than search for one possible reason.
Admin
Allewar says
These methods alone won’t work, they only make the «pretty» slug, but the keyword you need to change is the WP rewrite rule for the query.
You can use this code in your theme’s functions.hp to use any word you want (also includes the rule for the ‘page’ slug):
function re_rewrite_rules() {
global $wp_rewrite;
$wp_rewrite->search_base = ‘buscar’;
$wp_rewrite->pagination_base = ‘pagina’;
$wp_rewrite->flush_rules();
}
add_action(‘init’, ‘re_rewrite_rules’);
Cristina says
I’ve used the .htaccess metod and it works. Ths a lot!
Joseph says
Do you meant that the search result page can be indexed by search engine?
However, the content in the search result page is a kind of duplicate content as what we can find in the archieve, category or tag pages.
PS. I am not an expert in SEO and might have wrong concept.
Linas says
Thank You! Works great. Used 1st method with functions.php