WooCommerce Overview

CelerSearch provides deep integration with WooCommerce for fast, powerful product search and shop experiences.

Features

FeatureDescription
Product SearchInstant, typo-tolerant product search
Shop FiltersAJAX-powered faceted filtering
Admin OrdersFast order search in WooCommerce admin
Variable ProductsVariations embedded in the parent product document (prices, stock, attributes)

Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • WooCommerce installed and active
  • CelerSearch installed and connected to Meilisearch
  • Products in your store

Quick Setup

  1. Create a Products Index — CelerSearch → Indices → Add Index → WooCommerce Products. Configure the options and save.
  2. Rebuild the index from the Indices table. Watch progress in the rebuild modal.
  3. Add search areas in CelerSearch → Settings:
    • WooCommerce Product Search — powers the product search widget / block (enable Autocomplete for type-ahead).
    • WooCommerce Shop Browse — powers shop, category, tag, and attribute archives. Enable the Shop Filters feature (pick drawer or inline) and optionally the Search Field feature for a keyword input in the filter toolbar.
    • WooCommerce Admin Orders Search (optional) — replaces the orders list search inside wp-admin.
  4. Flip the master Enable CelerSearch switch and visit your shop. Filters appear above the product loop, autocomplete fires as you type.

Products Index Setup

The products index automatically shapes each product into a rich document — title, description, short description, SKU, prices (with formatted variants), all taxonomies (categories, tags, pa_* attribute taxonomies), a top-level attributes map, stock, ratings, sales, images, and embedded variations for variable products. See Product Indexing for the full document shape.

Out of the box the index defaults cover typical shop needs:

  • Searchable: post_title, sku, short_description, taxonomies, content
  • Filterable: taxonomies, taxonomies_hierarchical, price, sale_price, in_stock, ratings.average_rating, catalog_visibility, status, and more
  • Sortable: post_date, price, total_sales, ratings.average_rating, post_title

Adjust any of these from the Index Settings UI (click the index name) or via celersearch_products_index_settings. You can also enable AI Semantic Search per index for meaning-aware product discovery.

Integration Points

Product Search Widget

Replace the WooCommerce product search widget with instant search:

  1. Widget continues to work as normal
  2. Results come from Meilisearch
  3. Supports instant search-as-you-type

Search Results Page

The WooCommerce search results page (/?s=query&post_type=product) uses CelerSearch when enabled.

Shop Page

The main shop page (/shop/) can use CelerSearch for:

  • Product listing queries
  • AJAX filtering
  • Sorting

Category Archives

Category pages (/product-category/electronics/) work with CelerSearch for:

  • Faster product queries
  • Consistent filtering experience

WooCommerce Blocks & Widgets

The WooCommerce Product Search area attaches autocomplete to the classic product search widget (.woocommerce-product-search), the Product Search block (.wc-block-product-search), and the core Search block (.wp-block-search__input). The CSS selector list is filterable via celersearch_woocommerce_product_search_input_selector if your theme renders a custom search form.

Product search submissions (/?s=query&post_type=product) are answered from the products index. For faceted filtering, use the Shop Filters feature of the WooCommerce Shop Browse area rather than WooCommerce's own filter blocks — the two don't share state.

Performance Benefits

Before CelerSearch

Text
User searches "blue shirt"
  → WordPress database query (500ms+)
  → Complex JOINs for meta, terms
  → Limited relevance ranking
  → No typo handling

With CelerSearch

Text
User searches "blue shirt"
  → Meilisearch query (5-50ms)
  → Pre-indexed, optimized data
  → Relevance-based ranking
  → Finds "Blue T-Shirt" even with typos

What You Can Build

Instant product search in the header

Create a View bound to your products index and embed it anywhere:

Text
[celersearch view="12"]

See the Shortcode Reference for the full attribute list (there's no layout/columns DSL — override the templates if you want a grid card).

Faceted shop page

You don't embed a shortcode for this. Enable the WooCommerce Shop Browse search area with the Shop Filters feature — CelerSearch auto-injects the filter toolbar above your theme's existing product loop. See Shop Page Filters.

Custom sections

For things like "related products" blocks, filter the hits via celersearch_view_search_hit or wire a View in manual mode with an initial_display="all" that pre-filters via celersearch_search_params.

Limitations

  • Native WooCommerce filter widgets are not replaced automatically — rely on the Shop Browse filter bar or override templates.
  • Plugins that inject per-user pricing (wholesale/member pricing) at read time are unaware of the index. Workarounds:
    • Index price ranges or role-scoped fields
    • Adjust the displayed price client-side
    • Use celersearch_view_search_hit to rewrite price before the template sees it

What's Next?