I love WordPress but there is an inescapable problem – WordPress search sucks.
What if you could replace WordPress search with something better?
Well you don’t have to wonder anymore. As an experiment I’ve done just that. I created a custom plugin for searching this site which sends the search request to an AI, to produce a list of pages which match the request.
The AI I’m using is Pinecone – a vector database engine.
Vector database engines try to convert text into meaning. If you type a sentence like “I am a cat”, the Vector AI converts that sentence into a series of numbers, numbers which help the AI measure the distance between the meaning of what you just typed, and a set of searchable text documents.
How it does that conversion – that’s something I’m still researching.
But the point is, by using a vector engine like Pinecone, you can perform rapid comparisons between diverse chunks of text, to produce a high quality list of what text corresponds to your search term.
Unfortunately Pinecone doesn’t support a PHP API. PHP is the language WordPress is written in. But that’s OK because I’m a software developer, and Pinecone published enough information about their APIs so I figured it out.
Give it a try – try entering “What is internet of things”, or some other search term into the search box on this website. As this is an experiment I’m kind of only using free tier, so you guys trying it out might exhaust the quota, but while it lasts it will be an interesting experience – far, far superior to normal wordpress search.
Does improved search on your website sound like something which would interest you? Should I package this up as a free or paid for plugin? Let me know your thoughts – and let me know if you are as impressed by the improvement to wordpress’ normal search as I am.