Better Search and Connections Business Directory

From what I can tell Better Search is used to improve the core WordPress search for Posts, Pages and Custom Post Types (CPT).

Connections Business Directory doe not integrate with the core WordPress search because it is optimized for only searching Pages, Posts and CPT (if they are registered for search).

Connections does not use CPT for its data because the db schema for CPT’s are optimized for post like data only. Connections uses a db schema optimized for directory content for performance and scalability. You’ll find that much larger plugins have moved or are moving away from using CPT’s because using them are too inefficient for the custom data schema’s they require.

If you want search, you need one of the premium templates. If you want to have a search input on your home page, use the Search Widget which comes as part of the Widget Pack. You can place this widget in your theme’s sidebar so it shows up everywhere.

To improve the page load time of the directory on the site, you’ll want one of the premium templates which add support for pagination. Displaying so many entries on a single page will cause a longer load time. This is not a but or limitation in Connections, the same would occur if you were to try to display as many Posts on a single Page too.

I hope this helps!

Hi Steven,

Thank you, I really appreciate your advice. I will definitely look at the templates and widgets to help with that.

Barry

@barryseward As Steven rightly pointed out Better Search will only limit the searches to the posts, CPTs etc. You’ll need to have a specific plugin or functionality to search for anything outside of this.