[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #1692: Plugin search quality improvements

[Making WordPress.org]

#1692: Plugin search quality improvements
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 Reporter:  tellyworth             |       Owner:  tellyworth
     Type:  enhancement            |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                 |   Milestone:  Plugin Directory v3 - M5
Component:  Plugin Directory       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  dev-feedback needs-    |
  docs                             |
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Comment (by remyb92):

 Hello,

 I'm coming after reading this article on WPTavern, https://wptavern.com
 /new-wordpress-plugin-directory-now-in-open-beta where they ask for plugin
 developpers to report issues or bug.

 So I did several tests on the new plugin directory the main issues I
 encoutered are on the search results, so I comment on this ticket.

 '''1. When I search for several important plugin, I got many unrelevant
 results. For instance :'''
 a) Searching for "Cache" (Say i want a Cache plugin) I have on first page
 : TablePress,NextGEN Gallery,Yoast SEO,MailPoet Newsletters which are not
 cache plugin.
 b) Searching for "Translate" (Say I went a translation plugin) I have on
 first page : only 4 out of 14 plugins are translation plugin. The other
 are TablePress,Yoast SEO, MailPoet Newsletters, WooCommerce
 c) Searching for "Image compression" (Say I went a compression plugin for
 image), I got again Jetpack, Events Manager, MailPoet Newsletters, NextGEN
 Gallery which are not relevant.

 '''2. Some terms don't returns anything.'''
 a) I search "Newsletters" returns nothing (but Newsletter with no "s"
 returns something). Which is weird because some plugins are named with the
 "s", like : MailPoet Newsletters, Email Subscribers & Newsletters
 b) I search "translation" it returns nothing. It should returns
 translation plugins. (Searching "translator" returns "TablePress" as a
 first result, which is not relevant.)

 '''3. It doesn't handle typos.'''
 a) Searching for "woocommercz" doesn't return nothing and should return
 woocommerce plugin. Someone manage to do it with algolia :
 https://wordpress.algolia.com

 I hope this tests can help. I'm not sure why the results are ordered this
 way but to me the search results is a lot less relevant than the actual
 one.
 It seems to many weight is given on active installs other relevancy which
 cause some plugins to be in almost every search result, like MailPoet or
 TablePress.
 Cheers.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1692#comment:50>
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