[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
Component:  Plugin Directory                     |  Directory v3.0
 Keywords:  dev-feedback needs-docs 2nd-opinion  |  Resolution:
  needs-testing                                  |
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Comment (by sethshoultes):

 Replying to [comment:137 joeguilmette]:
 > Disclosure: I work on WP All Import
 >
 > Interestingly, WP All Import is nowhere to be found on page 1 results
 when searching for 'import'. The first result is a 1 star'd plugin with
 400 actives, and the second is a third party add-on for WP All Import.
 There are plugins without any active installs that haven't been updated in
 two years on page 1.
 >
 > Anyway, I don't want this come off as me complaining that our plugin
 isn't doing better in search results. But since I work on it I pay more
 attention to its search results than other plugins. Hoping that this is
 just another data point you fine folks can use to help improve search
 results for users.

 I work for Event Espresso, an event registration plugin. I've been seeing
 similar results with the search term "event registration". Here's some
 examples:

 Old search:
 https://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?type=term&q=event+registration
 New search: https://wordpress.org/plugins-wp/search/event+registration/

 As you can see in the old search it shows plugins with the correct terms,
 in both the title and description of the plugin. However, in the new
 search, plugins with names like event planning and event booking are
 ranking higher than plugins with the term "event registration" in the
 name. Also, four of the results are for contact forms...

 Now if you search for event calendar:
 Old search:
 https://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?type=term&q=event+calendar
 New search: https://wordpress.org/plugins-wp/search/event+calendar/

 As you can see in the old search the results are highly relevant to the
 search, while in the new search you kind of have a mixed bag, where four
 of the plugins have have no relevance in the short description or the
 title. Also, if you click to page two of the "event calendar" results, it
 gets even worse. Not even half the results have event calendar in the name
 or the title: https://wordpress.org/plugins-
 wp/search/events+calendar/page/2/

 Here's some other things that need improvement in the new search:

  - Show the number of total search results and the number of results
 listed on the page.
  - Please, please, show more than 14 results. I agree with the others that
 30 results is better than 14. The current results feel very limited,
 especially with so many unexpected results showing.

 On a side note, after watching this thread for a while. I think this
 recent blog post by Seth Godin is relevant to the overall discussion:
 http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2017/01/but-where-did-the-
 algorithm-come-from.html

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1692#comment:138>
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