How to Change the Default Search URL Slug in WordPress

Many of our readers have asked about changing the default WordPress search URL slug. It’s a common request, as the standard format (http://example.com/?s=search-term) isn’t very user-friendly or SEO-optimized.

Site owners often prefer a cleaner structure, like http://example.com/search/search-term, for better user experience and search engine visibility.

We’ve found 2 effective methods to customize the search URL slug in WordPress. In this guide, we’ll walk you through both approaches, helping you create more professional and SEO-friendly search URLs for your site. Let’s get started!

Why Change Default Search URL Slug in WordPress?

By default, WordPress uses an SEO-friendly URL structure for all the pages on your website. Typically, SEO-friendly WordPress URLs look like this:

http://example.com/some-post/
http://example.com/2018/03/news-article/
http://example.com/category/some-category/

As you can see, these URLs are quite easy for visitors to understand. They can simply look at their browser’s address bar and see where they are in your site’s layout.

These URLs also tell search engines useful information about the page so they can rank it correctly and show it to people who are looking for content just like yours.

However, when a WordPress user performs a search on your website, the URL usually looks something like this:

http://example.com/?s=search-term

The extra ?s= characters make this URL more difficult to read and understand, which can confuse both the search engines and your visitors. By changing this URL, you can improve your WordPress search and boost your SEO.

With that being said, let’s see how you can change the search URL. Simply use the links below to jump straight to the method you want to use:

Method 1: Change WordPress Search URL Slug Using WPCode (Recommended)

The easiest way to change the default WordPress search slug is by using WPCode.

WPCode is the most popular code snippets plugin used by over 2 million WordPress websites. It allows you to add code snippets in WordPress without having to edit your site’s functions.php file.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the free WPCode plugin on your website. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Code Snippets » Add Snippet.

This will bring you to the ‘Add Snippet’ page, where you can see WPCode’s library of ready-made snippets.

To add your own snippet, just hover your mouse over ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet).’ Then, click on ‘+ Add Custom Snippet’ when it appears.

Next, you need to choose the code type from the options that appear. For this tutorial, click on ‘PHP Snippet.’

Now, on the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page, you can start by entering a title for the custom code snippet.

This can be anything that helps you identify the snippet in the WordPress admin area.

You can then go ahead and paste the following into the ‘Code Preview’ box:

function wpb_change_search_url() {
	if ( is_search() && ! empty( $_GET['s'] ) ) {
		wp_redirect( home_url( "/search/" ) . urlencode( get_query_var( 's' ) ) );
		exit();
	}
}
add_action( 'template_redirect', 'wpb_change_search_url' );

This code snippet replaces the ‘/?s=search-term’ characters with ‘search,’ so your slug will look something like: http://example.com/search/wordpress

To use something other than ‘search’ in your URL, simply customize the code snippet above.

When you are happy with the code, it’s time to change where the snippet runs by scrolling to the ‘Insertion’ box.

To start, make sure ‘Auto Insert’ is selected. Then, open the ‘Location’ dropdown and choose ‘Frontend Only’ since we will only use this code on our site’s public-facing front end.

When the snippet is set up how you want it, you can make it live by clicking the ‘Active’ toggle.

Finally, don’t forget to click on ‘Save Snippet.’

Now, visit your site and perform a search.

If you take a look at your browser’s address bar, you’ll see the new SEO-friendly search URL.

Method 2: Change WordPress Search URL Slug via .htaccess File

Another option is to edit your site’s .htaccess file. This method is more complicated, so it isn’t recommended for beginners. However, it does allow you to change the search URL slug without using a code snippet plugin.

To access the .htaccess file, you’ll need an FTP client such as FileZilla, or you can use the file manager of your WordPress hosting cPanel.

If this is your first time using FTP, then you can see our complete guide on how to connect to your site using FTP.

For the sake of example, we will use Bluehost‘s file manager app. If you are a Bluehost user, go ahead and log in to your hosting dashboard. Then, navigate to the ‘Websites’ tab and click ‘Settings’ for the site you want to edit.

After that, go to the Quick Links section.

There, click ‘File Manager.’ Around the same area, you will also see your document root path (usually public_html), where you can find the .htaccess file.

You should now be inside Bluehost’s file manager.

Once you’ve found the .htaccess file in the public_html folder, right-click on it and select ‘Edit.’

Now, paste the following code at the bottom of the file:

# Change WordPress search URL
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \\?s=([^&]+) [NC]
RewriteRule ^$ /search/%1/? [NC,R,L]

This will change the WordPress search slug to the following:

http://example.com/search/your-search-query/

You can change this slug by customizing the code snippet.

Once you’ve done that, don’t forget to click ‘Save Changes.’

Now, if you perform a search on your site, you’ll notice that it’s using the new slug.

Bonus Tip: Use SearchWP to Create a Custom WordPress Search Engine

The built-in WordPress search block works fine as your website’s search engine. But if you want to offer a better search experience, then you will need SearchWP.

This WordPress search plugin lets you create custom search algorithms and forms that best suit your users’ and website needs. For example, you can add a search by category feature so your readers can just focus on looking through content in a specific category.

To learn more about this search plugin, you can read our full SearchWP review.

We hope this article helped you change the default search URL slug in WordPress. You can also go through our article on how to customize the search results page in WordPress and our beginner’s guide on how to make a smart WooCommerce product search.

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