Settings Page
- New admin settings page under Groundworx menu — all search configuration in one place
- Search Mode toggle: Off (default WordPress search), Suggested Links (standard search with relevance-powered suggestions), or Global (full relevance ranking across global search and Query Loop blocks)
- Post type and taxonomy exclusions with transfer list UI
- Search relevance weights for title, excerpt, taxonomy, and content fields with per-post-type overrides
- Proximity settings: exact phrase boost, nearby words boost with configurable distance, and distant match filtering — all with per-post-type overrides
- Dictionary management with custom words, stems, synonyms, and compound word boost
- Maintenance panel with manual search index rebuild
- License management moved into settings page
Global Search
- New block: Global Search — site-wide search with inline suggestion results powered by the weighted search index
- New block: Global Search Dropdown — site-wide search with suggestion dropdown
- New block: Search Input — search field with label and submit button for Global Search blocks
- New block: Autocomplete Dropdown — autocomplete suggestions panel for Global Search blocks
- New block: Suggested Searches — generates keyword phrases from post content, ranked by relevance
- New block: Search: Post Types — select post types for search suggestions
- New block: Search: Taxonomies — select taxonomies for search suggestions
- New block: Search: Profiles — select author roles for search suggestions
- New block: Suggested Links — container for suggested link results that navigate directly to matching content
- New block: Quick Links — container for pre-configured links displayed before the user starts typing
- New block: Link — a single quick link with URL and label
Search Index
- Custom search index with weighted relevance scoring across title, excerpt, taxonomy terms, and content
- Proximity-aware ranking: exact phrase matching, nearby word boosting, and distant match filtering
- Dictionary with stemming and synonym support for improved recall
- Automatic index updates on post create, edit, and delete
- Per-post search exclusion and relevance boost controls via Quick Edit and Bulk Edit
Per-Post Search Controls
- Search boost column in post list tables — adjust individual post relevance from Quick Edit and Bulk Edit
- Exclude from Global Search option per post via Quick Edit and Bulk Edit
Enhancements
- PHP 7.4+ support (previously required PHP 8.2)
- Filter Text and Filter Orderby blocks updated to work with the search index and relevance settings
- Custom select dropdown display option for Filter Terms
- Internationalization: full i18n support with translatable strings across all PHP and JS
Breaking Changes
- Filter Text: Autocomplete modes renamed — “Words” is now “Suggested Searches” and “Posts” is now “Suggested Links”. Existing blocks with autocomplete enabled will need to be re-selected in the block settings.
- Filter Text: Search columns — The “Include Content” toggle has been replaced with a multi-select Search Columns control (title, content, excerpt). Existing blocks default to searching all three columns.
- Filter Text: Search mode removed — The keyword/phrase search mode toggle has been removed in favor of the global search index settings.