Search Results

Hi, @binarywc.

Thanks for reaching out to us. If I’m understanding correctly, you are using WP’s native search functionality, as the free version of Elementor does not include the capability of creating a search results template (note that the Elementor search results feature is also based on WP’s native functionality). However, you are encountering an issue with the search results not going beyond the first page.

The issue with the WordPress search pagination, where clicking the “next” link refreshes the first page, can be caused by several factors. Here are some potential reasons and solutions:

1. Permalink Structure

• Improper permalink settings can cause pagination issues. Go to Settings > Permalinks and click “Save Changes” without making any changes. This action refreshes your permalink settings and can sometimes resolve pagination issues.

2. Query Parameters and URL Rewriting

• Ensure that your theme or any custom code is not altering the query parameters or URL structure improperly.

3. Conflict with Theme or Plugins

• Conflicts between the theme or other plugins, including Elementor, can cause this issue. Temporarily switch to a default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-One) and disable all plugins except Elementor. Check if the issue persists. If it resolves, reactivate your theme and plugins one by one to identify the conflict.

4. Custom Functions in functions.php

• Review any custom code in your functions.php for anything related to search or pagination and temporarily comment it out to test.

5. Search Form Customizations

• If you have customized your search form or the search query, ensure that they are correctly handling pagination parameters (e.g., paged query variable).

6. JavaScript Errors

• Check your browser’s developer console for JavaScript errors and resolve any issues found.

7. Use Debugging Tools

• Enable WP_DEBUG in your wp-config.php file to log errors that might indicate what is breaking pagination.

Hope this helps.

Kind Regards.

You are mostly understanding what I said. However, I am not using the default/native WP search functionality on any of my clients sites. We are using the search box that Elementor offers and we have added a custom search template for the results pages. I will see if any of the solutions you provided fix the issue we are having later today and reply again here in this thread once I have tried all the solutions.

@aracelil After testing everything you suggested I can confirm that none of the solutions resolved the issues I am having on any of my clients websites.

Hi, @binarywc.

Thanks for your reply. Please note that the Elementor Search Form widget uses the the native WP functionality, and the widget is primarily used for the styling of this feature.

However, as the Search Form widget is a Pro widget, you can open a support ticket at my.elementor.com (ref: https://elementor.com/help/how-to-submit-a-support-ticket/) so that we may help you further troubleshoot this issue. www.remarpro.com rules state that commercial products are not supported here.

Alternatively, you can post this issue in the Fixing WordPress Forum since the issue appears to be with the functionality of the search feature.

Thank you for understanding.

Kind Regards.

I specifically asked for a way to do this without buying Elementor Pro, since we are using Elementor (Free).

Also, I am not talking about the search form. I am talking about the search results page when someone does a search. I have the search form on many sites which are using Elementor (Free) and we want to customize the search results.

@aracelil Even when we used Pro and followed the documentation available in the Elementor.com support area the pagination issue was still a problem. This could have been done without Pro all we needed to do is set the pagination option to be infinite scroll.