Psychic Search WordPress Plugin – There Must Be a Better Way to Track Site Searches
The other day when I was looking for new WordPress information, I came across the Psychic Search Plugin. Intrigued as to what this could be, I looked into it further.
Basically, you will be able to read the minds of your site visitors. How? Well, the plugin records all of the searches in your WordPress search box. By knowing what your visitors are looking for you will know what topics you should be writing about. Not a bad idea but …
The plugin page also says that the plugin is free for a limited time. I am not clear, however, what will happen after this time limit has expired. Then somewhere else on the site it says that the plugin has been released as review ware so, if you want to use it, please write a review. But you don’t have to. I’m confused. Is it free for now but later there will be a fee? Do I have to write a review? Or I don’t have to write a review? Huh?
And while the plugin has a cool admin and options page, and a widget and all kinds of fancy additions to WordPress, I can figure out why it is even necessary.
If you use Google Analytics, and a lot of us do, you can track your site searches by adding one teeny little thing to the settings.
- Log in
- Click Edit in the Website Profiles summary are
- Click Edit (yes again) on the Profiles Settings page
- Select ‘Do Track Site Search’ in the Site Search Section of the page
- Enter the letter ‘s’ as your Query Parameter (this is for WordPress)
That’s basically it. There are some other options that you can select dealing with the search string and Categories for Site Search but the instructions above are all you need.
Nothing really psychic about it. You don’t need an entire plugin. And you don’t need to maybe pay for, possibly review or possible not review the plugin.
photo credit: Tomas Fano
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November 20, 2008 at 10:07 am
i would agree… my users don’t actually use the search feature on my blog. they either land on it by google, yahoo or other search engine or they are viewing the most recent posts… so for m it’s non the less useless…
stratosg´s last blog post – It’s the man my friend, not… WordPress!
November 20, 2008 at 11:11 am
I use google custom search to go through my wordpress blog. That way I can monetize my search and I can track it through Google Analytics.
November 20, 2008 at 12:09 pm
That seems like a good tool however I agree most people just use Google to land at most blogs so that may not be useful for everyone.
November 20, 2008 at 12:25 pm
@Stratos – That was another thought I had – how many people even use the WordPress search function. I use it occasionally to locate additional information on a site of interest but I don’t use it very often. And almost all of the searches on this site are ones that I did myself :-)
@Matt – I’ve been going back and forth about using the google search but haven’t been able to make up my mind.
@Flex – Thanks for visiting and commenting. I don’t think the plugin is that useful either and there are simpler ways to arrive at the same information.
November 20, 2008 at 12:57 pm
@Kim – So far google has been doing pretty well for me. But if I come into any problems I’ll let you know. BTW – I added your link to my blog under “Recommended Reading”
November 20, 2008 at 1:10 pm
@Matt – Thanks! I really appreciate it. Maybe I’ll try google search this weekend.
November 20, 2008 at 1:52 pm
My blog is relatively new and so far Google works pretty well for the time being. I never searched for my own blog though,
Carla´s last blog post – Holiday Gift Ideas | Not Buying it
November 20, 2008 at 4:43 pm
@Carla – No, there isn’t any reason that I can see for using this plugin. :-)
November 20, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Yeah, I think Google Analytics and all of the other web stat sites should cover searches coming into my site. Calling the plugin psychic was kind of silly, considering a lot of people don’t trust psychics.
Also, just wanted to let you know that I gave you the “I love your blog” award. :)
~ Kristi
Kikolani | Poetry, Photography, Blogging Tips´s last blog post – Thursday Things
November 20, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Hi Kristi – Thank you so much for the award! I do have to decide if I’m going to participate though – I’m lazy that way ;-)
Psychic is not a good name. But maybe it will make people think that they can get something for nothing.
November 20, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Thanks Kim,
I am using Google Analytics too. But never knew there’s an integrated keyword analysis feature. Now I am using it thanks to your article.
November 21, 2008 at 9:38 am
Hi Yohan – Glad it helped you out :-)
November 23, 2008 at 1:19 am
I can see how this would be useful, but I’m pretty sure I can already view what people search for on my blog.
Wesley´s last blog post – Ducktales
November 23, 2008 at 8:15 am
Wesley – Yep. You can. I don’t think this plugin is really that necessary.