How to Search Products by Tags in WooCommerce

When customers search your store, they’re not always looking for exact product names. Sometimes they’re browsing by themes, styles, or categories—like “summer,” “wireless,” or “organic.” These are often stored as product tags in WooCommerce.

Unfortunately, WooCommerce does not search product tags by default. Even if your products are carefully tagged, those tags may not help customers find what they’re looking for.

Why Tag-Based Search Is More Important Than It Looks

Product tags are one of the most flexible ways to organize a catalog. Unlike categories, they’re not rigid—they can describe features, use cases, or even trends.

That makes them incredibly valuable for search. They can be especially helpful for:

• Shoppers browsing by characteristics rather than exact product names
• Customers exploring seasonal or themed items (e.g., “gift,” “winter,” “eco”)
• Stores with large inventories where products overlap across categories
• Merchandising strategies that rely on grouping products in multiple ways

Tags act like shortcuts. They connect related products without forcing users to navigate through structured menus. Without tag search, those connections are largely invisible.

Two Ways to Add Product Tag Search in WooCommerce

If you want customers to find products using tags, you’ll need to extend WooCommerce’s default search behavior. There are two main ways to do this: custom development or using a plugin.

Expanding Search with Custom Code

WooCommerce search can be modified to include additional fields like product tags. This usually involves working with WordPress hooks such as pre_get_posts or filtering the search query directly.

With the right implementation, you can:

• Include product tags in keyword searches
• Combine tag results with titles, descriptions, and other fields
• Control how tag matches are displayed in search results

However, this solution requires:

• PHP and WordPress query knowledge
• Careful testing across themes and plugins
• Ongoing maintenance as your store evolves

For many store owners, this approach is too technical.

Using a Product Search Plugin

A more practical solution is to use a plugin built specifically to improve WooCommerce product search.

Instead of patching the default search system, a plugin replaces it with a more flexible and powerful search engine—one that can quickly treat tags as first-class search data.

For example, the Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce plugin lets you add tags as a search field with a simple setting:

Once enabled, a search for a tag returns any products where that tag has been assigned:

Using fuzzy matching, the plugin also handles typos, spelling mistakes, singular and plural forms, and synonyms or variations.

Best of all, it gives you complete control over the appearance of the search results and product previews using the same type of simple controls, along with a live preview of your changes:

Bringing It All Together

WooCommerce includes product tags as a feature, but it doesn’t fully leverage them in search by default.

That’s a missed opportunity—especially for stores with diverse catalogs or creative merchandising strategies.

While it’s possible to extend product search manually, most store owners will get better results with a dedicated search plugin. This removes the technical burden and ensures tags are seamlessly integrated into the search experience.

There are several tools that can do this, but the key is choosing one that treats tags as a meaningful part of product discovery—not just an afterthought. Elevated Product Search for WooCommerce is a good example of this approach.

For alternatives, see Best WooCommerce Product Search Plugins.