Slow Search Queries - How to exclude pages, media, excerpt, authors, private posts?

Question

So I have this from Query Monitor:

AND (((zp_posts.post_title LIKE '%mercedes%')
OR (zp_posts.post_excerpt LIKE '%mercedes%')
OR (zp_posts.post_content LIKE '%mercedes%'))) 
AND zp_posts.post_type IN ('post', 'page', 'attachment')
AND (zp_posts.post_status = 'publish'
OR zp_posts.post_author = 1
AND zp_posts.post_status = 'private') 
ORDER BY zp_posts.post_title LIKE '%mercedes%' DESC, zp_posts.post_date DESC

I would like the searches queries to target only post_title and post_content, exclude all others parts. Any idea in achieving that?

Answer 1

You should be able to use pre_get_posts to change the query. I'd suggest creating a custom plugin, so that if you ever change your theme your modifications will still apply.

To get you started, here's how you can set the post types being searched:

function search_filter($query) {
  if ( !is_admin() && $query->is_main_query() ) {
    if ($query->is_search) {
      $query->set('post_type', array( 'post' ) );
    }
  }
}

add_action('pre_get_posts','search_filter');

You would continue to add $query->set statements inside the conditionals to further customize what fields to search.

One other option would be to write a completely custom query and call that from your search rather than using WP's built-in query. You might want to benchmark that solution to see whether it is any faster than the pre_get_posts way.