i had the same problem, for my new site i just added a new meta "title" : #functions.php add_action('save_post', 'title_to_meta'); function title_to_meta($post_id) { update_post_meta($post_id, 'title', get_the_title($post_id)); } And then.. just add something like that : $sub = array('relation' => 'OR'); $sub[] = array( 'key' => 'tags', 'value' => $_POST['q'], 'compare' => 'LIKE', ); $sub[] = array( 'key' => 'description', 'value' => $_POST['q'], 'compare' => 'LIKE', ); $sub[] = array( 'key' => 'title', 'value' => $_POST['q'], 'compare' => 'LIKE', ); $params['meta_query'] = $sub; What do you think about this workaround ?