Search box not returning relevant results in FSE themes

[the-misha]

Quick summary

Sort order for search results differs between FSE and non-FSE sites. Most relevant results appear at the top for non-FSE sites, but much lower for FSE sites.

Steps to reproduce

1. Activate a non-FSE theme on site (e.g. Twenty Twenty-One).
2. Search for something with an unambiguous top result, such as a specific unique post title.
3. Observe result.
4. Switch site to an FSE theme (e.g. Kerr).
5. Search for the same unique post title.

What you expected to happen

Post should appear as the top hit in search results, as on the non-FSE site.

What actually happened

Post appears towards the bottom of the list of search results, below much less relevant results.

Context

Customer report in chat, followed up in ticket.

Simple, Atomic or both?

Simple

Theme-specific issue?

Unknown. Appears to be all FSE themes.

Browser, operating system and other notes

Firefox 98.0, Windows

Reproducibility

Consistent

Severity

Some (< 50%)

Available workarounds?

No but the platform is still usable

Workaround details

A pre_get_posts can be added as a temporary fix (source: WordPress/gutenberg#39285):

add_action(
	'pre_get_posts',
	function( $query ) {
		if ( $query->is_main_query() && $query->is_search() ) {
			$query->set( 'orderby', 'relevance' );
			$query->set( 'order', 'DESC' );
		}
	}
);

[edequalsawesome]

Looks like this is a core Gutenberg issue! WordPress/gutenberg#39285

[mrfoxtalbot]

@the-misha, I have taken the liberty to edit your original comment to add a workaround, as it is way more visible there than in a comment.

[cuemarie]

Per WordPress/gutenberg#39285 (comment)

This has been resolved by this PR: WordPress/gutenberg#40656, where we use the global wp_query when we inherit.

📌 ACTIONS

• Closing as Fixed

[github-actions]

Support References

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