ElasticPress 2.0 is a major update, with improvements to search result weighting, expanded query parameters, and better metadata syncing.

Tweaks to the search algorithm’s fuzzy matching limit unwanted results (i.e. searches for “yell” previously returned results for “yeti,” since the terms are only two characters apart) while still correcting for misspellings. Results are more intelligently weighted, with documents containing all search terms boosted 2x, and another 2x boost for documents matching the order of searched terms.

We also increased our WP_Query parameters coverage, moving closer to parity with all of the API’s supported arguments. Specific additions include:

• Support for meta BETWEEN queries;
• Support for OR relation for tax queries;
• Support all taxonomies as root arguments;
• Support post_parent arguments.

Version 2.0 improves post syncing, ensuring that changes to post meta are synchronized with Elasticsearch. Other enhancements include:

• Improved user interface by removing index status meta box text and improving instructions;
• New ID field added to Elasticsearch mapping;
• Added filter to disable printing of post index status;
• Added filter to bypass permission checking on sync, to facilitate simpler front-end updates.

You can review all of the changes on Github, and install the plugin directly from the WordPress plugin repository. A big “thank you” to the many contributors, inside and outside of 10up, who helped to make ElasticPress 2.0.