Fuzzy matching is what lets a visitor who types denmi find denim. It is on by default at Normal strictness, and you can tighten it, loosen it, or turn it off under Elevated › Site Search › Settings › Advanced Options › Fuzzy Matching.

Table of Contents

• Step 1: Open Fuzzy Matching
• Step 2: Choose the Match Strictness
• Step 3: Save and Test
• What Each Level Means
• Do This with Your AI Agent
• Troubleshooting

Step 1: Open Fuzzy Matching

Navigate to Elevated › Site Search › Settings, expand Advanced Options, and locate Fuzzy Matching.

Step 2: Choose the Match Strictness

Open the Match Strictness dropdown and pick a level:

• Off: only exact terms match.
• Soft: the most forgiving level; allows more typos and partial matches.
• Normal: the default; forgives common misspellings without letting in noise.
• Hard: requires closer matches; fewer, more precise results.

For most sites, Normal is the recommended starting point.

Step 3: Save and Test

Click Save Settings, then search with a deliberate typo and confirm the intended content still comes back. Fuzzy matching applies to the search box and to the native WordPress search results page alike.

What Each Level Means

Strictness trades recall for precision. Loosen it (Soft) when visitors search phonetically or product names invite typos; tighten it (Hard) when close-but-different terms, such as SKU-like codes, must not blur together. The Did You Mean suggestion in the Modern theme complements fuzzy matching by proposing the corrected word itself (see How to Enable Did You Mean Suggestions).

Do This with Your AI Agent

If your agent is connected (see Connect Your AI Agent), you can skip the steps above:

The agent changes the setting and runs the test search through the same engine visitors use, so you see exactly what they would.

Troubleshooting

Typos stopped matching. Someone set Match Strictness to Off or Hard. Set it back to Normal.

Unrelated results creep in. The level is too loose for your content. Move from Soft toward Normal or Hard.