I have a WordPress site with a custom search bar on my homepage, provided by the Apus service search bar plugin. When users search for services, the results currently display the titles of the services. However, I want to modify the search results so that they show the categories of the employers associated with these services instead of the service titles.

Search Bar: Implemented using the Apus service search bar plugin.

Search Results: Display the titles of the services by default.

Employer Categories: A custom taxonomy called employer_category

I understand that I need to modify the template file that renders the search results. Here is my current approach, but I’m unsure how to fetch and display the employer categories correctly.

<search.php>

<?php
/**
 * The template for displaying archive pages (services).
 *
 * @link https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy/
 *
 * @package YourThemeName
 */

get_header();
?>

<section id="primary" class="content-area">
    <main id="main" class="site-main">

        <?php if ( have_posts() ) : ?>

            <header class="page-header">
                <h1 class="page-title"><?php printf( esc_html__( 'Search Results for: %s', 'your-theme-text-domain' ), '<span>' . get_search_query() . '</span>' ); ?></h1>
            </header>

            <div class="search-results">

                <?php while ( have_posts() ) : the_post(); ?>
                    <article id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>" <?php post_class( 'search-result-item' ); ?>>
                        <?php
                        // Fetch the employer categories
                        $employer_categories = get_the_terms( get_the_ID(), 'employer_category' );

                        if ( ! empty( $employer_categories ) && ! is_wp_error( $employer_categories ) ) :
                            foreach ( $employer_categories as $category ) : ?>
                                <h2 class="search-result-title"><?php echo esc_html( $category->name ); ?></h2>
                            <?php endforeach;
                        else : ?>
                            <h2 class="search-result-title"><?php esc_html_e( 'No categories found', 'your-theme-text-domain' ); ?></h2>
                        <?php endif; ?>
                        <!-- Other result information -->
                    </article><!-- #post-<?php the_ID(); ?> -->
                <?php endwhile; ?>

            </div><!-- .search-results -->

            <?php the_posts_navigation(); ?>

        <?php else : ?>
            <p><?php esc_html_e( 'No results found. Please try again with different keywords.', 'your-theme-text-domain' ); ?></p>
        <?php endif; ?>

    </main><!-- #main -->
</section><!-- #primary -->

<?php
get_sidebar();
get_footer();
?>