Reports are included with the Professional or Enterprise plan.
Current reports include:
- Location Searches shows the address entered by users on your map display page.
- Location Results are the results returned by those searches.
Reports
Location Results Report
Location Results reports are included with the Professional or Enterprise plan. This report is designed to show the locations that were returned by users entering addresses on the search form when looking for locations. This can be useful for determining which locations are appearing most frequently for your site visitors.
To view this report you’ll need to turn on reporting features as outlined in the Reports documentation.
This report will show up to the top 500 locations returned within the date range selected.
Location Search Report
Location Search reports are included with the Professional or Enterprise plan. This report is designed to show what addresses users are entering on the search form when looking for locations. This can be useful for determining areas where your site visitors are looking for your product or service.
To view this report you’ll need to turn on reporting features as outlined in the Reports documentation.
This report will show up to the top 500 searches within the date range selected.
How To : Location Categories
Assumptions
WordPress environment is setup and configured including activation of the following plugins
- Store Locator Plus®
- SLP Power add on
In addition map service (Google API keys) should be in place and some locations should be added to the system.
A page has been created with the [slplus] shortcode present and the map is rendering properly.
Users are logged in as a WordPress administrator (the process will be slightly different for SaaS users).
Adding Categories To Locations
Objective
Create a location category and attach it to an existing location.
User Action: Add A Location Category
- Click on Store Locator Plus® | Categories in the WordPress sidebar menu.
- In the left “Add New Category Form”…
- Type a category name. (Restaurant)
- Click Add New Category
Result
The new category should appear on the category list on the page.
User Action: Attach Category To Location
- Click on Store Locator Plus® | Locations in the WordPress sidebar menu.
- Click the Edit action icon on the first location.
- Check off the box next to “Restaurants” in the Power | Categories section of the form.
- Click Save.
Result
The category is assigned to the location and appears on the location table.
User Action: Show Category Select On Front End
- Click on Store Locator Plus® | Settings in the WordPress sidebar menu.
- Change the Category Selector setting to “Single Drop Down”.
- Click Save
- On the front end, go to the page that has the [slplus] shortcode.
Result
The search form for the map should show a category drop down.
User Action : Filtering Locations With Category
- On the front end, go to the page that has the [slplus] shortcode.
- Enter an address, choose a category.
- Click “Find Locations”.
Results Panel Settings
There are five to seven sections under the Settings/Results tab admin panel depending on which add-ons you have activated. Each section describes when and/or where the results will appear under your map.
Not all of the settings will appear if you have the Advance level plan for SaaS or do not have the Experience and/or the Power add-ons for the basic WPSLP self managed plug-in.
At Startup
You determine the Number of results you want to appear on the map and locator page as soon as the page loads when you have “Show locations at startup” checked. We recommend 50 for most sites unless you have the Premier add-on or Enterprise level plan (if using MYSLP) which allows less clutter on the map by virtue of “cluster markers”.
The next setting is the radius to search initially when “Show locations at startup” is checked. Leave empty to use the map radius default. Recommended : Set to a large number to search everywhere.
And the third setting is : ” Number to show initially.” How many results do you want to show under the map? This is the part that populates the actual information regarding your locations (under or next to your map depending on the style) with the address, website info, phone, etc.
If you are signed up for the MYSLP, the Professional level plan) additional settings can be enabled , for example do NOT show the results until after a search has been performed”. The setting is labeled “Disable Initial directory”
Upgrading Store Locator Plus
The base Store Locator Plus plugin and add ons are updated on a regular basis. Often the updates include security and bug fixes or fundamental changes that are designed to improve performance by reducing the memory and/or disk request load when your visitors are interacting with the map.
The most common reason your legacy add on stopped working is because it is no longer supported with the latest version of Store Locator Plus or vice versa
You may wish to choose to stay with your WPSLP Self Managed plugin and upgrade to the replacement bundled add-ons or switch to the managed MySLP.
Make sure you have a backup copy of the current version of SLP you have installed that IS working with your add on packs. We ALWAYS recommend that your site uses VaultPress or JetPack
Whenever you update the base plugin make sure ALL of your SLP add-on packs are updated to the latest version.
Where to find the Store Locator Plus for WordPress Plug-in versions and updates
For the WordPress SLP stand alone (do it yourself) plug-in , the latest update to the Word Press base plugin normally appears in your WordPress site Plugin menu for auto update
To check your version against what is currently available please see the site home page under Support/Versions
The WordPress Store Locator Plus base plug-in is again available in the WordPress plug-in directory. If you purchased an add-on you will need to log into your WPSLP account and download it manually the first time you use it.
ALWAYS BACK-UP your site immediately before updating any Plug-ins.
Most Common “What Should I Buy” Questions
Some of the most common features requested are included with either the Plug-in for WordPress using add-ons OR a higher level plan if you use the all inclusive (but separate from the plug-in) Store Locator Plus Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Import Locations ( SLP PLUGIN needs add-on Power or the SLP Software as a service needs the Professional level MySLP )
- Export Locations ( Power add-on or if using the SaaS Professional level MySLP )
- Map Markers Based On Category ( Power add-on or if using the SLP SaaS Professional level or higher MySLP
- Cluster Map Markers ( Premier SUBSCRIPTION PLUG-IN or the SaaS Enterprise level )
- Change The Layout ( Experience add-on or the Professional level SaaS plan)
- Change The Look Of The Map ( Experience add-on or the Professional level SaaS plan)
- Add Location Search To Other Pages ( Experience /add-on or the Professional )
- Categorize Locations ( Power add-on or the Professional level or higher MySLP )
- Associate Products With Locations ( Power add-on or the Professional level or higher MySLP )
- List By City or State ( Experience SLP plug-in add-on or the Professional level or higher SaaS)
- Creating SEO Pages From Locations ( Power add-on for the WordPress SLP plug-in. Not available for SLP SaaS)
- Add directory listing from Locations (Power/Professional level or higher MySLP)
- Bulk filters such as geocode all uncode (Power/Professional level or higher MySLP)
- Add url controls (Premier subscription WPSLP or Enterprise level MySLP)
MySLP to WPSLP Comparison
Advanced is comparable to the basic Store Locator Plus plugin.
Professional is the Power level (excluding SEO Pages) plus the Experience add on.
Enterprise is the Professional level plan plus the Premier subscription features, functionality and support services.
Read below for answers to these questions and check out our other “What To Buy” articles.
Categorical Location Markers
MySLP Professional and Enterprise level services allow for locations to be categorized. Each category for a location can have its own map marker associated with the category. These markers are then displayed on the map to mark the location. (This also applies for those customers using the WordPress SLP plug-in with the Power add-on or Premier)
However, some locations may belong to more than one category. In this case the map marker that is selected to be displayed on the map is determined by the RANK assigned to the category. If multiple categories have the same rank, or no rank, then the first category by alphabetical listing will be the one selected as the “main” category for rendering the map marker.
Filtering Locations By Category
What happens when a user decides to filter the list of categories? Only locations that are within the selected category are shown.
If the location only belongs to ONE category, as is the case for the “#1 Food Store” in our example above, the choice is easy. Show the category map marker.
But what should be displayed if a location belongs to several categories, as is the case for our “24 Seven #1” location shown in the example above?
Prior to our mid-September 2020 release of Store Locator Plus® (or the Power 5.5.7 add on for our legacy WordPress plugin users), the marker for the “24 Seven #1” location would be the highest ranked category, which is the convenience store marker.
With the mid-September 2020 release, however, this behavior has changed. The map marker displayed will be the one that matches the filter the user selected.
Multiple Location Categories
What about Store Locator Plus® interfaces that allow users to select more than one category, such as interfaces that allow checkbox selections for categories? Markers will be chosen from the markers for the selected categories only. If a location matches 2 or more of the categories, the highest ranked OF THOSE SELECTED will be displayed on the map.
This is different from earlier versions of Store Locator Plus® where it would always display the highest ranked category map marker, even if it was not part of the checked list of categories.
Locations Panel: Manage Locations
The Locations panel in Store Locator Plus is where you add, manage, edit and/or delete locations.
Bulk Actions and Filters
SLP Locations panel has a bulk tab with drop down actions and other filters that can be applied . If you have a large number of locations, bulk actions can be a very useful tool. If you have more locations than can fit on the display, you can set the display filter to show more locations. You may also use filters to display and manage non – geocoded locations, or show locations with certain properties. The display can be adjusted to suit your needs but configuration constraints and/or server constraints may effect your outcome.
Not all Bulk actions will appear if you have only the base plugin installed. Bulk action filters for removing Tags, performing Exports, geocoding all uncoded, and bulk categorize certain locations will be shown only if you have the WPSLP Power add-on or Professional or Enterprise level Plans for MySLP
The default number of locations that will be displayed on the admin user Interface is 10. Selecting a large number to display can be useful to view or manage but if your server capacity cannot handle it or changes and you go back to manage locations months or years later and try to access your locations panel, you may see no locations panel. If you see the wheels churning on your computer with no results this could be the reason. If you are not sure of the capabilities of your server, browser and various other factors that effect memory, and inhibit loading and displaying fields, err on the side of caution and set the Filter Display locations back to a manageable size before leaving the panel. If you are migrating servers from a “heavy duty” server to a less robust server, or if your memory becomes an issue you will need to reset the display to a manageable number. See Troubleshooting for more info.