How to make Search & Filter plugin search return meta key/values

Question

I use the Search & Filter plugin to enable users search & also filter our products. Problem now is it doesn't include results for related product acf meta keys/values. For example if a user searches for "artsy", it shows "Nothing found" but there are products that have the meta value of "Artsy" and I'd want the search to return those products. Note: The plugin uses "_sf_s" as the query parameter.

This is what I've been trying;

function filter_search_by_acf_meta_keys($query) {
    if (is_admin() || !$query->is_main_query()) {
        return;
    }

    // Check if the Search & Filter Pro plugin is active
    if (isset($_GET['_sf_s']) && !empty($_GET['_sf_s'])) {
        $search_query = sanitize_text_field($_GET['_sf_s']);

        $meta_query = array(
            'relation' => 'OR',
            array(
                'key'     => 'keywords_tags', 
                'value'   => $search_query,
                'compare' => 'LIKE'
            ),
            array(
                'key'     => 'region_field',
                'value'   => $search_query,
                'compare' => 'LIKE'
            )
            // Add more ACF meta keys as needed
        );

        $query->set('meta_query', $meta_query);
        $query->set('s', $search_query);
    }

    $query->set('post_type', array('products', 'listings'));
}
add_action('pre_get_posts', 'filter_search_by_acf_meta_keys');

Answer 1

It looks like the query looks for products or listings that have title/content that matches the search query AND meta data that matches the search query. Try removing the $query->set( 's', $search_query ) line and see if you get results you expect.

If you receive expected results, then you'll need two separate WP_Query instances, and combine the results. Similar situation here: https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/416429/how-to-make-or-condition-in-wp-query/416442#416442