Yeah, is there a way to add a search function that only searches through author profiles?
For example, if someone is searching for authors called John Smith, is there a way to have a search form that ONLY searches in author.php?
Is it possible to search authors by profile field?
You can use Relevanssi – Uncheck all boxes except for “Index and search your Authors” – see screenshot below.
The relevanssi option is fine if you do not need any other kind of search on your site.
If you want to keep your normal search and have a separate user search, you could try doing something with free amr-users plugin that offers user list and user search. You define the data that is okay to have public in a list (from the use and user meta table, including data that other plugins may have created) and then there is a search option that will search just within that list