Grade B

Search Exclude

Name: Search Exclude
Rating: 4.9 (216 reviews)
Author: quadlayers

⤓ Download v2.6.5 on WordPress.org ↗

by quadlayersupdated 2026-05-22🌿The Dependable Sort

Pure relief for anyone needing to hide specific pages from search results.

HealthyDeclining

88/100

This reliable single purpose tool does exactly what it promises by hiding content from search results.

Loved37/40

Trustworthy14/15

Fair & Honest15/15

Maintained18/18

Momentum4/12

✂️

You might not need this plugin. Its core job is small enough to live in your theme's functions.php.

Show the snippet

// Save the "exclude from search" checkbox on the post edit screen
add_action( 'post_submitbox_misc_actions', function () {
    global $post;
    $excluded = get_post_meta( $post->ID, '_search_exclude', true );
    wp_nonce_field( 'search_exclude_nonce', 'search_exclude_nonce' );
    echo '<div class="misc-pub-section">';
    echo '<label><input type="checkbox" name="search_exclude" value="1"' . checked( $excluded, '1', false ) . '> Exclude from search results</label>';
    echo '</div>';
} );

add_action( 'save_post', function ( $post_id ) {
    if ( ! isset( $_POST['search_exclude_nonce'] ) || ! wp_verify_nonce( $_POST['search_exclude_nonce'], 'search_exclude_nonce' ) ) return;
    if ( defined( 'DOING_AUTOSAVE' ) && DOING_AUTOSAVE ) return;
    if ( ! current_user_can( 'edit_post', $post_id ) ) return;
    if ( ! empty( $_POST['search_exclude'] ) ) {
        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_search_exclude', '1' );
    } else {
        delete_post_meta( $post_id, '_search_exclude' );
    }
} );

// Filter excluded posts out of search queries
add_action( 'pre_get_posts', function ( $query ) {
    if ( ! $query->is_search() || is_admin() ) return;
    $excluded = get_posts( [
        'post_type'  => 'any',
        'meta_key'   => '_search_exclude',
        'meta_value' => '1',
        'fields'     => 'ids',
        'numberposts' => -1,
    ] );
    if ( ! empty( $excluded ) ) {
        $query->set( 'post__not_in', array_merge( (array) $query->get( 'post__not_in' ), $excluded ) );
    }
} );

Keep in mind:The plugin's settings page listing all excluded items and bulk/quick edit support are not replicated here.

More plugins you can skip →

Active installs

~74,000

our estimate · wp.org shows 50k+

Rating

4.8★

216 ratings

Trend · vs a year ago

-22%

Declining

484 → 378 installs/day

What to watch out for

MINORreview volume down 91% vs prior 6mo

Downloads over time

real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend

2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03

organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median

Declining · -22% in the last year

484/day a year ago→378/day today

Reviews

what people actually say

Search Exclude is a well-regarded, single-purpose plugin for hiding pages and posts from WordPress internal search results, appreciated for its simplicity and reliability, with no significant complaints surfacing from users.

What people like

+Simple to set up and use with no troubleshooting required×5
+Does exactly one thing and does it well — reliably excludes content from internal search results×6
+Long-term reliability with no compatibility issues reported over years of use×3
+Works in quick edit, making it fast to toggle exclusion on individual pages or posts

Common complaints

−No native option to exclude content via bulk editing of pages or posts (must be done individually)

Review trustReviews look organic

4.91★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.80★
13%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members

Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower

2024-08-132025-07-092026-06-04

5★ reviews1–4★ reviews

All-time ratings · 216 total

5★

202

4★

3★

2★

1★

Latest reviews · 90 analyzed

2026-04-12★★★★★Great plugin paulroberts
2026-02-03★★★★★I didn't know how desperately I needed this plugin paarseolifant
2025-12-02★★★★★Did exactly what was needed onestudioteam
2025-12-02★★★★★Very Useful & Powerfull mrebel
2025-12-02★★★★★Great plugin manjas
2025-11-27★★★★★A no brainer stanleyboise
2025-11-27★★★★★Perfect Michael Kavanagh
2025-11-17★★★★★Well, that was easy unleashedfinancial
2025-10-29★★★★★Very useful markech
2025-10-19★★★★★Simple and efficient axizebusiness

Releases

recent versions from WordPress.org SVN

2026-05-22v2.6.5
2026-04-02v2.6.4
2026-02-27v2.6.3
2026-02-23v2.6.2
2026-01-16v2.6.1
2025-12-03v2.6.0
2025-11-28v2.5.9
2025-10-15v2.5.8

For developers & the curious

the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary above

Download signals

Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.

357

Baseline · median of last 7 organic days

365

Prior 7-day baseline

900

Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days

10,273

Mean release-day peak (30d)

803

Latest day · 2026-06-03(tail)

-2.2%

Week-over-week organic trend

Review signals

Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.

10%

Max month share · biggest single 30-day window

0.70

Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty

94%

5★ share in analyzed sample

13%

Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity

-91%

Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo

4.92 → 4.91★

Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered