SavedPixel SEO Shield

Block junk search traffic, harden crawl-facing endpoints, and manage public-request protection rules from one SavedPixel settings page.

What It Does

SavedPixel SEO Shield turns a set of common SEO and crawl-hardening rules into a configurable admin tool. It focuses on public search abuse, tracking-parameter cleanup, opt-in HTTPS enforcement, anonymous rate limiting, XML-RPC shutdown, and anonymous REST restrictions, while keeping a bounded event log of what the shield has blocked.

Key Workflows

• Block spam-style search requests with a configurable regex and return 410 Gone.
• Redirect or noindex normal search requests when public search should not be indexed or exposed.
• Require Google reCAPTCHA for protected search submissions.
• Strip tracking parameters from public URLs and redirect to the cleaned URL.
• Apply endpoint hardening rules such as XML-RPC disable and anonymous REST restriction.

Features

• Spam search blocking with a configurable regex.
• Search-request redirect support for non-junk ?s= requests.
• noindex, follow output for rendered search pages.
• Optional Google reCAPTCHA validation for search submissions when both keys are configured.
• Tracking-parameter stripping with a configurable comma-separated parameter list.
• Optional HTTPS enforcement for public frontend requests.
• Anonymous public-traffic rate limiting by IP.
• XML-RPC disable switch.
• Anonymous REST restriction with a configurable allowlist of public namespace prefixes.
• Built-in shield log with time, rule, request, IP, and details columns.
• Clear-log action from the admin page.

Admin Page

The settings page is grouped into Search Shield, URL/traffic controls, endpoint hardening, and Shield Log sections. The default posture is conservative: stronger rules are opt-in where they could break public traffic if the site is not ready for them.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.5 or later
• PHP 8.1 or later

Installation

1. Upload the savedpixel-seo-shield folder to wp-content/plugins/.
2. Activate the plugin from the WordPress Plugins screen.
3. Open SavedPixel > SEO Shield.
4. Enable only the protections that match how your site handles search, anonymous traffic, and public APIs.

Usage Notes

• Some rules can block legitimate public traffic if they are enabled without planning.
• Search reCAPTCHA is only enforced when the feature is enabled and both API keys are present.
• HTTPS forcing is intentionally opt-in so local and mixed-protocol environments are not broken by default.

Author

Byron Jacobs
GitHub

License

GPL-2.0-or-later