Scott Reilly

This plugin prevents WordPress from allowing and handling any search requests from the front-end of the site. Specifically, this plugin:
<ul>
<li>Prevents the search form from appearing if the theme uses the standard <code>get_search_form()</code> function to display the search form.</li>
<li>Prevents the search form from appearing if the theme uses a <code>searchform.php</code> template</li>
<li>Prevents the search item from appearing in the admin tool bar when shown on the front-end.</li>
<li>Disables the search widget.
<ul>
<li>Removes the Search widget from the list of available widgets</li>
<li>Deactivates any search widgets currently in use in any sidebars (they are hidden, not deleted; they’ll reappear in their original locations if this plugin gets deactivated)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Disables the search block.
<ul>
<li>Removes the Search block from the list of available blocks</li>
<li>Deactivates any search blocks currently in use, such as in posts or as a widget (they are disabled, not deleted; they’ll reappear if this plugin gets deactivated and the associated placeholder block doesn’t get deleted)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>With or without a search form, the plugin prevents any direct or manual requests by visitors, via either GET or POST requests, from actually returning any search results.</li>
<li>Submitted attempts at a search will be given a 404 File Not Found response, rendered by your site’s 404.php template, if present.</li>
<li>Disables output of <code>SearchAction</code> in SEO schema by the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/" rel="ugc">Yoast SEO</a> plugin.</li>
</ul>
The plugin only affects search on the front-end of the site. It does not disable searching in the admin section of the site.
Links: <a href="https://coffee2code.com/wp-plugins/disable-search/" rel="nofollow ugc">Plugin Homepage</a> | <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/disable-search/" rel="ugc">Plugin Directory Page</a> | <a href="https://github.com/coffee2code/disable-search/" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a> | <a href="https://coffee2code.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Author Homepage</a>

Disable Search


In 2024, numerous bots are crawling sites, generating significant search spam. Generally, site search incurs high costs, primarily because we end up paying for CPU resources consumed by spam.



If site search is not crucial for your website, I recommend activating this plugin.



Thank you, Scott, for maintaining this simple yet effective plugin!


The most effective way to avoid search spam

Disable the built-in front-end search capabilities of WordPress.

By default in WordPress, if the plugin that provides the functionality to handle any given shortcode is disabled, or if a shortcode is improperly defined in the content (such as with a typo), then the shortcode in question will appear on the site in its entirety, unprocessed by WordPress. At best this reveals unsightly code-like text to visitors and at worst can potentially expose information not intended to be seen by visitors.
This plugin prevents unhandled shortcodes from appearing in the content of a post or page. If the shortcode is of the self-closing variety, then the shortcode tag and its attributes are not displayed and nothing is shown in their place. If the shortcode is of the enclosing variety (an opening and closing tag bookend some text or markup), then the text that is being enclosed will be shown, but the shortcode tag and attributes that surround the text will not be displayed.
See the Filters section for more customization tips.
Links: <a href="https://coffee2code.com/wp-plugins/hide-broken-shortcodes/" rel="nofollow ugc">Plugin Homepage</a> | <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/hide-broken-shortcodes/" rel="ugc">Plugin Directory Page</a> | <a href="https://github.com/coffee2code/hide-broken-shortcodes/" rel="nofollow ugc">GitHub</a> | <a href="https://coffee2code.com" rel="nofollow ugc">Author Homepage</a>
<h3>Developer Documentation</h3>
Developer documentation can be found in <a href="https://github.com/coffee2code/hide-broken-shortcodes/blob/master/DEVELOPER-DOCS.md" rel="nofollow ugc">DEVELOPER-DOCS.md</a>. That documentation covers the hooks provided by the plugin.
As an overview, these are the hooks provided by the plugin:
<ul>
<li><code>hide_broken_shortcode</code> : Customizes what, if anything, gets displayed when a broken shortcode is encountered.</li>
<li><code>hide_broken_shortcodes_filters</code> : Customizes what filters to hook to find text with potential broken shortcodes.</li>
</ul>

Hide Broken Shortcodes

This plugin does what it says. Really a great plugin. Thank you developer.

Works Great!

Prevent broken shortcodes from appearing in posts and pages.

Disable Search vs Hide Broken Shortcodes