noindex SEO vs Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN

Fine-grained control over how search engines index and display your WordPress content. Apply 5 independent robots directives to 22 different page contexts with flexible implementation methods. 5 Robots Directives: noindex: Prevent search engines from indexing the page nofollow: Prevent search engines from following links on the page noarchive: Prevent search engines from showing cached versions nosnippet: Prevent search engines from showing text snippets in results noimageindex: Prevent search engines from indexing images on the page Implementation Methods: HTML Meta Tags: Traditional method, easy to verify in page source (default) HTTP Headers: More robust, works with all content types including PDFs and images Both: Maximum compatibility for all scenarios Control Levels: Global Settings: Apply directives to 22 different page contexts (posts, pages, archives, etc.) Granular Control (Optional): Override global settings for individual posts, pages, and custom post types via meta boxes in the editor Perfect for: Blocking indexing of attachment pages while allowing link following Preventing duplicate content issues with flexible directive combinations Controlling archive page indexing with granular control Managing pagination SEO with independent settings Protecting private content from search engine caching Preventing snippet display while still indexing content Main pages Front Page: Block the indexing of the site’s front page. Home: Block the indexing of the site’s home page. Pages and Posts Page: Block the indexing of the site’s pages. Privacy Policy: Block the indexing of the site’s privacy policy page. Single: Block the indexing of a post on the site. Singular: Block the indexing of a post or a page of the site. Taxonomies Category: Block the indexing of the site categories. The lists where the posts appear. Tag: Block the indexing of the site’s tags. The lists where the posts appear. Dates Date: Block the indexing when any date-based archive page (i.e. a monthly, yearly, daily or time-based archive) of the site. The lists where the posts appear. Day: Block the indexing when a daily archive of the site. The lists where the posts appear. Month: Block the indexing when a monthly archive of the site. The lists where the posts appear. Time: Block the indexing when an hourly, “minutely”, or “secondly” archive of the site. The lists where the posts appear. Year: Block the indexing when a yearly archive of the site. The lists where the posts appear. Archives Archive: Block the indexing of any type of Archive page. Category, Tag, Author and Date based pages are all types of Archives. The lists where the posts appear. Author: Block the indexing of the author’s page, where the author’s publications appear. Post Type Archive: Block the indexing of any post type page. Pagination Pagination: Block the indexing of the pagination, i.e. all pages other than the main page of an archive. Search Search: Block the indexing of the internal search result pages. Attachments Attachment: Block the indexing of an attachment document to a post or page. An attachment is an image or other file uploaded through the post editor’s upload utility. Attachments can be displayed on their own “page” or template. This will not cause the indexing of the image or file to be blocked. Previews Customize Preview: Block the indexing when a content is being displayed in customize mode. Preview: Block the indexing when a single post is being displayed in draft mode. Error Page Error 404: This will cause an error page to be blocked from being indexed. As it is an error page, it should not be indexed per se, but just in case. Important note: if you have any doubt about any of the following items it is best not to activate the option as you could lose results in the search engines. Using the plugin REST API The plugin exposes two read-only endpoints under /wp-json/noindex-seo/v1/ so headless consumers can read the configuration: GET /settings: returns the consolidated settings array (contexts and directives plus config). Requires an authenticated user with the manage_options capability. GET /effective?post_id=123: returns the list of active directives for a specific post, computed with the same precedence used on the front-end (per-post override, then per-post-type default, then the built-in context). Public only for published, non-password-protected posts; everything else requires edit_post capabilities. On WordPress versions with XML sitemaps (5.5+), URLs that are noindexed are automatically excluded from the core sitemaps. Compatibility WordPress: 4.0 – 7.1 PHP: 5.6 – 8.5 Compliance This plugin adheres to the following security measures and review protocols for each version: WordPress Plugin Handbook WordPress Plugin Security WordPress APIs Security WordPress Coding Standards Plugin Check (PCP) Privacy This plugin does not collect any information about your site, your identity, the plugins, themes or content the site has. Vulnerabilities No vulnerabilities have been published up to version 3.1.3. Found a security vulnerability? Please report it to us privately at the noindex SEO GitHub repository.

Compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load automatically with the powerful Smush image optimizer to keep your WordPress site fast, without losing quality. Smush makes it easy to optimize images, compress images, and deliver images faster across your entire WordPress site. This all-in-one image optimizer automatically reduces image file sizes, enables image lazy load, and serves modern formats like WebP and AVIF, all without breaking image quality or adding extra work. Whether you’re running a blog, store, or portfolio, Smush helps you optimize images at scale and keep your site fast with a trusted WordPress image optimizer. Trusted by 1+ Million Sites | 4.8/5 Star Rating Get everything you need to optimize images and speed up your site. Smush works out of the box with no complicated setup – just install and let it handle the rest. Compress images without losing quality Reduce image file size automatically while keeping your images sharp and clear. Smush is an easy-to-use image optimizer which let’s you compress images using both lossless and lossy compression, giving you the best balance of quality and performance without extra work. You can also compress images outside the media library using Directory Smush, making it easy to optimize images stored in theme folders, plugins, or other directories on your server. Lazy load images for faster pages Enable image lazy load across your site so images load only when needed. This image optimizer improves initial page speed and creates a smoother experience for visitors without extra configuration. Serve WebP and AVIF images automatically (PRO) Convert images to WebP and AVIF and serve them automatically to supported browsers. Smush helps you optimize images using next-gen formats to reduce file size and improve load times across your WordPress site. Deliver images faster with an Image CDN (PRO) Serve images through a global image CDN to reduce latency and improve load times for visitors around the world. 119 global CDN servers Up to 500 GB of bandwidth Faster image delivery based on visitor location Improved performance for image-heavy and high-traffic sites Automatically resize and fix image dimensions (PRO) Eliminate common PageSpeed warnings and improve layout stability with automatic image sizing. Smush dynamically resizes images to perfectly fit their containers, regardless of original size, helping fix the “Properly size images” warning in Google PageSpeed Insights. It also automatically adds missing width and height attributes to your images, improving rendering speed and reducing layout shifts. This helps you meet the “Ensure images have explicit width and height” recommendation without any manual work. Optimize your entire site, automatically Smush works across your whole site as a powerful image optimizer to optimize images as you upload them and maintain performance over time without manual work. Optimize images automatically on upload Compress images in bulk or individually Works with your existing media library No need to re-upload images Enable image lazy load across your site Convert images to WebP and AVIF Deliver images with an integrated image CDN Automatically resize and serve correctly sized images Optimize images outside the media library with Directory Smush Built for performance Smush improves page speed and overall performance by reducing image weight and improving how images are delivered. Reduce page load times Improve user experience Better performance for image-heavy pages Supports image lazy load and preload images (PRO) for faster perceived performance Works with your existing setup Smush is built to work with your current WordPress setup, including popular themes, page builders, and plugins. Compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor, WPBakery, and more Works with WooCommerce stores No need to change your workflow Easy to enable and configure Designed to be simple You don’t need to be a performance expert to optimize images with Smush image optimizer. Works out of the box Simple settings when you need them No technical knowledge required Safe to use on any site Why choose Smush? There are plenty of image optimization plugins, but Smush focuses on making it easy to optimize images, compress images, and improve performance without complexity. As a leading WordPress image optimizer, Smush gives you powerful optimization tools without the technical hassle. Trusted by over 1 million WordPress users Built specifically for WordPress Regular updates and improvements Backed by the WPMU DEV team Get started in minutes Install Smush, activate it, and start to compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load right away. This easy-to-use image optimizer helps most sites see improvements immediately without changing how they upload or manage images. About Us WPMU DEV is a premium supplier of quality WordPress plugins, services and support. Learn more here: https://wpmudev.com/ Don’t forget to stay up to date on everything WordPress from the Internet’s number one resource: WPMU DEV Blog Hey, one more thing… we hope you enjoy our free offerings as much as we’ve loved making them for you! Contact and Credits Originally written by Alex Dunae at Dialect (dialect.ca, e-mail ‘alex’ at ‘dialect dot ca’), 2008-11.