Title: Prevent Indexing on Non-Live Sites
Author: Steve North
Published: <strong>28. November 2023</strong>
Last modified: 6. Oktober 2025

---

Search plugins

This plugin **hasn’t been tested with the latest 3 major releases of WordPress**.
It may no longer be maintained or supported and may have compatibility issues when
used with more recent versions of WordPress.

![](https://s.w.org/plugins/geopattern-icon/staging-prevent-indexing.svg)

# Prevent Indexing on Non-Live Sites

 By [Steve North](https://profiles.wordpress.org/tex0gen/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/staging-prevent-indexing.1.0.1.zip)

 * [Details](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-prevent-indexing/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-prevent-indexing/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-prevent-indexing/#installation)
 * [Development](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-prevent-indexing/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/staging-prevent-indexing/)

## Description

This WordPress plugin ensures that search engine indexing is automatically turned
OFF if the site’s URL doesn’t match the provided live site URL. It’s especially 
useful for development and staging environments, where you might not want content
to be indexed by search engines.

**Features:**
 – Automatically turns off search engine indexing for non-live sites.–
Provides an admin settings page to specify the live site URL. – Displays an admin
notice if indexing has been turned off due to URL mismatch. – Encodes the live site
URL to prevent inadvertent changes when using migration tools. – Admin notice prompts
for setting the live site URL if it hasn’t been configured yet.

### Usage

 1. After activating the plugin, go to the admin dashboard.
 2. Navigate to `Settings` -> `Prevent Indexing`.
 3. Enter your live site URL in the provided input field and save.
 4. If the current site’s URL doesn’t match the provided live site URL, search engine
    indexing will be turned off, and an admin notice will inform you of the same.

### License

[GPLv2 or later](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html)

## Installation

 1. Download the plugin and extract the files.
 2. Upload the extracted folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory.
 3. Activate the plugin through the ‚Plugins‘ menu in WordPress.
 4. Navigate to `Settings` -> `Prevent Indexing` to configure your live site URL.

## FAQ

### Will this plugin modify my content or themes?

No, the plugin only alters the «Search Engine Visibility» setting in WordPress.

### What happens if I forget to set the live site URL?

The plugin will display an admin notice prompting you to set the live site URL. 
Until set, no actions are taken on search engine visibility.

### Why is the live site URL encoded in the database?

The encoding is to prevent migration tools from inadvertently changing the URL during
a search and replace operation, which is common when moving WordPress sites.

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“Prevent Indexing on Non-Live Sites” is open source software. The following people
have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Steve North ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/tex0gen/)

[Translate “Prevent Indexing on Non-Live Sites” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/staging-prevent-indexing)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/staging-prevent-indexing/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/staging-prevent-indexing/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/staging-prevent-indexing/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/staging-prevent-indexing/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.0.1

 * Tested with latest version of WordPress.

#### 1.0

 * Initial release.

## Meta

 *  Version **1.0.1**
 *  Last updated **1 Jahr ago**
 *  Active installations **10+**
 *  WordPress version ** 4.6 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **6.8.11**
 *  PHP version ** 7.1 or higher **
 *  Language
 * [English (US)](https://wordpress.org/plugins/staging-prevent-indexing/)
 * Tags
 * [development](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/development/)[indexing](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/indexing/)
   [prevent](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/prevent/)[seo](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/seo/)
   [staging](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/tags/staging/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://de-ch.wordpress.org/plugins/staging-prevent-indexing/advanced/)

## Ratings

Es wurden noch keine Rezensionen eingereicht.

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/staging-prevent-indexing/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/staging-prevent-indexing/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Steve North ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/tex0gen/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/staging-prevent-indexing/)

## Donate

Would you like to support the advancement of this plugin?

 [ Donate to this plugin ](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/tex0gen)