Title: Bare Bones SEO Author: charltondigital Published: September 29, 2026 Last modified: September 29, 2026 --- Search plugins ![](https://ps.w.org/bare-bones-seo/assets/banner-772x250.png?rev=3718221) ![](https://ps.w.org/bare-bones-seo/assets/icon.svg?rev=3718221) # Bare Bones SEO By [charltondigital](https://profiles.wordpress.org/charltondigital/) [Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/bare-bones-seo.1.0.0.zip) * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/bare-bones-seo/#description) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/bare-bones-seo/#reviews) * [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/bare-bones-seo/#installation) * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/bare-bones-seo/#developers) [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bare-bones-seo/) ## Description Bare Bones SEO is built on the premise that 95% of ranking-moving SEO work happens outside plugin settings. So the plugin stays out of your way. No telemetry. No upsells. No dashboard widgets. Just clean control over the things a plugin should actually handle: indexing, sitemaps, titles, descriptions, schema, and redirects. Built for developers and agencies managing sites where precision matters more than wizard-style automation. #### Key Features * **Global Indexation Controls:** Set indexing and sitemap behavior by post type across your entire site from a single screen. * **Page-Level Overrides:** Title, description, JSON-LD schema, and indexing controls on every post and page. Page-level settings can only be more restrictive than site-level — never more permissive. * **Bulk Page Meta Editor:** Audit and edit titles, descriptions, and indexing across your entire site in a paginated AJAX grid without opening individual editors. * **301 Redirect Manager:** Handle moved pages and external redirects. Runs only on 404s to avoid any frontend overhead. * **404 Monitor:** A read-only log of 404 errors by path, paginated and capability- checked. * **Health Notices:** Detects common configuration problems (site set to discourage search engines, entire post types noindexed) with one-click fixes. ## Installation 1. Upload the `bare-bones-seo` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory. The folder name must be `bare-bones-seo` exactly. 2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins screen in WordPress. 3. Navigate to **Bare Bones SEO** in the admin menu to configure global indexation settings. ## FAQ ### Will this conflict with Yoast SEO or RankMath? Running two SEO plugins simultaneously will cause conflicts — both plugins will attempt to output title tags and schema markup. Bare Bones SEO is intended to be your only active SEO plugin. ### Does this work with custom post types? Yes. Global indexation controls apply to any registered post type. Page-level meta boxes appear on all public post types. ### How do I add Google Analytics or other tracking codes? Bare Bones SEO deliberately doesn’t insert tracking code — plugins that inject scripts into every page are a common security risk. Use one of these instead: Site Kit by Google (Google Analytics, Search Console verification, and Google Ads), your theme’s header/footer scripts setting, a lightweight code snippets plugin, or the service’s own official WordPress plugin. ### Wordfence is blocking my settings from saving. Wordfence’s WAF can occasionally block POST requests containing JSON-LD schema. To fix this, add the plugin’s settings pages to your Wordfence allowlist under ** Wordfence > Firewall > Allowlisted URLs**. ### What does “bare bones” mean for long-term development? It’s a deliberate product philosophy, not a development phase. Features that belong outside a plugin (content analysis, keyword tracking, rank monitoring) won’t be added. The plugin will stay focused on what a plugin should control. ## Reviews There are no reviews for this plugin. ## Contributors & Developers “Bare Bones SEO” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. Contributors * [ charltondigital ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/charltondigital/) [Translate “Bare Bones SEO” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/bare-bones-seo) ### Interested in development? [Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bare-bones-seo/), check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/bare-bones-seo/), or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/bare-bones-seo/) by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/bare-bones-seo/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss). ## Changelog #### 1.0.0 * First public release. * Removed the tracking snippet manager. The plugin no longer inserts scripts into your pages; see the FAQ for where tracking codes go instead. * Security and coding-standards hardening across all admin screens. * Deleting the plugin now removes its 404 log. All other settings and page data are kept. #### 0.1.3 * Bulk page meta editor: paginated at 50 per page with delegated row expand/collapse. * Schema field: invalid JSON warning fires after AJAX save and holds the row open. * Health notice system: detects discouraged indexing and fully noindexed post types. #### 0.1.0 * Initial beta release. * Global indexation controls with three-state ladder model (Index / Remove from Sitemap / Noindex). * Page-level title, description, and JSON-LD schema fields. * 301 redirect manager. * 404 monitor. * GA4/GTM tracking snippet storage. ## Meta * Version **1.0.0** * Last updated **10 hours ago** * Active installations **Fewer than 10** * WordPress version ** 6.2 or higher ** * Tested up to **7.1.2** * PHP version ** 7.4 or higher ** * Tags * [metadata](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/metadata/)[noindex](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/noindex/) [redirects](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/redirects/)[seo](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/seo/) [sitemap](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/sitemap/) * [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/bare-bones-seo/advanced/) ## Ratings No reviews have been submitted yet. [Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bare-bones-seo/reviews/#new-post) [See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bare-bones-seo/reviews/) ## Contributors * [ charltondigital ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/charltondigital/) ## Support Got something to say? Need help? [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/bare-bones-seo/)