Description
Multisite search visibility indicator is a lightweight plugin that keeps you informed at a glance whether your site — or any site in your network — is accidentally blocking search engines.
WordPress has a built-in setting under Settings Reading called “Search Engine Visibility”. When enabled, it adds a noindex directive that tells search engines not to index your site. This is easy to accidentally leave on after development, and notoriously hard to notice.
This plugin adds a persistent indicator to the WordPress toolbar so you never miss it again.
Features
- Toolbar indicator visible to administrators at all times (front-end and back-end)
- Color-coded status: green when search engines are allowed, yellow/red when blocked
- Multisite ready: shows a per-site breakdown across your entire network
- Each site in the dropdown links directly to its Reading Settings for a one-click fix
- Bulk management page (Multisite only): allow or discourage search engines across all — or selected — sites in a single action
- Zero configuration required — install and it just works
- No external dependencies, no tracking, no bloat
Multisite Bulk Management
On a Multisite installation the plugin adds a Search Engine Visibility page under Network Admin Settings. From there you can:
- See every site in the network and its current visibility status
- Select individual sites or all sites at once
- Apply “Allow search engines” or “Discourage search engines” in one click
Who is this for?
- Agencies managing WordPress Multisite networks
- Developers who frequently spin up and hand off sites
- Site owners who want a quick sanity check without digging through settings
Screenshots
Toolbar indicator showing a site that is blocking search engines (Multisite view) 
Toolbar indicator showing all sites are visible to search engines
Installation
Automatic installation
- Go to Plugins Add New in your WordPress admin
- Search for Multisite search visibility indicator
- Click Install Now, then Activate
Manual installation
- Download the plugin
.zipfile - Go to Plugins Add New Upload Plugin
- Upload the
.zipand click Install Now, then Activate
Multisite / Network activation
For Multisite it is recommended to Network Activate the plugin so the toolbar indicator and bulk management page are available across all sites and in the network admin.
- Go to Network Admin Plugins
- Find Multisite search visibility indicator and click Network Activate
FAQ
-
Does this change any settings?
-
No. The plugin only reads the
blog_publicoption that WordPress already uses. It does not modify anything unless you use the bulk management page. -
Who can see the toolbar indicator?
-
Only users with the
manage_optionscapability (site administrators) ormanage_networkcapability (super admins on Multisite). -
Will it work on a single-site installation?
-
Yes. On a single site the toolbar shows the current visibility status and links directly to Settings Reading to fix it. The bulk management page is only available on Multisite.
-
How many sites can the bulk manager handle?
-
The plugin queries up to 500 sites per request. If your network is larger than that, feel free to open a support thread and we can look at adding pagination.
-
Does this affect front-end performance?
-
No. The toolbar is only rendered for logged-in users who have the appropriate capabilities. No code runs for regular visitors.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Multisite search visibility indicator” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
“Multisite search visibility indicator” has been translated into 1 locale. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.
Translate “Multisite search visibility indicator” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.0.0
- Initial release
- Toolbar indicator for single site and Multisite