Description

Publish it — without putting it everywhere. Hide Posts gives you a simple checklist on every post, page, or product that controls exactly where it appears: keep a post out of the homepage and archives, off the search results, out of your RSS feed and REST API, or invisible to XML sitemaps and Yoast SEO — while it stays perfectly reachable at its own URL.

Perfect for syndication-only articles, landing pages, evergreen content you don’t want cluttering the blog roll, or products that should only be found via direct link.

Try the Demo

Choose exactly where a post is hidden:

Site pages — homepage, blog page, category, tag, author, and date archives, search results, post navigation (previous/next), and the Recent Posts widget
Feeds & APIs — RSS feed and the REST API
Sitemaps & SEO — WordPress core XML sitemaps, Yoast SEO sitemap, Yoast breadcrumbs, and Yoast internal link suggestions
WooCommerce — hide products from the shop page, product category pages, and the store REST API

Built for real editorial workflows:

Full Block Editor support — a native sidebar panel with all hide options, plus the classic metabox
Works with the Query Loop block and custom queries
Enable hiding for any Custom Post Type from the settings page
Bulk Edit and Quick Edit support for managing many posts at once
“Hidden On” column in the posts list so you always see what’s hidden where
Custom database table and layered caching — no postmeta bloat, no slow queries on busy sites

Screenshots

The Hide Posts options in the Add / Edit post screen. — The Settings screen for the plugin.

Installation

Installation and uninstallation are extremely simple. You can use WordPress’ automatic install or follow the manual instructions below.

Installing:

Download the package.
Extract it to the “plugins” folder of your WordPress directory.
In the Admin Panel, go to “Plugins” and activate it.
Go to Settings -> Hide Posts to enable the hide functionality for additional post types beside ‘post’.

Uninstalling:

In the Admin Panel, go to “Plugins”, deactivate the plugin and click “Delete”.

Usage:

Using this plugin is simple. Once it has been activated, navigate to Settings -> Hide Posts and select additional post types for which you want to use the Hide functionality. The functionality is enabled by default for ‘Posts’ and cannot be disabled for that type post.

If you need any additional help fell free to contact me at martin@martincv.com for more information.

FAQ

Is a hidden post still accessible on its own URL?: Yes — by design. Hiding controls where a post is listed (homepage, archives, search, feeds, sitemaps, etc.), not who can open it. Anyone with the direct link can still read it, which is exactly what you want for syndication-only or direct-link content. If you need to restrict access itself, use WordPress’ built-in Private or Password-protected post status instead.
Will hiding a post remove it from Google?: No. Hiding a post from the XML sitemap only removes it from the sitemap — search engines that already know the URL can still index it. To keep a post out of search results, set it to “noindex” with your SEO plugin (e.g. Yoast’s “Allow search engines to show this content?” setting). The two work well together: hide it from your site’s listings here, noindex it there.
I checked a hide option but the post is still showing. Why?: The plugin clears its own caches the moment you save, so first check external layers: a page cache, object cache, or CDN can keep serving the old page — purge those. If the post appears via a theme or page-builder widget that runs its own custom database query, that query bypasses WordPress’ standard hooks and the plugin cannot filter it.
Why do hidden posts still appear in the wp-admin Posts list?: That’s intentional — you need to see and manage hidden posts. The “Hidden On” column shows exactly where each post is hidden. Hiding only affects visitor-facing output.
Does it work with Custom Post Types?: Yes. Go to Settings Hide Posts and enable the post types you want. Posts are enabled by default, and WooCommerce products get their own store-specific options.
Do I need Yoast SEO Premium for the internal link suggestions option?: The “Hide from Yoast internal link suggestions” option applies to Yoast’s internal linking suggestions, which are a Yoast SEO Premium feature. The Yoast sitemap and breadcrumb options work with free Yoast SEO.
What happens if I deactivate or delete the plugin?: Deactivating simply stops the hiding — all posts reappear everywhere, nothing is lost. Deleting the plugin also removes its settings and visibility data, so hidden posts become fully visible again.
This plugin saved me a lot of work. Where can I donate?: Thanks, donations help us to continue improving our plugins. Read More About Donations.
I want to migrate from other hide posts plugin to WordPress Hide Posts plugin: This is possible. This functionality is not free. You can contact me at martin@martincv.com for more information and send the name of the plugin you want to migrate from.

Reviews

cupidsalman May 28, 2025

I have been using the “Hide Posts” plugin by MartinCV for approximately 1.5 years, and up until recently, it has been a useful tool for managing which posts to display on my WordPress site. The ability to hide posts on the front page, archive pages, blog page, recent posts widget, and even on single post pages has been very beneficial for customizing my content visibility. However, after upgrading my WordPress version to 6.8.1 on April 30, 2025, I have noticed a significant negative impact on my site’s SEO performance. The plugin seems to no longer function properly, which has led to some of my posts being improperly hidden or displayed. This disruption has caused me to lose visibility in search engines, and I’ve seen a noticeable decline in traffic as a result. I use the following settings with this plugin: Hide on frontpage Hide on archive page (including any custom taxonomy archive pages) Hide on blog page (selected in Settings Reading) Hide from recent posts widget Hide on single post page (including recent posts, related posts, and any other widget shown on the single post page) I hope to see improvements in future updates, as this plugin has been incredibly useful in the past. However, without a fix or update to address this issue, it is currently hindering my site’s performance. Looking forward to seeing improvements soon. Best regards, Salman Khayam

jerome21z April 8, 2025

Perfect. It does exactly what it says, and it offers lots of display options. It also doesn’t affect SEO because I can see my posts in the xml sitemap after hiding it from the archive.

brooklynfox September 3, 2024

I made 20 something posts with lists of links by town/city. The links would then go off to the various towns and city pages. For some reason when I searched for a town in search the new alphabetical posts would show but not keeping any width settings unlike the other post listings. It broke the look of the page and the dreaded horizontal scrollbar appeared with a long horizontal list of the link text. I tried to fix it but could not so thought maybe I could hide those posts from the search results and went looking. As you will all know looking for plug ins is not an exciting journey so I was not thrilled. However I was lucky enough to find this plug in first search and it works EXACTLY as it says it does, which IME is weird for a plug in! So after simply checking a box my problem is solved and all the annoying posts are hidden from search. There are a tonne of other free options for the plug in but this is all I needed…for now:) Well done developer, your plug in is making a difference and is very cool!

bigbatsbutt October 4, 2023

Thank you

godbeloved September 21, 2022

This plugin is great but can you add a feature that can enable us to unhide posts in bulk? instead of doing that one by one? Maybe from siteurl/wp-admin/edit.php Thanks.

bgmsquad February 15, 2022 2 replies

This plugin helped us in a big possible way. Thanks to developer. We have one small request. Can you implement a feature Post unhiding after specific time or date. That would be grateful.

Read all 22 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“Hide Posts” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

MartinCV

“Hide Posts” has been translated into 1 locale. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.

Translate “Hide Posts” into your language.

Interested in development?

Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.

Changelog

2.1.2

Release Date – 30 July 2026

Fixed: posts marked “Hide from Yoast internal link suggestions” disappearing from the admin Posts list. The integration now uses Yoast’s wpseo_link_suggestions_indexables filter and correctly hides posts from internal link suggestions (Yoast SEO Premium) instead of altering unrelated queries.
Fixed: “Hide on Yoast SEO sitemap” not working — the integration now uses Yoast’s wpseo_exclude_from_sitemap_by_post_ids filter to exclude individual posts.
Fixed: cache invalidation when hide options are saved from the Classic Editor, Quick Edit, or the Gutenberg sidebar — changes now take effect immediately.
Fixed: empty results are now cached, avoiding a repeated database query on every request.
Fixed: uninstall now also removes the legacy “Hide in RSS feed” post meta.
Fixed: translation loading moved to init for WordPress 6.7+ compatibility.
Improved: hardened input handling in the Classic Editor save handler and the Gutenberg REST endpoint; removed unused code.
Compatibility: tested up to WordPress 7.1.

2.1.1

Release Date – 30 December 2025

Potential bug fix where hidden posts do not show in the admin area.

2.1.0

Release Date – 24 November 2025

Major Update: Gutenberg Block Editor Support & Custom Database Architecture

New Features

Full Gutenberg Block Editor Support – Complete React-based sidebar panel with live checkboxes
Custom REST API Integration – Dedicated REST endpoints for Gutenberg editor (/whp/v1/hide-settings/{id})
Select All / Deselect All Buttons – Quick bulk selection in Gutenberg sidebar
Custom Database Table Architecture – All data stored in wp_whp_posts_visibility table (NO wp_postmeta usage)
Smart Metabox Detection – Classic Editor metabox hidden in Gutenberg to avoid confusion
SEO Plugin Integration – Hide posts from WordPress XML sitemap, Yoast SEO sitemap, breadcrumbs, and internal link suggestions
Gutenberg Query Loop Block Support – Hidden posts properly excluded from Query Loop blocks
Latest Posts Block Support – Hidden posts excluded from Gutenberg Latest Posts block
Complete Bulk Edit & Quick Edit – Full AJAX functionality for efficient bulk operations
Migration Notice Improvements – Only shows when legacy data exists with clear migration path

Gutenberg/Block Editor Enhancements

React-based sidebar panel using WordPress @wordpress/plugins API
Real-time checkbox state management with React hooks
Auto-save when clicking Update/Publish (integrated with Gutenberg save cycle)
Conditional field display (CPT, WooCommerce, Yoast options shown only when relevant)
WordPress 6.6+ compatibility (wp.editor.PluginDocumentSettingPanel)
Backward compatibility with older WP versions (wp.editPost fallback)

Performance Improvements

95%+ Faster Migration – Bulk INSERT…SELECT queries instead of individual inserts
70% Fewer Database Queries – Custom table optimized with indexes instead of postmeta searches
Intelligent Cache Invalidation – Only clears changed conditions (80-95% more efficient)
Object Cache Integration – Full wp_cache support with transient fallback
Optimized Data Retrieval – Single query fetches all hide settings per post

Security Enhancements

SQL Injection Prevention – All table names escaped with esc_sql(), all queries use prepared statements
REST API Permission Checks – Proper current_user_can() validation on all endpoints
Race Condition Protection – Migration uses transient locks to prevent concurrent execution
Autosave Protection – Metabox save skipped for WordPress autosaves
Input Validation – Whitelist validation for bulk edit actions
Nonce Verification – Separate handling for Classic Editor (nonce required) and Gutenberg (REST API)

Bug Fixes

Fixed Gutenberg checkbox values all saving as false (React state dependencies issue)
Fixed Classic Editor metabox appearing in Gutenberg (causing confusion)
Fixed undefined variable bug in fallback logic
Fixed migration notice appearing on fresh installations
Fixed duplicate key errors in custom table (added existence checks)
Fixed cache invalidation to be condition-specific instead of global
Added comprehensive database error checking and logging

Technical Improvements

Custom REST API Class – Dedicated REST_API class handles all Gutenberg endpoints
React State Management – Uses useState, useEffect, useSelect hooks properly
Database Table with UNIQUE Constraints – Prevents duplicate entries at database level
Comprehensive Error Logging – Clear messages for debugging database and save issues
WordPress Coding Standards – Improved code quality and compliance
Enhanced PHPDoc Documentation – Better inline documentation throughout
Cleaner Uninstall Process – Removes all plugin options and custom table

Compatibility

Tested with WordPress 6.7+
Fully compatible with Gutenberg Block Editor
Compatible with Classic Editor plugin (when installed)
Compatible with Yoast SEO (all versions)
Compatible with WooCommerce
PHP 7.3+ required

Developer Notes

Custom database table: wp_whp_posts_visibility (post_id, condition, UNIQUE constraint)
REST API endpoints: GET/POST /whp/v1/hide-settings/{post_id}
Data stored ONLY in custom table (wp_postmeta used only for migration fallback)
Gutenberg script: /assets/admin/js/whp-gutenberg.js (React-based)
All database queries use prepared statements
Comprehensive caching with wp_cache and transients (WEEK_IN_SECONDS TTL)

2.0.3

Release Date – 12 January 2024

Added support for Yoast Duplicate Post to clone the hidden flags over to the new copy

= 2.0.2
Release Date – 30 December 2024

Updated frontpage / homepage query condition

2.0.1

Release Date – 27 December 2024

Small updates on the displaying of the flags in admin.

2.0

Release Date – 27 December 2024

Added custom database table to hold the hide post flags.
All new Hide flags on posts will be saved in the new database table. A fallback to old data is also added in case the old data is not yet migrated to the new table.
Added option to migrate the old data from wp_postmeta table to the new table.

1.1.1

Release Date – 05 October 2022

Bug fix related to checkbox not checked when enabling Hide posts on signle post page.

1.1.0

Release Date – 02 September 2022

Added option to hide posts on the single post page. This option will hide posts shown in any widget, block (related posts, recent posts etc) on the single post page.

1.0.3

Release Date – 01 September 2022

Bug fix with conditional logic on when to modify meta query.

1.0.2

Release Date – 20 February 2022

Hide WooCommerce Product from REST API bug fix.

1.0.1

Release Date – 13 February 2022

Bug fix. Added check for enabled post type for REST API Hide.

1.0.0

Release Date – 07 February 2022

Code base optimized and refactored.
Added option to hide CPT on their own archive page.
Added option to hide any post type on archive page other than category, tag. Ex: Custom Taxonomy archive page.
Added option to hide posts in REST API calls.
Added option to hide Woocommerce Products in REST API calls.

0.5.4

Release Date – 26 December 2021

Added option to hide posts on the default WordPress Recent Posts Widget
(NOTE: This option will not work on the Latest Posts Gutenberg block. The feature can be tracked here core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54580)
Added compatibility with Zeen Theme Load More functionality

0.5.3

Release Date – 15 August 2020

Fixed jQuery Migrate Helper warning showing in console

0.5.2

Release Date – 12 August 2020

Added option to select all hide options in post metabox
Add new column in posts list table that shows on which pages the post is hidden
Added option in Settigns -> Hide Posts to disable the showing of the said column

0.5.1

Release Date – 19 May 2020

Added option to hide posts default WordPress post navigation
Fix for hiding menu items bug

0.5.0

Release Date – 17 April 2020

Removed option to hide post from REST API added in version 0.4.3 due to conflict with Guttenberg save / update post.
The conflict happens because Guttenberg is using the REST API to save post and load additional data the hide post on REST API was causing conficts with the data.

0.4.4

Release Date – 14 April 2020

Added option to hide post on date archive page

0.4.3

Release Date – 06 April 2020

Added option to hide posts from REST API all posts query: /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/
Note: Single post entry in REST API remains available /wp-json/wp/v2/posts/[post_id]

0.4.2

Release Date – 13 February 2020

Bug fix

0.4.1

Release Date – 13 February 2020

Workaround added for issue showing warnings when is_front_page() function is called in pre_get_posts filter. This is related to wordpress core and can be tracked at #27015 and #21790

0.4.0

Release Date – 21 December 2019

Added option to hide posts on the blog page as selected in Settings -> Reading (Posts Page)

0.3.2

Release Date – 13 December 2019

Bug fix for checking if Woocommerce is active on mutlinetwork site

0.3.1

Release Date – 07 December 2019

Added option to hide posts in RSS Feed
Added options to hide Woocommece products on Store (Shop) page and on Product category pages

0.2.1

Release Date – 13 November 2019

Compatibility checkup with WordPress 5.3
Added option to enable the Hide Post functionality for additional post types (Check Settings -> Hide Posts)
Added uninstall.php file to clean up options and post meta added by the plugin

0.1.1

Release Date – 05 September 2019

Code and compatibility updates.
Added translateable strings.

0.0.1

Release Date – 11 October 2017

Public release of ‘WordPress Hide Posts’

Plugin Affected SEO After WordPress Update

Perfect Right Out of the Box; Does Not Affect SEO

I needed to hide alphabetical posts from search results

Amazing and updated

Perfect

Works as said. No issues so far.