SearchCloak
Hides Pages & Posts from search results and search engine indexes.
Consider an alternative
SearchCloak shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 20+ sites and was last updated 8 years ago, and scores 24/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (20+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 7 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 5.0 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where SearchCloak stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| admin | >100 |
| cse | #16 |
| >100 | |
| search | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About SearchCloak
From the official readme · v2.1.2Description
SearchCloak allows you to hide specific Posts and Pages from search results.
There are many reasons you may want to remove specific pages from search results:
- Parent pages used to organize URLs or menus, but don’t contain actual content
- Partial page “sections” assembled by plugins into more complete pages
- Pay-per-click Landing Pages (You probably don’t want those showing up in search engines.)
- Pages that present similar or duplicate content that might otherwise appear multiple times in search results
This plugin adds a “SearchCloak” option to the edit screen of Posts and Pages.
When running the Gutenberg editor, this option block will appear under the “Document” tab in the right-hand column.
The options are:
show – Show this Page or Post in search results (default)
cloak – Hide this Page or Post from search results
children – Hide this Page and all its children from search results (not available on Posts since they don’t have children)
Features:
- Cloaked pages are also marked as “noindex” for search engines
- You can hide ALL the children of a given page
- Compatible with most search plugins
- Works with Google Custom Search
- Admin search results DO include cloaked pages
- Cleans up multiple “robots” meta tags in the head section (sometimes happens with multiple plugins or settings)
- Cloaking can be enabled for custom post types in the dashboard
Installation
Install from WordPress.org
- Log into your website administrator panel
- Go to Plugins page and select “Add New”
- Search for “SearchCloak”
- Click “Install Now” on the SearchCloak entry
- Click Activate Plugin
Install via ftp
- Download the plugin zip file using the button above
- Log into your website administrator panel
- Go to Plugins page and select “Add New”
- Click “Upload”
- Choose your recently downloaded zip file
- Click the Install Now button
- Click Activate Plugin
Changelog
Version 2.0.3 fixes php error when displaying dashboard settings.
= 2.1.3=
Tested and updated for WordPress version 5.0.0
Documentation updated for Gutenberg
Clean up markdown in readme.txt
2.1.2
Tested and updated for WordPress version 4.8
2.1.1
Updated documentation
2.1.0
Updated for WordPress version 4.7
Combines duplicate NOINDEX tags if multiple plugins generated extra tags
2.0.3
Test for empty case when displaying dashboard settings page
2.0.2
Fix readme
2.0.1
Check existence of saved values before drawing edit box
Screenshots
For developers
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Best SearchCloak alternatives
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FAQ
SearchCloak: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 20, 2026
Is SearchCloak free?
Yes. SearchCloak is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is SearchCloak safe to use in 2026?
SearchCloak shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 20+ sites and was last updated 8 years ago, and scores 24/100 on our health check.
How many websites use SearchCloak?
SearchCloak is active on 20+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 3,875 times since it launched in May 2014. It was downloaded 151 times in the last 30 days.
Does SearchCloak work with WordPress 7.1?
SearchCloak is officially tested up to WordPress 5.0.0, while the latest release is 7.1.3. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was SearchCloak last updated?
The latest version, 2.1.2, was released on December 6, 2018 (8 years ago).
Who makes SearchCloak?
SearchCloak is developed and maintained by firebrandllc.
What are the best alternatives to SearchCloak?
The most popular alternatives to SearchCloak are Loginizer (1M+ installs), Redux Framework (900K+ installs) and Admin Menu Editor (300K+ installs).
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