Description
Post Visibility Control adds visibility options to posts, pages, and custom post types. Control exactly where your content appears without making it private.
The plugin integrates seamlessly into the native WordPress interface. In the Block Editor (Gutenberg), you will find the options in the Summary panel of the settings sidebar, together with the rest of the status controls. In the Classic Editor, the options appear within the Visibility section of the Publish metabox, right where you would expect them.
Features:
- Works with posts, pages, and custom post types
- Four visibility options: Visible, Archive only, Search only, Hidden
- Compatible with both Classic Editor and Block Editor (Gutenberg)
- Hidden content remains accessible via direct URL
- Automatically excludes WooCommerce products (they have their own visibility)
- Lightweight and follows WordPress coding standards
- Translation ready
Visibility Options:
- Visible – Content appears in archives and search results (default)
- Archive only – Content appears in archives but not in search results
- Search only – Content appears in search results but not in archives
- Hidden – Content is hidden from archives and search, accessible only via direct link
Use Cases:
- Hide landing pages from blog archives
- Exclude specific posts from search results
- Create content accessible only via direct links
- Control which posts appear on your homepage
How to Use
Block Editor (Gutenberg):
- Edit any post or page
- Open the settings sidebar (gear icon) and select the document tab (Post or Page)
- In the Summary panel you will see “Visibility Control” with four radio buttons
- Select your preferred visibility option
- Save or publish your post
Classic Editor:
- Edit any post or page
- In the Publish metabox (right sidebar), find the “Visibility” section
- Click “Edit” next to Visibility if needed to expand the options
- Below the standard WordPress visibility options, you will find “Visibility Control”
- Select your preferred option from the radio buttons
- Save or publish your post
Support
Need private support or custom development?
Do you need one-on-one help, priority troubleshooting, or a custom feature, integration, or tweak built specifically for your site? I offer private support and custom development. Just contact me and tell me what you need.
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About AyudaWP
We are specialists in WordPress security, SEO, and performance optimization plugins. We create tools that solve real problems for WordPress site owners while maintaining the highest coding standards and accessibility requirements.
Screenshots
Installation
- Upload the
post-visibility-controlfolder to/wp-content/plugins/ - Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Edit any post or page and find the visibility control options in the Visibility section (Classic Editor) or the Summary panel (Block Editor)
FAQ
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Where do I find the visibility options?
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In the Block Editor (Gutenberg): Edit your post and open the settings sidebar. The Visibility Control options appear in the Summary panel with four radio buttons.
In the Classic Editor: Edit your post and look at the Publish metabox in the right sidebar. The Visibility Control options appear within the Visibility section, below the standard WordPress visibility settings.
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Does this work with custom post types?
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Yes, the plugin automatically supports all public custom post types that use the editor.
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Yes, hidden content is only removed from archives and search results. Anyone with the direct URL can still access the content.
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Does this work with WooCommerce products?
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WooCommerce products are excluded because they have their own built-in visibility feature.
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Is the plugin compatible with caching plugins?
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Yes, but you may need to clear your cache after changing visibility settings.
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Does this affect SEO?
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Hidden or excluded content can still be indexed by search engines if accessible via direct URL. Consider using noindex if you want to prevent indexing.
Reviews
There are no reviews for this plugin.
Contributors & Developers
“Post Visibility Control” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
“Post Visibility Control” has been translated into 2 locales. Thank you to the translators for their contributions.
Translate “Post Visibility Control” into your language.
Interested in development?
Browse the code, check out the SVN repository, or subscribe to the development log by RSS.
Changelog
1.1.0
- Improved: Block editor integration rebuilt on the official PluginPostStatusInfo API. The options now live in the Summary panel of the settings sidebar instead of being injected into the status popup.
- Improved: Tested up to WordPress 7.1.
- Fix: Visibility options did not appear in the block editor when the admin language was other than English or Spanish.
- Fix: After an archive or search query, the visibility exclusion leaked into every later query of the same request, so hidden posts could vanish from unrelated queries such as featured post blocks. The exclusion is now scoped to the query it targets.
- Fix: PHP 8.5 deprecation notice (null used as array offset) on admin screens without a post type context.
For older changelog entries, please check the changelog.txt file