Everybody knows that internal linking is good for SEO. It is also good for user experience because it helps the user relate to what is being talked about in a specific article. Ever since WordPress 3.1 introduced internal linking, like many others we have found ourselves linking to our previous posts a lot more than we used to. You wouldn’t think that this would become a problem until you notice a whole lot of self pings to your own site. Some folks really like this default feature of WordPress because it lets their users keep track of related posts in the comment. For others like ourselves, this becomes a issue because we believe it clutters our comment area.
You would think that there would be a crazy hard fix for this, but it is very simple. All you have to do is download and install the plugin No Self Pings.
Unlike other plugins, this plugin does NOT have a super complex settings panel. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t have any settings panel at all. It is built to do one thing and one thing only. That is to keep WordPress from sending pings to your own site. Plugins like these are the ideal type because it works silently in the background having no impact on your site’s load time, or your day to day activity.
Are you tired of self-pings? Then turn it off now with No Self Pings plugin.
dutchmichael says
The reason the plugin “No Self Pings” has not been upgraded in in the past 6 years, and is only compatible up to WordPress version 3.0.5 is because no self pings was added to WordPress core with File 5224.patch, 1.0 KB (added by Viper007Bond, 9 years ago)
Remove self-pings via a filter (literal copy/paste of the plugin).
@dutchmichael
KonaGirl says
Sorry I just read another post where someone had asked the same question. So am I understanding this right? I install the plugin and then I don’t need to untick the link notification in settings so that we will send pings to other sites?
KonaGirl says
I wonder what the difference is between using this plugin and going to “settings” > “discussion” and unticking “Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks)”?
Salud Casera says
I installed this one just now, about 4 years without updates, will see how it goes. Thanks again for a great post.
Nafisul Islam says
thanks for this post, when i searched for “best ping site” i found a post saying that huge pinging may cause trouble. is it true?
WPBeginner Support says
Yes.
Admin
Wamiq Ali says
This is something I was looking for my site, as it gets really annoying when WordPress starts to ping back own published posts. Thankyou! But I hope that this outdated plugin may not have any security issues
Editorial Staff says
If it did, then we wouldn’t use it on our site
Admin
Wamiq Ali says
That’s Great then
And yes it solved the problem too (y)
Sue Kearney says
I’m late the party here, and I have a questions. No Self Pings shows compatibility only up to WP 3.0.5 and hasn’t been updated in over two years, a danger sign for me. Does it still work for you?
What about the suggestion above in the comments: “In WordPress Dashboard -> Settings -> Discussion Settings. Uncheck the first option – Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article. Then it’ll not ping any blog. I think this is best solution. Am I right?”
What do you recommend to get rid of those pesky self-pings currently?
Thanks so much!
Love and light,
Sue
Editorial Staff says
We still have the plugin active on our site. Often the authors forget to update the plugin (using the logic… if nothing is broken, then why update?). From our understanding unchecking the discussion setting, it should do it as long as you are ok with the fact that you would not send ping to other sites.
Admin
Mustapha says
Hi,
Thank you for the useful tip! I installed the plugin but the linked posts still appear in the comment section. What can I do about that?
Thanks!
Editorial Staff says
It doesn’t get rid of existing trackbacks and pingbacks. It only stops future ones. To get rid of trackbacks and pingbacks on existing post, you would have to follow this tutorial:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-disable-trackbacks-and-pings-on-existing-wordpress-posts/
Admin
Troy C says
kinda trolling your site, lol.. But we did install this as I think I’m going to get caught back up on your info. Thanks guys.
Gautam Doddamani says
i always link my about page and guest page and i wanted to get rid of self pinging which was enabled by default in wordpress..now using this plugin thanks ;D
namaserajesh says
In WordPress Dashboard -> Settings -> Discussion Settings. Uncheck the first option – Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article. Then it’ll not ping any blog. I think this is best solution. Am I right?
SiteBuilder says
No Self Pings is a useful plugin, I prefer to manage internal links manually.
uncommonchick says
Thank you, I have looking for something to stop the internal pinging…it’s very annoying! I’m going to install this plugin right now
incription says
Another helpful plugin thanks for the information and link
phankimi says
This plugin is all i looking for.
toddsantoro says
I have been looking for a way to do this. Thanks Syed!