Trusted WordPress tutorials, when you need them most.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress
WPB Cup
25 Million+
Websites using our plugins
16+
Years of WordPress experience
3000+
WordPress tutorials
by experts

No Self Ping – Keeps WordPress from Sending Pings to Your Own Site

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on WPBeginner. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations. Learn more about Editorial Process.

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.

Disclosure: Our content is reader-supported. This means if you click on some of our links, then we may earn a commission. See how WPBeginner is funded, why it matters, and how you can support us. Here's our editorial process.

Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at WPBeginner is a team of WordPress experts led by Syed Balkhi with over 16 years of experience in WordPress, Web Hosting, eCommerce, SEO, and Marketing. Started in 2009, WPBeginner is now the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry and is often referred to as the Wikipedia for WordPress.

The Ultimate WordPress Toolkit

Get FREE access to our toolkit - a collection of WordPress related products and resources that every professional should have!

Reader Interactions

22 CommentsLeave a Reply

  1. Syed Balkhi says

    Hey WPBeginner readers,
    Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
    Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
    You can get more details about the contest from here.
    Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!

  2. 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

  3. 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?

  4. 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)”?

  5. 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?

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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!

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. 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?

  12. 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 :-)

Leave a Reply to Wamiq Ali Cancel reply

Thanks for choosing to leave a comment. Please keep in mind that all comments are moderated according to our comment policy, and your email address will NOT be published. Please Do NOT use keywords in the name field. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation.

WPBeginner Assistant
How can I help you?

By chatting, you consent to this chat being stored according to our privacy policy and your email will be added to receive weekly WordPress tutorials from WPBeginner.