Author: Pieter Bos
Contributor: Andy Fragen
Free addon for the Yoast SEO plugin to hide the bloat it adds to your WordPress backend. See changelog for what's new in this release.
Almost anyone who uses the Yoast SEO plugin will agree that it is a good SEO plugin, but the developers are adding more and more unwanted things to the WordPress backend.
Now also compatible with ClassicPress 1.0.0
The purpose of the Hide SEO Bloat plugin, a free addon for the Yoast SEO plugin, is to clean up all those unwanted things.
The Settings page of the plugin shows checkboxes for everything. Ticking the box means hiding (or removing) that particular "feature".
It is a good idea to have a look at the Settings page if only to see what you can fine-tune. The link to the page has been added to the Yoast SEO menu and of course there is also a link to it from the Plugins page.
If you like the Hide SEO Bloat plugin, please consider leaving a review. You can also help a great deal by translating the plugin into your own language. Alternatively you are welcome to make a donation. Thanks!
The default settings of the current release are as follows:
- hide the cartoon-style sidebar ads on almost all settings pages of the Yoast SEO plugin
- hide the tagline nag showing as a Problem in the Yoast SEO Dashboard
- hide the robots nag showing as a Problem in the Yoast SEO Dashboard and in the advanced tab of Yoast SEO UI in edit Post/Page screen when your site is blocking access to robots
- hide the Upsell Notice in the Notification box that shows in the Yoast SEO Dashboard
- hide the Upsell Notice in social tab of Yoast Post/Page metabox
- hide the Premium Upsell Admin Block that shows in the entire Yoast SEO backend
- hides "Premium" submenu in its entirety
- hides "Go Premium" metabox on edit Post/Page screens
- hides Post/Page/Taxonomy Deletion Premium Ad
- hide Problems box from Yoast SEO Dashboard
- hide Notifications box from Yoast SEO Dashboard
- hide image warning nag that shows in edit Post/Page screen when featured image is smaller than 200x200 pixels
- hide check Configuration wizard box that shows on top of most admin screens
- hide issue counter from adminbar and sidebar
- hide ad for premium version in help center
- hide the SEO Score, Readability, Title and Meta Description admin columns on the Posts/Pages screens; Focus keyword column can be hidden too
- hide the SEO Score and Readability admin columns on taxonomies
- hide SEO Settings on individual profile page
- remove primary category feature
- remove the Yoast SEO admin bar menu
- remove the Yoast SEO widget from the WordPress Dashboard
The link to the page has been added to the Yoast SEO menu and of course there is also a link to it from the Plugins page.
Yes, you can. For version 2.4.0 Andy Fragen has refactored that part of the plugin to make it fully Multisite compatible. The Settings screen only shows in Network Admin as we don't think it makes sense that individual sites override the Network Settings.
Yes, you are right, the name is a bit vague (see Changelog v1.8.0). On the other hand there is only one SEO plugin that adds a lot of bloat to the WordPress Dashboard and that is the Yoast SEO plugin.
Do you have the Yoast SEO plugin installed? It hides the bloat from that plugin only. If you have and the plugin still doesn't do anything, then please open a support ticket.
Great question!
Indeed the Hide SEO Bloat plugin writes its settings to the database. The included uninstall.php file removes all the plugin-related entries from the database once you remove the plugin via the WordPress Plugins page (not on deactivation).
Please open an issue here on Github
We welcome your contributions very much! PR's will be considered and of course bug reports and feature requests can also be seen as contributions! If you're interested in becoming involved, please let us know or simply send a PR with your proposed improvement.
- License: GNU Version 3 or Any Later Version
- License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html
- Donate link: https://so-wp.com/donations
- release date November 19, 2018
- fix issue where Go Premium metabox option makes snippet preview box blank (https://wordpress.org/support/topic/go-premium-metabox-option-makes-snippet-preview-box-blank/); thanks for reporting @pxlar8
- release date October 29, 2018
- fix hiding "Add related keyphrase" in metabox as it only serves as an add for premium version
- release date October 28, 2018
- hide new readability "features" of Post/Page metabox incl. "Add related keyphrase" menu as it is nothing more than an ad for premium version
- update hide Go Premium rules
- compatible with ClassicPress 1.0.0
- release date September 25, 2018
- refactor options to ensure that additional settings will have default values. Fixes issue #44
- release date September 20, 2018
- add option to hide the Premium ad that shows after a Post, Page or Taxonomy is deleted (see issue #44)
- release date September 2, 2018
- add option to hide the check Configuration wizard box that shows on top of most admin screens
- removed option to hide Post/Page content analysis incl. content/keyword score, because it can now be turned off in the Features tab of the General Settings of Yoast SEO
- removed option to hide "add keyword box" (which is an ad for Premium), because it can now be turned off from within Yoast SEO Features tab
- make flow of Setting page a little more clear
- release date June 11, 2018
- address issues #40
- NEW: remove primary category feature
- NEW: hide SEO settings on individual profile page
- remove option to hide red star for Premium submenu as there doesn't seem to be a red star anymore
- NEW: hide Premium submenu in its entirety
- NEW: hide "Go Premium" metabox on edit Post/Page screens
- update hide help center ads
- release date January 2, 2018
- fix issue #37
- remove Github Branch in header info
- change link to personal LI profile
- release date October 25, 2017
- add
!importantto CSS rule to enforce it
- release date October 25, 2017
- change hiding of sidebar ads from
visibility: hiddentodisplay: noneto avoid conflict with screen width
- release date October 10, 2017
- adjust the settings of Help Center that received overhaul in Yoast SEO 5.6
- updated links due to renewal of SO WP website
- release date September 25, 2017
- modified issue counter of sidebar which was showing orange background again
- release date August 25, 2017
- hide Upsell Notice in social tab of Yoast Post/Page metabox
- styling adjustments settings page
- release date July 25, 2017
- hide the Premium Upsell Admin Block that was introduced in version 5.1 (of Yoast SEO) and shows in the entire Yoast SEO backend
- release date April 6, 2017
- IMPORTANT: as this is a major release, most likely you will need to save the settings again; apologies for any inconvenience.
- another massive rewrite by Andy Fragen; big thank you Andy who now also has become an official contributor to the plugin!
- rewrite of settings to single array, making it the same for single site and multisite installs
- use better capabilities for both single site and mulitsite
- update for WordPress Coding Standards (DocBlock fixes)
- fix uninstall to use
$wpdb->prepare(), necessary for potential security issues - add remove admin bar menu option back (removed since v2.5.0) to make it easier for Superadmin in Multisite setup to remove it globally
- set defaults from defaults listed in
get_defaults() - change radio to checkbox_multi
- fix for errors on update
- fix checkbox_multi options to use in_array
- fix need to check empty not in_array
- add plugin's location on Github to make plugin suitable for use with Github Updater by @afragen
- update settings page text
- update admin styling
- update screenshot-1
- update readme.txt and README.MD
- release date 2017.3.31
- revert admin columns settings that were changed in v2.6.0 (last week): checkboxes return to select multiple options, title, meta description and focus keyword can be selected again for "removal" and additional checkbox for readability column
- remove forgotten about-nag setting
- update readme.txt
- release date 2017.3.24
- add option to hide Readability column on Posts/Pages screens
- update hide email support (see 2.5.5), all tabs have a different class, so need more CSS rules to hide them
- update robots nag
- reintroduce the setting to hide the tagline nag, which was removed in 2.1.1
- modify hide add keyword button in edit Post/Page screens to give remaining tab enough width to show entire text "Enter your focus keyword"
- clarify text Content (Readability)/Keyword (SEO) Score
- edit setting admin columns from 4 to 2 (SEO score and Readability score) and make it radio button option instead of checkboxes; thanks to Curtis for bringing it to our attention
- remove hide about nag as it no longer is a site-wide nag
- update readme.txt
- release date 2017.2.28 (triggered by release of Yoast SEO 4.4)
- hide the email support of the help center as it is a premium-only feature and therefore an "ad in disguise"
- release date 2016.12.22 (triggered by release of Yoast SEO 4.0)
- fix: change robots nag hiding via settings instead of globally
- improvement: content analysis - hide readability tab
- improvement: upsell notice: hide entire notifications box
- add FAQ
- release date 2016.11.29 (triggered by release of Yoast SEO 3.9)
- hide "Go Premium" text from adminbar dropdown
- hide dismissed notices and warnings in Yoast SEO Dashboard
- new setting: globally hide upsell notice in Yoast SEO Dashboard
- release date 2016.10.11 (triggered by release of Yoast SEO 3.7)
- once again hide red premium star, this time from the opposite side of the metabox on the Edit Post/Page screen
- release date 2016.10.09
- add rule to hide additional star tab of Yoast SEO metabox
- release date 2016.10.06
- remove tour setting (redundant since v3.6 of Yoast SEO)
- remove adminbar setting (redundant since v3.6 of Yoast SEO)
- add new setting that hides the red star behind the "Go Premium" submenu that was added in v3.6 of Yoast SEO (it is probably necessary to save the settings page for this change to take effect). Thanks to Jake Jackson for reporting this issue.
- release date 2016.08.13
- with a BIG THANK YOU to Andy Fragen who made the plugin fully Multisite compatible and therewith we have been able to finally close this issue.
- Andy also cleaned up some misc spacing and refactored part of the code for it to work smoother. People interested can see the full PR.
- tested with WP version 4.6
- release date 2016.06.20 triggered by changes made with version 3.3 of the Yoast SEO plugin
- hide coloured ball of content analysis also from metabox tab (edit Post/Page screens)
- substitute hide wpseo-score traffic light (v1.7.4) with hide content and SEO score (Yoast SEO 3.3.0), thanks to Andrea Balzarini issue 15, because "a SEO plugin telling you that your content is poor while saving a new post, is not just nagging, but offensive too"
- hide yoast-issue-counter "enhancement" introduced in Yoast SEO 3.3 from adminbar and sidebar
- move minimum WordPress version up to 4.3
- release date 2016.04.21 triggered by changes made with version 3.2 of the Yoast SEO plugin
- hide the ad for the premium version in the help center or hide the whole help center (added to v3.2 of Yoast SEO plugin)
- tested up to WP 4.5
- simplify the CSS rules and add the rule to hide the seo-score column on taxonomies (added to v3.1.0 of Yoast SEO plugin)
- remove option to hide tagline nag (temporarily disabled in v3.1 of Yoast SEO plugin)
- partly remove option to hide robots nag (partly temporarily disabled in v3.1 of Yoast SEO plugin)
- remove option to hide GSC nag (temporarily disabled in v3.1 of Yoast SEO plugin)
- remove option to hide recalculate nag (temporarily disabled in v3.1 of Yoast SEO plugin)
- adjust readme files
- add translator details Dutch language file
- update readme files (text and tags)
- PR #11 add empty array as default for
get_option cuws_hide_admin_columnsto avoid warnings form subsequentin_arraychecks - credits Ronny Myhre Njaastad - remove whitespace
- include text-domain in plugin header which I forgot to do in the 2.0.0 release; apologies
- complete rewrite of the plugin
- new Settings page to fine tune what is hidden/removed to your liking
- new screenshots
- tested up to WP 4.4.2
- name change to avoid "Yoast" trademark violation
- remove SEO score algorithm recalculate nag
- remove wpseo-score traffic light next to Move to trash on Edit Post/Page screen
- version 3.0 of Yoast SEO has introduced a cool new UI for the Edit screens. This also shows a + icon and when clicking that, you'll have a big fat ad in your face. This is a premium feature and the only function of the + icon therefore is to irritate you with an ad. We have therefore made it invisible.
- tested up to WP 4.4
- adjust readme files
- [BUG FIX] fix bug that slipped in (forgot to remove) 1.7.1 release, thanks for the report @stansbury
- remove function that checks whether Yoast SEO has been installed; reason is to simplify things a bit.
- adjust readme files
- remove yst_opengraph_image_warning nag that was added to Yoast SEO 2.1, but we never noticed it before. In the changelog it has been described as "validation error", which of course is nonsense, because the world is larger than social media. The nag manifests itself by placing thick red borders around your Featured Image as well as a red-bordered warning message when your Featured Image is smaller than 200x200 pixels.
- change function name
- add screenshot of before/after yst_opengraph_image_warning nag
- adjust readme files
- remove GSC (Google Search Console) nag that was introduced in Yoast SEO 2.3.3
- remove overview dashboard widget that was introduced in Yoast SEO 2.3
- change plugin name to reflect the name-change of the plugin it cleans up for (WordPress SEO became Yoast SEO)
- remove updated nag (introduced with Yoast SEO version 2.2.1)
- remove previous so_cuws_remove_about_tour() function that has become redundant from Yoast SEO 2.2.1 onwards; replaced with with so_cuws_ignore_tour() function
- Clean up white space
- Fix issue that WP SEO columns were still showing on Edit Posts/Pages pages
- Added styling to remove Tour Intro and button to start tour
- Added screenshots
- Removed redundant dashboard widget function
- Added function to remove Yoast SEO Settings from Admin Bar, inspired by comment of Lee Rickler in discussion on Google+ (no longer available)
- put code actions/filters in order
- Release on wordpress.org Repo
- Release version
- banner image (in assets folder) by Leigh Kendell
- Initial plugin code snippet
- As some settings have changed, it is probably necessary to save the settings page for these changes to take effect
- To hide the red star behind the new "Go Premium" submenu, it is probably necessary to save the settings page for this change to take effect
- Version 2.0.0 is a complete rewrite of the SO Hide SEO Bloat plugin. Please visit the Settings page after you have updated to this version, so you can fine tune what is hidden/removed.
- name change to avoid "Yoast" trademark violation
- We have changed the name of our plugin to reflect the name change of the plugin it cleans up after
- Version 2.2.1 of the Yoast SEO plugin changes a lot of things around. The automatic redirect to the plugin's About page is no longer, so we have removed the function that disables it. The new version introduced an updated nag that doesn't let itself be dismissed easily, so we have simply hidden it altogether. The super irritating balloon to follow the intro tour was back again too, we have countered that with a functiobn that sets the user_meta of that intro tour to true, which means "seen".