Free WordPress Security Plugin
Stop bots from abusing your WordPress search.
TechDex Search Scrape Guard protects your public search feature from spam, scraping, deep pagination, and repeated automated searches that can slow down your site or help someone rip its content.
Free, GPL-licensed, and fully functional without a paid upgrade.
Why I built it
Thousands of automated searches were hitting a client's live site.
The searches were blank, unrelated, unusually long, or paging through result after result. The pattern appeared designed to scrape and rip content, but it was also forcing the site to do the same demanding work again and again.
That is why I built Search Scrape Guard. It recognizes the searches you do not want, stops them early, and lets ordinary visitors keep searching within the limits you choose.
Search Protection
Stop abusive searches
Block blank searches, unusually long searches, too many search terms, deep result pages, and known bot patterns.
Resource Protection
Limit repeated search activity
Choose how many searches a visitor can make before the plugin slows down or stops repeated activity.
Activity Log
See what was stopped
See what was searched, why it was blocked, how often it happened, and what browser or bot claimed to send it.
Optional Verification
Verify real visitors
If you use Cloudflare Turnstile, you can let a real visitor verify before continuing instead of relying only on blocking.
Focused by design
Protect public search without getting in the way.
The plugin watches the public search feature your visitors use. It does not put the same restrictions on your WordPress dashboard or normal background tasks.
- Fast, lightweight responses for blocked searches
- Different result-page limits for visitors and logged-in users
- Instructions asking search engines not to index search-result pages
- Masked network addresses instead of stored raw IP addresses
- Locally stored security data that is removed when you uninstall
Questions
Search Scrape Guard FAQ
Does Search Scrape Guard stop abusive searches before they slow down my site?
Yes. It checks a search early and stops rejected requests before WordPress does the heavier work of searching through your content.
What types of WordPress search abuse does it block?
It can reject blank searches, overly long searches, too many search terms, deep result pages, known automation patterns, and visitors who search too often.
Will it interfere with my WordPress dashboard?
No. It protects the public search feature your visitors use without applying those limits to your dashboard or normal WordPress background activity. You can also give logged-in users a higher search-page limit.
Will the activity tracking create another resource problem?
No. The rate limiter and activity log are deliberately capped. They cannot keep growing with every new visitor or rejected request.
Is Cloudflare Turnstile required?
No. Turnstile is optional and no visitor data is sent to Cloudflare unless an administrator configures Turnstile keys. The core search protections work without it.
Support
Help keep Search Scrape Guard free and maintained.
If this plugin stopped abusive traffic, protected a client site, or saved database and server resources, consider supporting its continued development. Donations are optional and never unlock hidden features.