Content Filters

Where you tell Linkilo what to SKIP. Words you don't want as anchor text, URLs to ignore, posts to leave alone, categories that shouldn't appear in suggestions, custom fields to bypass.

Everything that controls "what Linkilo shouldn't touch" lives in Settings → Content & Ignored Words (under the Content Filters group).

Get there

Linkilo → Settings → Content & Ignored Words.

Top of the page has a green "Both engines" badge with this note: "Filters here apply to every suggestion — AI and legacy alike. Custom stop words are also used by the AI when extracting keywords, so this is the right place to teach Linkilo what to ignore."

Five cards.

Card 1: Words Linkilo should ignore

Words you don't want Linkilo treating as keywords. Appended to the built-in list. Case-insensitive.

Type or paste words into Your stop words, one per line:

basically
essentially
click here
read more
stuff

Click Save Settings.

Click View built-in stop-word list (a <details> toggle) to see Linkilo's defaults: base English stop words (always dropped), listicle/superlative modifiers (dropped from anchors), plus the language-specific list from General → Content language.

Card 2: Quick filters

Three on/off filters for whole categories of anchor text:

• Ignore numbers as anchor text — skip numeric anchors like "2024" or "5 best". Most sites leave this ON.
• Ignore links that point to image files — skip URLs ending in .jpg, .png, etc.
• Only link to Yoast Cornerstone posts — when ON, outbound suggestions ONLY point at posts you've flagged as cornerstone in Yoast SEO. Useful for hub-page SEO strategies.

Card 3: Pages and URLs to skip

Five textareas, each for a different kind of exclusion:

Do not suggest these URLs

URLs that should never be a link TARGET. Linkilo won't suggest pointing links to these. One full URL per line.

Skip auto-link & URL changes

Posts whose body should never be auto-edited by Linkilo. URLs in this list bypass auto-linking and URL-change tools. Useful for landing pages or pages with affiliate disclosures.

Hide from orphan report

Posts intentionally without inbound links — landing pages, legal pages, thank-you pages. They stop showing up in the Orphan Pages report.

Treat these URLs as external links

URLs Linkilo should classify as external even if the domain looks internal. Useful for sister sites you own that should still be nofollowed.

Only suggest these external URLs

If filled, outbound suggestions ONLY point at URLs in this list. Leave blank to allow any external URL.

Card 4: Categories to skip

Posts in checked categories won't appear as link targets.

1. Find the Categories to skip card.
2. You'll see your site's categories as checkboxes.
3. Check the ones to skip.
4. Use Select all / Deselect all for bulk changes.
5. Save.

If your site has no categories yet: the card says "No categories exist on this site yet."

Card 5: Advanced Custom Fields

If you use ACF, Linkilo can scan and modify text inside ACF fields. Some sites want this, some don't.

Skip Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) entirely

Master toggle. When ON, Linkilo doesn't scan any ACF data. Faster runs but ACF text won't receive any link suggestions.

Skip these ACF fields only

If you want SOME ACF fields scanned but not others, leave the master toggle OFF and list field names here, one per line:

seo_meta_description
sidebar_text
internal_notes

Linkilo scans other ACF data but skips these.

Common Questions

What's the difference between "Words Linkilo should ignore" and "Do not suggest these URLs"?

• Words Linkilo should ignore = words that shouldn't be ANCHOR TEXT (the visible part of the link).
• Do not suggest these URLs = URLs that shouldn't be the TARGET (where the link points).

A word might be banned as anchor text but the URL of the target is still fine. Different rules.

My filter isn't working

A few checks:

1. Did you save? Click Save Settings at the bottom.
2. Format right? One URL/word per line. No commas, no semicolons.
3. Run a NEW scan? Old suggestions stored before you added the filter won't update retroactively.
4. Spelling exact? Words are case-insensitive but exact-match. "Click here" matches "click here" but not "clicking here."

Will my filters survive a plugin update?

Yes. All filters live in your WordPress database alongside other settings. Updating Linkilo doesn't reset them.

"best" keeps appearing as anchor text

"best" is in Linkilo's built-in superlative modifier list — should be dropped from anchors automatically. If you still see it:

1. Confirm you saved.
2. Run a NEW scan (existing suggestions don't retroactively update).
3. If still appearing, add best explicitly to Your stop words as an override.

How does Custom Stop Words interact with the built-in list?

Both lists combine at scan time. So if "actually" is in your custom list and "the" is in the built-in list, BOTH get skipped.

My category list is empty

The Categories to skip card reads from WordPress's category taxonomy. If your site uses custom taxonomies (e.g., "Topics" or "Sections"), they won't appear here — use the Do not suggest these URLs approach instead.