Content Filters

Go Back to Main Knowledgebase

This is 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 one place: Settings → Content & Ignored Words (under the Content Filters group in the sidebar).

The top of the page shows a green Both engines scope badge with the 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.”

The page has five cards.

Card 1: Words Linkilo should ignore

What this is

Words you don’t want Linkilo treating as keywords. They’re appended to Linkilo’s built-in list of common words like “the,” “and,” “or.” Case-insensitive.

How to add

1. Find the Your stop words textarea.
2. Type or paste your words, one per line. Example:

   basicallyessentiallyclick hereread morestuff
   

3. Click Save Settings at the bottom of the page.

See the built-in list

Click View built-in stop-word list (it’s a <details> toggle under the textarea). You’ll see two groups:

• Base English stop words (always dropped) — things like “the,” “and,” “for.”
• Listicle / superlative modifiers (dropped from anchors, kept in body text) — words like “best,” “top,” “amazing.”

The language-specific list (set under General → Content language) is also merged in automatically — you don’t need to repeat words like “and,” “the,” “for” here.

Card 2: Quick filters

Three on/off filters that skip whole categories of anchor text.

• Ignore numbers as anchor text — skip numeric anchors like “2024” or “5 best.” Reduces noise on listicle-heavy sites. Most sites leave this ON.
• Ignore links that point to image files — skip URLs that point at .jpg, .png, etc. Useful for cleaner reports.
• Only link to Yoast Cornerstone posts — when ON, outbound suggestions ONLY point at posts you’ve flagged as cornerstone in Yoast SEO. Useful if you have a strong “hub-page” SEO strategy.

Card 3: Pages and URLs to skip

Specific URLs Linkilo should leave alone. Five separate textareas:

Do not suggest these URLs

URLs that should never be a link TARGET. One full URL per line. Linkilo will not suggest pointing any link to these.

Example:

https://mysite.com/about
https://mysite.com/old-post-123

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 posts with affiliate-disclosure rules.

Hide from orphan report

Posts intentionally without inbound links — landing pages, legal pages, thank-you pages, etc. They’ll stop showing up as “orphans” in the Orphan Pages report.

Treat these URLs as external links

URLs Linkilo should classify as external on the Records report (even if the domain looks internal). One per line. Useful for sister sites you own that should be linked nofollow.

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 in suggestions.

How

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

If your site doesn’t have any categories yet, this card will say “No categories exist on this site yet.”

Card 5: Advanced Custom Fields

If you use Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), Linkilo can scan and modify the 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 suggestion runs, but ACF text won’t receive any link suggestions. Leave this off if you have content inside ACF fields you want Linkilo to consider.

Skip these ACF fields only

If you want SOME ACF fields scanned and others not, leave the master toggle OFF and use this textarea. One ACF field name per line:

seo_meta_description
sidebar_text
internal_notes

Linkilo scans other ACF data but skips these. Useful for SEO meta fields or internal-use fields that shouldn’t contain inline links.

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 — Linkilo still suggests the thing I told it to ignore

A few things to check:

1. Did you save? Click Save Settings at the bottom of the page.
2. Is the format right? URLs, one per line. Words, one per line. No commas, no semicolons.
3. Did you run a NEW scan? Old suggestions stored before you added the filter won’t update retroactively. Run a fresh scan, or wait for Autopilot to re-process.
4. Is the spelling right? Words are case-insensitive but exact-match. “Click here” matches “click here” and “Click Here” but not “clicking here.”

Will my filters survive a plugin update?

Yes. All filters are stored in your WordPress database alongside other settings. Updating the plugin doesn’t reset them.

If you switch databases (e.g., migrate to a new host), the filters move with the database.

How does Custom Stop Words work alongside Linkilo’s built-in list?

Both lists are combined at scan time. So if “actually” is in your custom list and “the” is in the built-in list, BOTH are skipped.

I keep getting suggestions with the word “best” as anchor text. How do I stop that?

“Best” is already in Linkilo’s built-in Listicle / superlative modifiers list — it gets dropped from anchors automatically. If you’re still seeing it:

1. Check that you saved your changes.
2. Run a NEW scan (existing suggestions don’t retroactively update).
3. If still seeing it, add “best” explicitly to Your stop words as an override.

What happens to existing links when I add a filter?

Nothing — already-applied links stay applied. Filters only affect future scans and suggestions.

If you want to REMOVE existing links matching a filter, you’d need to do that manually (edit the posts) or via the URL Records page’s bulk operations.

How is the “Only link to Yoast Cornerstone posts” different from a regular target filter?

• Yoast Cornerstone filter is dynamic — it follows what you’ve flagged in Yoast. If you flag a new post as cornerstone, it automatically becomes eligible.
• Do not suggest these URLs is a static list — you have to update it manually.

Use Yoast Cornerstone if you actively maintain that flag in Yoast. Use the URL list if your “important pages” are stable.

Can I import filters from another site?

Not through the UI directly. All filters are stored as WordPress options, so a developer can export/import them via WP-CLI or phpMyAdmin if needed.

My category list is empty even though I have categories

The Categories to skip card reads from WordPress’s category taxonomy. If your site uses custom taxonomies (e.g., “Topics” or “Sections” instead of Categories), they won’t appear here. You’d need to use the Do not suggest these URLs approach instead, listing the URLs of posts in those categories.