GM Block Bots
by mickmel · Uncategorized
This blocks semalt.com, buttons-for-website.com and others with a 403 Forbidden message so that they no longer show up in your Google Analytics stats.
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
D 47/100
Stale · Likely abandoned
Active installs
800+
≈890 estimated
Momentum
+24%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Under-ranked on “botnet”. wp.org puts you #24; on merit you place #10. The plugins above you are winning on install count, not on rating or upkeep.
47 health vs 58 average across 25,753 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.0%
of downloads still active
At least 800 of 76.6K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,772 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Uncategorized plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 8+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.7.39, well behind 6.8.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Under-optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 3260 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 4.7.39; the current branch is 6.8
4.4★ over 16 reviews, smoothed to 4.17★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 3260 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
32
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 24d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 24d
0.0
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| darodar your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| semalt your tag | #4 | #2 | 0 |
| botnet your tag | #24 | #10 | — |
| bots your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| buttons for websites your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
5 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 3 listed. 2 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Under-ranked on “botnet”. wp.org puts you #24; on merit you place #10. The plugins above you are winning on install count, not on rating or upkeep.
- “bots” and “buttons for websites” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,489 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 224 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “800+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 23 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just under 900.
Install history since 23 Aug 2015
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Jaro10.0y ago
Works great, only lacking updates or automatic fetching new spammers. This topic was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Jaro. This topic was modified 8 years, 11 months ago by Jaro.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ mrtechnique11.1y ago
Until Google solves the spam traffic issue, I’ll be using this plugin on every WordPress website. Does it take care of all of the spam traffic? No. It takes care of the spam bots that visit your site. There are ghost referrers that need to be taken care of as well, and no WordPress plugin can do that. Ghost referrers never visit the site with the Google Analytics code. For that, you need to set up a Google Analytics filter that includes only valid host names. If you want to read more about how to solve the spam traffic issue, here is a detailed article on getting rid of the spam in Google Analytics.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ BlogAid11.1y ago
I LOVE this plugin!!! Works exactly as advertised and doesn’t load the site in doing it. The best part is, it’s kept up to date with the latest spam crawl bots. Now I don’t have to play a never ending whack-a-mole game. This plugin takes care of it for me.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Valy198111.2y ago
I had 23 hits from free-social-buttons.com aprox. after 30 min after installing this module. I have a screenshot if you need a proof. Thanks
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ BrendanRog11.3y ago
Still seeing a ton of spam referrals. Fix it and I’ll up my review.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ MacRamsay11.3y ago
Good solution to analytics spam. Team were responsive to add further domains to the block list too, thanks very much.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Anna_erishkigal11.3y ago
I was getting an increasing number of trackbacks from places like buttons-for-websites and a couple of other bots and they kept crawling through my site and messing up my stats. This plugin was really easy to use. Just download, upack, and it took about 24 hours for the bots to disappear. No going into the source code and rewriting stuff.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Anna_erishkigal11.3y ago
I was getting an increasing number of trackbacks from places like buttons-for-websites and a couple of other bots and they kept crawling through my site and messing up my stats. This plugin was really easy to use. Just download, upack, and it took about 24 hours for the bots to disappear. No going into the source code and rewriting stuff.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
5 of 8 pass · checked 1 Nov 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "This blocks semalt.com, buttons-for-website.com and others with a 403 Forbidden message so that they no lon..."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 4 questions in the FAQ.
- ! FAQ asks real questions 3 of 4 FAQ entries are headings, not questions ("Installation Instructions").
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Google Analytics, Twitter.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 2,603 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "botnet", "buttons-for-websites" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-09 900+ → 800+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-10-08 800+ → 900+ up after 13 days in tier
- 2026-09-25 900+ → 800+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-09-24 800+ → 900+ up after 76 days in tier
- 2026-07-10 900+ → 800+ down after 133 days in tier
- 2026-02-27 1K+ → 900+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2026-02-25 900+ → 1K+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-02-24 1K+ → 900+ down after 968 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security 100K+ installs · 4.9★ · 1 shared tag A -
Login No Captcha reCAPTCHA 50K+ installs · 4.4★ · 1 shared tag A -
Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Blackhole for Bad Bots 30K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Spider Blocker 20K+ installs · 3.9★ · 1 shared tag D -
WP-Ban 8K+ installs · 3.7★ · 1 shared tag B
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for GM Block Bots into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/gm-block-bots" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="GM Block Bots — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> GM Block Bots: 800+ active installs, 4.4★ (16 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/gm-block-bots
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