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Block Referral Spam

by WPDeveloper · Analytics

Also makes 45 other plugins · 2.9M+ installs across the portfolio →

This plugins blocks maximum Referral Spams. Now no more notice from Google and no more weird report in Google Analytics.

⚠ Stale⚠ Likely abandoned⚠ Few reviews
How scoring works →
45 Health · D
Maintenance 3/100
Rating quality 75/100
Support 70/100

45 health vs 64 average across 1,028 Analytics plugins

High removal-risk signals

63/100

Maintenance 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 9+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
  • Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.8.30, well behind 6.8.

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.

40 / 100

Under-optimized

Biggest win: Update recency

Update recency 0/100
WP compatibility 9/100
Rating quality 61/100
Listing tuning 100/100

To rank higher: Last updated 3371 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.

Get the full rank-higher report →

Daily downloads

Since 2022-10-05 · 1,426 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive

+71% vs prior 30d
6Downloads · Aug 26

30-day downloads

Rolling 30-day volume · peaks are release surges

77

now · peak 84

7730d downloads · Aug 26

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

Block Referral Spam · #11442 you Block Referer Spam · #8855 Analytics Spam Block · #7460 WP referrer spam bla · #7949

Rating trend

Star average over time · dips mark rough releases

4.1Stars · Aug 26

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.

385per 1k installs · Aug 26

Release cadence

No release in a year
from wp.org release tags

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

0

releases in the last 12 months

9.2y ago

latest release · v1.2.1

8

tagged releases on record

Recent releases

1.2.1 · 9.2y ago1.2.0 · 10.9y ago1.1.0 · 11.1y ago1.0.4 · 11.2y ago1.0.3 · 11.2y ago1.0.2 · 11.2y ago1.0.1 · 11.2y ago1.0.0 · 11.3y ago

What its installed base runs

via wordpress.org

Share 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.

v1.2 100%

Estimated active installs

The public count shows “200+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.

tracked estimate
200–300 ≈250

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

Install history · since 2015-09-11 · 1,379 observations

200Installs · Aug 26

Estimated value

What this plugin might earn a year, and what it might sell for. Modeled from public signals; we don't see anyone's books.

Est. annual revenue

N/A

Est. acquisition value

N/A

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price. A small install base leaves thin data to model from.

Details

Version
1.2.1
Last updated
9.2y ago
Added
2015-05-20 · 11 yrs old
Requires WP
2.5.0
Tested up to
4.8.30
Requires PHP

Recent reviews

All reviews on wp.org ↗
  1. Probeauty
    7.7y ago

    .

    Read on wp.org ↗
  2. JoAnn Williams
    9.1y ago

    Love it! Easy to install and I like the interface.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  3. ceophoetography
    10.4y ago

    While not instant or complete — mostly because there are always new “sources” appearing — this plugin greatly reduces the amount of ghost referral reports showing in WP GA.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  4. Roger Rodrigo
    11.1y ago

    You cannot add new spammers on the list Also, for each visit on the site, it will check if the referral is a spammer or not, even for admin users and returning users.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  5. RickeyBridges
    11.1y ago

    Tried it but did nothing for me

    Read on wp.org ↗
  6. BrendanRog
    11.1y ago

    This is the third spam blocker I have tried and it doesn’t work just like the others. Still seeing spam traffic.

    Read on wp.org ↗
  7. csmicfool
    11.1y ago

    great work!

    Read on wp.org ↗
  8. Audio Gravy
    11.2y ago

    Had referral spam from various sites and stopped it effectively. The regular updates are excellent! The Evils… buttons-for-website.com semalt.com

    Read on wp.org ↗

Behavioral tests

via WP Hive

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3

Low memory footprint
Low page-speed impact
Runs on latest PHP + WP
No PHP errors
No JS errors
Activates cleanly
No resource errors
No external HTTP errors
Optimized database use
Frequently updated

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

  1. 2026-04-08 300+ → 200+ down after 2 days in tier
  2. 2026-04-06 200+ → 300+ up after 1 days in tier
  3. 2026-04-05 300+ → 200+ down after 629 days in tier
  4. 2024-07-15 400+ → 300+ down after 1 days in tier
  5. 2024-07-14 300+ → 400+ up after 1 days in tier
  6. 2024-07-13 400+ → 300+ down after 3 days in tier
  7. 2024-07-10 300+ → 400+ up after 1 days in tier
  8. 2024-07-09 400+ → 300+ down after 2 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).

Compare head to head →

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Block Referral Spam into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

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Preview card ↗

Block Referral Spam: 200+ active installs, 4.1★ (9 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/wp-block-referral-spam