wp_head Cleaner: Site Booster Module

The Ocean Site Booster's wp_head Cleaner module enables you to control what's output in your website's <head> HTML element.

preview on how to access the wp_head Cleaner option for the Site Booster WordPress plugin

To access wp_head Cleaner, click on the cog icon, then toggle to enable the module.

preview of wp_head Cleaner options for the Site Booster WordPress plugin

Cleaning what gets output in a website's <head> element brings insignificant speed boost, but does influence the security boost by removing the information attackers are usually after, such as the WordPress platform itself, WordPress version and more.

Enable (or disable) any option you would like to use, then save changes at the bottom of the module page.

Available wp_head Cleaner options include:

This option enables you to remove the Really Simple Discovery (RSD) link from your website's <head> element and source code.

The RSD option serves a purpose if you plan to use third-party software, such as Windows Live Writer, to edit your website, instead of accessing, editing and/or writing on your website directly.

The RSD link looks like this: <link rel="EditURI" type="application/rsd+xml" ... />

The RSD link can be viewed when inspecting any page on your website or viewing the source code using the available browser options.

This option enables you to remove the Windows Live Writer link from your website's <head> element and source code.

Windows Live Writer (Microsoft) is a discontinued desktop blog-publishing app. If you don't have this app or don't plan to use it to edit your website, you can remove the unnecessary link.

The Windows Live Writer link looks like this: <link rel="wlwmanifest" type="application/wlwmanifest+xml" ... />

The Windows Live Writer link can be viewed when inspecting any page on your website or viewing the source code using the available browser options.

Disable Post Rel Links Start

Disable Post Rel Links Start option allows you to remove the <link rel="start" href="…"> tag from the <head> element of your posts.

The “start” relational link is no longer printed in the HTML head. Browsers and crawlers won’t see a pointer to the first item in paginated posts.

Disable Post Rel Links Index

Disable Post Rel Links Index option allows you to remove the <link rel="index" href="…"> tag that connects a post to your site’s main index.

No “index” relational link in the head. Search engines won’t automatically navigate back to your blog’s index from individual posts.

Disable Post Rel Links Previous and Next

Disable Post Rel Links Previous and Next option allows you to remove the <link rel="prev"> and <link rel="next"> tags in the head for adjacent posts.

Crawlers and browsers won’t see “previous”/“next” relational hints. This can reduce extra HTTP requests and slightly clean up your head output.

Disable Shortlinks option allows you to remove the <link rel="shortlink" href="…"> meta tag that provides a URL shortening service for posts.

The “shortlink” meta tag is no longer in your site’s head. If you relied on wp.me or other shortlinks inside WordPress, they won’t be automatically provided (not to be confused with third-party link shortening services like bit.ly).

Disable Canonical Links option allows you to stop WordPress from adding the <link rel="canonical" href="…"> meta tag to your website's <head> element.

No canonical meta tag. You’ll have to manage canonicals manually (e.g., via SEO plugins) to avoid duplicate-content issues.

This feature may impact SEO. Use wisely.

Disable Post and Comments Feeds

Disable Post and Comments Feeds option allows you to disable RSS (or Atom) feeds for both posts and comments.

Visitors to trying to get to /feed/ or /comments/feed/ URLs will get a 404 or redirect. Feed readers cannot subscribe to new post/comment content.

Disable Other Feeds (Tags, Categories)

Disable Other Feeds (Tags, Categories) option allows you to disable RSS/Atom feeds for tag archives, category archives, or other taxonomy-based feeds.

Requests to /category/news/feed/ or /tag/tutorial/feed/ yield a 404 or redirect. No taxonomy feeds are available.

Disable WordPress Generator Meta Tag

This option enables you to remove the WordPress meta tag from your website's <head> element and source code.

This meta tag contains info that your website has been built with WordPress, as well as the current WordPress version you are running.

Example of WordPress meta tag output in website's head HTML element

The WordPress meta tag looks like this: <meta name="generator" content="WordPress 6.7.1" />

The WordPress meta tag can be viewed when inspecting any page on your website or viewing the source code using the available browser options.

Disable Revolution Slider Meta Tag

Disable Revolution Slider Meta Tag option allows you to remove the meta tag that Revolution Slider plugin (if you're using on your website) automatically inserts into <head>, which can reveal plugin usage.

No generator meta tag or other identifying Revolution Slider markup in your head, improving security by obscurity.

This feature is always visible (even when the Revolution Slider plugin is not installed), to make you aware of the possibility to use in case you ever need it.

Disable WooCommerce Meta Tag

Disable WooCommerce Meta Tag option allows you to remove the meta tag (displayed in <head>, showing that WC is running) in order to hide the fact that WooCommerce is present.

The WooCommerce-specific meta tag is no longer output. Brute-force or targeted attackers have one less indicator that WooCommerce is installed.

This feature is always visible (even when the WooCommerce plugin is not installed), to make you aware of the possibility to use in case you ever need it.

Disable Elementor Meta Tag

Disable Elementor Meta Tag options allows you to stop Elementor from adding its own generator meta tag in the head.

No Elementor version or generator tag appears, making it slightly harder for bots to detect Elementor usage.

This feature is always visible (even when the Elementor plugin is not installed), to make you aware of the possibility to use in case you ever need it.

Disable S.W.ORG DNS Prefetch

This option enables you to remove S.W.ORG DNS prefetch link from your website's <head> element and source code.

DNS prefetch is used as an attempt to resolve domain names before a user follows a link. The main reason for DNS prefetch usage is to speed up website pages load when using various domains for page resources.

The S.W.ORG DNS prefetch link looks like this: <link rel='dns-prefetch' href='//s.w.org' />

The S.W.ORG DNS prefetch link can be viewed when inspecting any page on your website or viewing the source code using the available browser options.


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