Linkable

Linkable is a lightweight WordPress plugin that automates internal linking by converting defined keywords into links to selected posts or pages.

Core functionality: * Automatically links keywords to chosen posts or pages * Works on singular posts and pages by filtering the_content at priority 20 * Searches for keyword matches inside <p> , <li> , <b> , <em> , and <i> tags * Skips self-links by excluding the current post from the keyword map * Uses the Yoast SEO title for link tooltips when Yoast is active, otherwise falls back to the WordPress title * Preserves existing <a> tags and shortcodes by backing them up before processing and restoring them afterward

Keyword management: * Keywords are stored per post and per page as JSON in the linkable_tags post meta field * linkable_tags is registered with REST support, sanitized via sanitize_text_field , and restricted to users with edit_posts

Settings: * Accessible via Settings → Linkable * max_links_per_target : limits how many times the same target can be linked from one post (default 1) * first_occurrence_only : when enabled, each keyword is linked only once per post

Performance: * Builds a global keyword map from all published posts and pages with linkable_tags * Caches the keyword map with a transient ( global_linkable_tag_map ) for one hour * Query optimized to fetch only IDs and avoid unnecessary meta/term caching

Editor compatibility: * Works with both the block editor and the classic editor * Enqueues an admin sidebar panel script ( static/js/admin-sidebar-panel.js ) with WordPress dependencies and versioning via filemtime

Security: * URLs are properly escaped with esc_url * Link titles are sanitized and HTML-escaped * Meta registration includes capability and sanitization checks

License

This plugin is licensed under the GPLv2 or later.

1. 01Upload the plugin to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory or install via WordPress admin
2. 02Activate the plugin
3. 03Go to any post or page and add keywords in the Linkable panel (in the sidebar)
4. 04Configure plugin settings under Settings > Linkable