Signature Media Silo Structure WP Registry grade A. No security issues foundWP RegistryNo security issues foundOpen the reportA

A WordPress plugin for building an SEO‑friendly silo content architecture: custom post types, a shared service taxonomy, smart rewrite/query rules, a Rank Math–compatible “shadow” archive editor, and ACF integrations.

Lightweight, safe-by-default, and supports automatic updates via GitHub Releases (with optional license gating).

At a Glance

• CPTs: silo_service (Sub Services), silo_problem (Problem Signs), silo_solution (Solutions), and locations (Locations Served).
• Taxonomy: service_category (hierarchical) shared by Services/Problems/Solutions.
• Archives: Per‑service archives for Problem Signs and Solutions with clean permalinks.
• Shadow “Silo Archive” CPT: silo_archive stores Rank Math SEO and ACF field content for each per‑service archive.
• Admin UI: Silo Settings (permalink style), Service Silos tools, and “Problem/Solutions ACF Fields” admin pages.
• Permalinks: Optional removal of the /services/ prefix site‑wide, with automatic 301s in both directions.
• Queries: Main queries for service tax archives are scoped correctly and default to 9 items per page.
• Updates: GitHub Releases via Plugin Update Checker; optional license activation page (MWS).

Requirements

• WordPress 5.8+
• PHP 7.4+ (8.0+ recommended)
• Optional: Rank Math, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)

Installation

1. Download the latest release ZIP built with the top‑level folder signaturemedia-silo-structure/.
2. WordPress → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin → choose the ZIP and Activate.
3. On activation the plugin registers CPTs/Taxonomy, flushes permalinks, and sets posts_per_page=9 if unset.

Note: The Plugin Update Checker library must be present at lib/plugin-update-checker/ if you want GitHub auto‑updates (see Updates).

Content Model

Custom Post Types

• Sub Services: silo_service – hierarchical, REST‑enabled. No built‑in archive; taxonomy pages act as archives.
• Problem Signs: silo_problem – hierarchical, REST‑enabled. Archive output handled by custom rewrite/query.
• Solutions: silo_solution – hierarchical, REST‑enabled. Archive output handled by custom rewrite/query.
• Locations Served: locations – hierarchical, REST‑enabled. Public, permalink base: /service-area/....

Shared Taxonomy

• Service Categories: service_category – hierarchical taxonomy used by Services/Problems/Solutions. Shows in admin and REST. Custom rewrite is handled by the plugin logic (see below).

URLs & Rewrite Logic

The plugin installs rewrite tags and rules that produce clean, predictable URLs for your silo structure. Highlights:

• Service Category base: By default, URLs live under /services/{service}/....
• Strip Base (optional): An admin toggle enables clean URLs like /{service}/{post}. When enabled, legacy /services/... requests 301 to the new structure; turning it off reverts gracefully (with reverse 301s).
• Archive types: Each service category automatically gets two archive endpoints:
  • Problem Signs → /services/{service}/problem-signs/ (or /{service}/problem-signs/ if base is stripped)
  • Solutions → /services/{service}/solutions/ (or /{service}/solutions/)
• Locations Served CPT uses the slug service-area, e.g., /service-area/{location}/.

There’s also a dev utility to manually flush rules by visiting ?flush_rules=1 as an administrator.

Query Behavior

• Frontend main queries for service category archives are scoped to the current term (no leaking of child terms on parent listings).
• Archive paginations are limited to the site setting; on activation the plugin ensures posts_per_page is 9 by default.
• Special handling ensures the Problem Signs/Solutions endpoints behave as true CPT archives for silo_problem and silo_solution respectively.

Shadow “Silo Archive” CPT (Rank Math + ACF)

To make SEO and content editing comfortable, the plugin registers a shadow CPT named silo_archive that acts as a container for each service archive:

• Each shadow post links a Service Category + Archive Type (Problem Signs or Solutions).
• Rank Math’s Title/Description/Robots can be edited on the shadow post and are applied dynamically to the matching archive.
• You can attach ACF fields to silo_archive and render them on the archive templates.
• The shadow CPT is not publicly routed (no frontend single), but it’s visible in the admin for editing and auditing.

Admin UI

• Service Silos: overview and handy links for working with each service’s archives.
• Silo Settings: checkbox to strip /services/ from URLs globally (with safe redirects).
• Problem Signs ACF Fields and Solutions ACF Fields pages: pick a Service Category and edit its ACF flexible content for the respective archive. Includes Preview links to the live archives.

Template Hints

The plugin resolves archive templates in this order (use these in your theme as needed):

• archive-silo_problem.php → Problem Signs archives
• archive-silo_solution.php → Solutions archives
• Falls back to archive.php then index.php

For taxonomy listings, provide a taxonomy-service_category.php or use conditional logic to render sections for services/problems/solutions.

Updates (GitHub Releases)

The plugin uses Plugin Update Checker. To enable:

1. Ensure lib/plugin-update-checker/plugin-update-checker.php exists inside the plugin.
2. Create a GitHub tag (e.g., v2.1.0) and a Release with a ZIP whose top‑level folder name is signaturemedia-silo-structure/.
3. Bump the Version: in signaturemedia-silo-structure.php.
4. (Optional) Define SM_SILO_GH_TOKEN in wp-config.php to raise GitHub API limits.

Sites can opt into “Enable auto‑updates” from the Plugins screen; the updater will then fetch new releases automatically.

Constants (optional)

define( 'SM_SILO_GH_USER', 'payche011' );
define( 'SM_SILO_GH_REPO', 'signaturemedia-silo-structure' );
// optional: force auto‑update logic in your own code if you want
define( 'SM_SILO_FORCE_AUTOUPDATE', true );

Licensing (Optional)

An MWS License page is available under Settings → MWS License. You can enter a license key to validate against Signature Media’s license server. Licensing does not block GitHub‑based updates unless you explicitly enable server‑driven updates in code.

Changelog

2.1

• New “Strip /services/ from URLs” switch with safe 301 behavior both ways.
• Shadow silo_archive CPT for archive‑level Rank Math SEO + ACF content.
• Admin pages for Problem Signs and Solutions ACF management with live preview links.
• Added locations CPT (slug: service-area) for service‑area landing pages.
• Safer rewrite priority + manual flush utility.
• Ensured default posts_per_page = 9 on activation.

Uninstall / Deactivation

Deactivation flushes rewrite rules. No custom tables are created by this plugin. Export taxonomy terms and posts if you plan to migrate.

Support

Signature Media • https://signaturemedia.com/