Version 2.7.1 of the Search Atlas WordPress plugin delivers a comprehensive round of security hardening, stability improvements, and code quality updates — making the plugin safer and more reliable for every site it's installed on.
✨ What's New
This release focuses on making the plugin more robust and trustworthy across the board. Here's what changed for you:
- Cleaner Changes Log page: The admin Changes Log screen now displays headings and toolbar controls in proper alignment, so the page is easier to read and navigate.
- Settings with special characters now work correctly: If your saved settings contained a % character, the admin page could crash entirely. This is now resolved and the plugin also handles partially completed upgrades without errors.
- Stronger security across the plugin: We audited and resolved several security areas, including how data is validated when it enters the plugin, how it's safely output to the browser, and how database queries are handled — all tightened to current best practices.
- Improved admin action protection: Admin pages, settings forms, and background actions now include the proper verification checks to ensure only authorized users can perform sensitive operations.
- Safer redirects and file handling: All redirects now use secure WordPress-native methods, file writes are handled in a centralized and consistent way, and any legacy redirect entries with unsafe URLs are automatically cleaned up.
- Plugin icons load locally: Compatibility checker plugin icons are now bundled directly with the plugin instead of being fetched from an external server, improving load reliability and privacy.
- Fully translatable text: All user-facing text in the plugin is now properly set up for translation, so the plugin works correctly in multilingual environments.
- WordPress.org compliance: The plugin has been audited against WordPress.org Plugin Check standards, and all identified findings — including database query handling, caching, and schema practices — have been resolved.
- General code cleanup: Debug logging that had no place in a live environment has been removed, and outdated or unused code has been cleaned up throughout the plugin.
🛠️ How to Use It
- Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins.
- If an update is available for the Search Atlas plugin, click Update Now.
- Once updated, verify the plugin is active and your settings are intact.
📋 What to Expect
All fixes in this release are applied automatically once the plugin is updated — no configuration changes are required on your end. Existing settings, redirects, and data are preserved. Legacy redirect entries with unsafe source URLs will be cleaned up automatically in the background after updating.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.