Frequently asked questions

4Linking requires WordPress 6.0 or higher and PHP 7.4 or higher. Most modern hosts meet these requirements without touching anything. If your installation is very old, the plugin will warn you when you activate it and won't run, to avoid problems.

Yes, no conflict. Yoast and Rank Math are general SEO plugins (meta tags, sitemap, on-page analysis). 4Linking handles only Internal linking. They're complementary, not competitors. Many users have them active at the same time.

Yes. The plugin can link from and to product pages if you configure it in the rules. By default it works with posts and pages, but you can expand the source and target types in Settings → General.

Yes. The plugin's core (rules, pillars, map) works on multilingual sites without Polylang. The Paid plan's automatic translation module requires Polylang active to manage each language's versions.

Partially compatible. The core works. The automatic translation module doesn't integrate with WPML in this version, only with Polylang. If you use WPML and need to translate, let us know: we're evaluating official support.

Yes. 4Linking operates on the content saved in the database, not on how it's rendered. Any builder that saves the text in post_content (which is all the well-known ones) is compatible.

Yes. In Settings → General you can define which post types should be processed for linking. By default it works with post and page; add the CPTs you want.

The plugin's full core: keyword-based linking rules, pillar pages, exclusions, link map, orphan detection, bulk operations and templates. Limitations: a maximum of 2 pillar pages and 5 active rules at a time, with no synonyms in the rules. No expiration, no catch.

All three plans include exactly the same features. The difference is the number of sites where you can use the license:

Unlimited pillars and rules, synonyms in the rules, and the six premium modules: AI semantic linking, content generation, knowledge bases, image generation, automatic translation and the automation pipeline.

We don't have an automatic trial. The free version serves as an indefinite trial of the plugin's core. If you want to test the premium features before buying, write to us at Support and we'll consider it.

Yes. You have 14 days from purchase to request a refund without justifying anything. Write to contacto@4linking.com with the purchase email and we'll refund the full amount.

In the Starter plan, yes (1 license = 1 site). In Pro the same license activates up to 5 sites, in Agency up to 25. The license is managed from a single account at 4linking.com.

Yes. You deactivate the license from Settings → License on the old site, and activate it on the new one. You can do it as many times as you need; we don't count "spent activations".

Your plugin keeps working, but with the free version's limitations: up to 2 pillars and 5 active rules. Nothing in your database is deleted. The pillars and rules that exceed the limit are deactivated automatically and saved; when you renew the license, they reactivate exactly as they were.

Yes. We send you a reminder 14 days before expiration. You can disable automatic renewal at any time from your account.

Yes, without restrictions. The Agency plan is designed precisely for agencies that manage multiple client sites. The only restriction is the number of simultaneously active sites.

Only if you use AI features (content generation, semantic embeddings, translation, images). The rule-based linking core works without OpenAI. If you're only interested in the Free version, you don't need an OpenAI account at all.

To save you surprises in costs. If your plugin came with AI credits included, you'd pay a monthly surcharge even if you generated nothing. With BYOK you pay the annual license (fixed) plus what you consume in OpenAI (variable, directly to your account). You generate one month, that month consumes. You don't generate, you don't pay.

It depends on the model and length, but the order of magnitude is cents per article, not euros. A Standard article (800-1,200 words) usually costs between 1 and 5 US cents in tokens. A Pillar article (2,700-3,300 words) between 5 and 20 cents. An image has a fixed rate (variable depending on the model and size you choose).

Yes, you configure it in your OpenAI account directly (platform.openai.com → Billing → Limits). The plugin can't curb consumption on your behalf, but OpenAI can: if you set a monthly cap of, say, €20, their servers reject requests when you reach it.

By default: GPT-4o for article generation and translation, text-embedding-3-small for semantic linking, GPT-4o-mini for long-article outlines. Some models are configurable from Settings → AI if you prefer cheaper options.

It works as long as you have balance or available credit. When OpenAI rejects the request due to a limit, the plugin shows the error and leaves the content in a pending state so you can retry later.

A strategic page on your site that you want to receive more internal links than the rest. They're usually long guides, key landing pages or important categories. The plugin prioritizes them when building the internal linking.

An explicit instruction: "when this keyword appears in any post, turn it into a link to this page". Each rule defines keyword, target, priority and maximum links per post.

Rule-based linking (included in Free) looks for exact word matches. Semantic linking (Paid only) looks for meaning: it detects that two posts are related even if they don't share a single exact word, using OpenAI embeddings.

Yes, it inserts the links as <a> tags inside the post's HTML. The process is non-destructive: if you deactivate a rule, the links it created are removed automatically. If you uninstall the plugin, you can run the cleanup from Tools → Rebuild linking.

Yes. Any rule can be deactivated and its links are removed from the content. The "Rebuild linking" operation in Tools deletes all the links created by the plugin and regenerates them. If you want to leave the site as it was before installing 4Linking, deactivate all the rules and rebuild.

It doesn't touch them. The plugin distinguishes its own links from manual ones and only manages its own. You can review the full list from the Link map.

No. The plugin connects directly from your server to OpenAI (for the AI features) and to 4linking.com (to validate the license). Your content never passes through our servers. We don't have access to your posts.

Only what's needed for each operation: the article text if you generate embeddings, the prompt and the context material if you generate new content, etc. OpenAI doesn't use your data to train its models (according to its current API policy). If you have legal doubts, review OpenAI's terms.

Only the minimum information to validate the license: your license key, the URL of the site where you activate it, and the status (active/deactivated/expired). No content, no usage statistics, no personal data of your visitors.

Yes. It doesn't collect personal data from your visitors, doesn't use cookies, doesn't connect to tracking services. The only external connection is to your own OpenAI account (if you use it) and to the license server.

If you use the free version, search for it in Plugins → Add new from your wp-admin as "4Linking". If you have a paid license, download the ZIP from your account at 4linking.com and upload it in Plugins → Add new → Upload plugin.

As with any plugin that modifies content, yes, it's recommended to back up the database before the first run. The plugin is non-destructive, but best practices are best practices.

The free version updates automatically from WordPress.org like any other plugin. The paid version receives automatic updates as long as your license is active.

From Plugins → Installed plugins → Deactivate → Delete. When you delete it, the plugin runs its cleanup routine: it removes its tables, options and files. If you want to keep the data (in case you reinstall later), just deactivate without deleting.

From Tools → Export configuration you download a file with all your rules, pillars and settings. On the new site, Tools → Import and you upload that file. The global options and templates are restored exactly as they were.

Three frequent causes:

1. The rule is deactivated (check the toggle in the rules list).
2. The keyword doesn't appear literally in any post (rule-based linking requires an exact match).
3. The site hasn't been reprocessed yet. Go to Rules → "Reprocess all posts".

It usually means the PHP server returned a 500 error. Enable WP_DEBUG_LOG in your wp-config.php and check wp-content/debug.log. If you don't solve it, copy the error and write to us at Support.

After activating the license, reload the full page (Ctrl+F5). If it still doesn't show, go to Settings → License and click "Verify now". If it still fails after that, contact support.

Linking is processed in the background using Action Scheduler, so it shouldn't affect the frontend. If you notice slowness in wp-admin during bulk processing, that's normal: adjust the processing batch in Settings → General → "Posts per batch" to a lower number (for example, 50 instead of 200).