Configuring the Index Generation Mode

Getting started

You’ll find the Index Generation Mode under the Internal Link Juicer’s “Setting” section on the left-hand bar. Get there by following these instructions:

  1. Open the “General” tab in the plugin settings

    You’ll see three tabs under the “Settings” section: “General”, “Content” and “Links”. Click on “General” to get to the Index Generation Mode settings.

  2. Look for the “Index Generation Mode” setting

    Under these settings, you’ll see the “Index Generation Mode” text with a drop-down menu of three items. Here’s where you can choose between modes. Not sure which one is best for your site? Read about all three modes below!

  3. Save your selection

    After you select a mode in the drop-down, be sure to click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the tab. Without it, your changes won’t be kept.

Explaining the three Index Generation Modes

There are three modes for building the index. While each has its own characteristics, the idea behind them all is that they configure the performance on the backend – while the editor words on posts and link (the customer-facing frontend is always maximally efficient). This is due to the link index, which influences how the index is built and what triggers the building.

You’ll see with these three specific modes that there are trade-offs for every option. You decide what will work best for your site. Let’s go over the details for each one:

settings for the index generation mode - overview

Automatically

The automatic index generation option is the standard for many sites. As its name suggests, the frontend automatically gets updates every time there’s a change made to the backend. For example, if you save a post or change a plugin setting, the index for these changes will get built automatically in the background. This is especially useful for small websites and blogs that don’t have a large overhead. However, there’s a possibility that the admin panel (backend) could see additional load times on some tasks because of the automated index generation.

Manually

On the other hand, if you have a medium-sized website or shared hosting, then manual index generation may be right for you. The way manual index generation works is that every time an index-related change is made, you’ll receive a notification that looks like this:

example for the notify message on manual link index generation mode

When you click the “Rebuild index” button, the index will get built and the notification will disappear until the next index-related change. This allows you to work on different updates without having to worry about slow-downs that occur during an automated process. You can decide when to update the index.

None

Your final option is “None”, which means you disable index generation handled by the plugin. This is recommended for large sites or those that have a lot of editorial activity. Instead, index generation can be handled by the wp-cli extension of the Internal Link Juicer. In this way, you can better customize index generation beyond just automated or manual updating.

If you’re interested in this option, you can build your own command line through the wp-cli extension. You must have the wp-cli installed on your server first. Just use the following command to rebuild the index:

$ wp ilj index build

Specifically, you can set up customized server-side cron jobs. For example, if you want the index to be rebuilt by the console application every hour, you can use the following command:

0 * * * * cd [path to your wordpress installation] && wp ilj index build

Whatever Index Generation Mode you choose, be sure to select it from the drop-down menu and then click “Save Changes” below.