How to fix missing referrer policy on WordPress.org

Steps for WordPress.org

1. Install a security-headers plugin such as **Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP** or **WP Headers** from WP Admin → Plugins → Add New.
2. Activate the plugin, navigate to its settings page, find the Referrer-Policy option, and set it to `strict-origin-when-cross-origin`.
3. Alternatively, add the header directly in `.htaccess` (Apache) or your Nginx server block config as described in the WooCommerce steps above.
4. Verify with browser DevTools → Network tab → document response headers.

<meta name="referrer" content="strict-origin-when-cross-origin">

<!-- OR as an HTTP response header (preferred): -->
Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin

What is missing referrer policy?

When a visitor clicks a link or a browser makes a request from your store, it can automatically send a "Referer" header telling the destination site exactly which URL the user came from. The `Referrer-Policy` HTTP header lets you tell browsers how much of that URL to share — the full path, just your domain, or nothing at all. Without this header, browsers fall back to their own default behaviour, which can vary and may expose sensitive URL details (like search query strings, product IDs in cart URLs, or private discount codes) to third-party sites and analytics tools. Setting `Referrer-Policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin` is the modern recommended default: it sends the full URL for same-site requests (useful for your own analytics) but only your domain name — never the full path — when linking to external sites.

Without a `Referrer-Policy` header, sensitive information embedded in your URLs — customer emails, session tokens, promo codes, or internal admin paths — can silently leak to every third-party resource your pages load (ad networks, CDN scripts, fonts, etc.). This is classified under OWASP A05:2021 Security Misconfiguration because it is a straightforward server setting that is simply missing. Beyond privacy and security exposure, Google's guidelines and security-focused ranking signals increasingly reward sites that demonstrate responsible data handling; a missing header also appears as a finding in security audits and PCI-DSS scans that payment processors may require you to pass. Fixing it takes under 30 minutes on most platforms and immediately closes the information-leakage risk for all visitors.

See the complete Missing referrer policy guide for every platform and the full background.