The email finder reads each listing’s own website (the homepage and one linked contact page) and saves a published business address on the listing. It is for directory owners who have listings with websites but no email, so enquiries and claim invitations have somewhere to go.
Before you start
- You need an administrator account (the settings page requires the manage options capability).
- Listings must be published and have a Website URL starting with http. Listings that already have an email are skipped.
- WordPress cron must be running. The finder runs on a WordPress scheduled event, so it needs site visits or a real cron hitting wp-cron.php.
How to use it
- Go to Directory > Settings and stay on the General tab.
- Tick “Find business emails from listing websites”.
- Click Save changes. The first check is scheduled about one minute later, then repeats every 15 minutes.
- Come back to the General tab after a check has run. The line “So far: 1 websites checked, 1 emails found.” appears under the checkbox (your numbers will differ).
- Open a listing in the editor and go to the Contact tab. The address is in the Email field.
- Leave “Show publicly” unticked to keep the address private, or tick it to show the address on the listing page.
Good to know
- Schedule: a WordPress cron event runs every 15 minutes while the setting is on, and is removed when you switch it off.
- Batch: each run checks up to 30 listings by default (developers can change this with the sdp_email_finder_batch filter), and stops after 240 seconds.
- Each listing is checked once, then not again for 90 days. Listings that already have an email are never overwritten.
- Addresses are chosen in this order: a mailto link on the business’s own domain, any address on that domain, then a common personal mailbox such as Gmail or Outlook. Addresses belonging to web agencies or platforms, image file names and placeholders such as noreply are ignored.
- Websites on social or platform hosts (Facebook, Instagram, Checkatrade and similar) are skipped.
- Storage: the address goes in the listing’s Email field, with the source recorded as “website”. The counters are kept in the sdp_email_finder_stats option.
- Public display is off unless you tick “Show publicly” on that listing. The finder sends no email itself.
FAQ
Is the setting on by default?
No. The finder does nothing until you tick the checkbox and save.
Will the address appear on my public listing?
Not unless you tick “Show publicly” for that listing. The address is stored privately and used for enquiries and claim invitations.
Why did nothing happen after I saved?
The first check is scheduled a minute after saving and depends on WordPress cron running. Reload the General tab after a few minutes to see the counter.
Can I edit or replace a found address?
Yes. It is an ordinary Email field in the listing editor, so you can change or clear it. A cleared listing may be picked up again once its 90 day gap has passed.
Why was no address found for a listing?
The site may publish no address, may only show one on another company’s domain, or may keep it deeper than the homepage and one contact page.