How to rank higher in WordPress.org plugin search

WordPress.org’s plugin search is open source, so its ranking formula isn’t a secret. Each result gets a text score for how well it matches the search, and that score is then multiplied by six factors: freshness, “Tested up to”, active installs, size, resolved support threads and rating. This guide goes through each factor with the numbers from the code, and says what you can change, how quickly, and what you can’t.

How the score is built

Search score = text match × freshness × “Tested up to” × installs × size × support × rating

Because the factors multiply, one weak factor drags everything down. A factor at ×0.50 halves your score however well your listing matches the search. What counts is how you compare with the plugins around you for that search, not your score on its own.

The six factors are exact: their formulas are in WordPress.org’s published code, and TrackWP computes them the same way. The text match isn’t, because it depends on WordPress.org’s search index, which isn’t public, so it can only be estimated. The methodology page shows the formula and each factor’s curve.

1. Freshness: release at least every 180 days

Your plugin keeps full score for 180 days after its last release. After that, the factor halves with every further 360 days.

Days since your last release	Factor
0–180	×1.00
270	×0.84
365	×0.70
540	×0.50
900	×0.25

What you can change: any new version resets the factor to ×1.00 for another 180 days. Releasing more often doesn’t lift it any higher, so the goal is simply never to pass 180 days. Plan your next release before that date, not after it. The Decay Countdown shows the date for any plugin.

2. “Tested up to”: stay within one branch

Search compares the “Tested up to” line in your readme with the current WordPress branch. Within 0.1 there’s no penalty; beyond that, the factor falls. Versions count by branch, so 7.1.3 is 7.1. Say 7.1 is current:

Your “Tested up to”	Factor
7.1 or 7.0	×1.00
6.9	×0.88
6.8	×0.77
6.6	×0.60

What you can change: update the line after each major WordPress release. It’s a readme edit, with no new code needed. Watch for the trap: one branch behind still gets full score, but the next WordPress release makes it two behind, and you fall to ×0.88 when that release ships.

3. Active installs: the slow one

The installs factor is log10(2 + 0.375 × installs). WordPress.org reports installs in rounded-down bands (1,000+, 30,000+ and so on), so the factor only moves when your band changes. Each tenfold rise adds about 1.0:

Active installs	Factor
1,000	×2.58
10,000	×3.57
100,000	×4.57
1 million	×5.57

What you can change: nothing directly, since installs follow from everything else. The useful part is how flat the curve is. Between 1,000 and 1 million installs, a rival with ten times yours is only 1.2–1.4 times ahead on this factor, so a better text match and stronger factors elsewhere can beat a much bigger plugin.

4. Size: a penalty below 1 million installs

Plugins with 1 million installs or fewer get one more factor: ×0.73 for small plugins, ×0.75 at 100,000 installs, ×0.85 at 500,000 and ×1.00 from 1 million up. Below 100,000 it barely moves, so for most plugins it changes nothing in practice. There’s nothing to act on here; it simply explains part of the lead that the biggest plugins have.

5. Resolved support threads: the quickest lever for small plugins

This factor is log10(2 + 0.25 × resolved), where resolved is the number of support threads resolved in the last two months. It counts resolved threads, not the share of threads resolved.

Threads resolved in the last two months	Factor
0	×0.30
4	×0.48
10	×0.65
32	×1.00
100	×1.43

The low end moves fastest. Going from 0 to 4 resolved threads multiplies your whole score by 1.58, about what growing from 1,000 to 30,000 installs does to the installs factor.

What you can change: answer threads quickly, and make sure the answered ones end up marked resolved. When you’ve replied and the user has gone quiet, mark the topic resolved, or ask the person who opened it to. The count only covers two months, so it falls again if you stop.

6. Rating: 4 stars is neutral

The rating factor is the square root of a quarter of your average stars. A plugin with no ratings counts as 2.5 stars.

Average rating	Factor
5 stars	×1.12
4.5 stars	×1.06
4 stars	×1.00
3 stars	×0.87
No ratings (counted as 2.5)	×0.79
1 star	×0.50

What you can change: no reviews at all scores below a 3-star average, so your first reviews matter. Above 4 stars the gains are small, about 5–6% for each half star. The bigger risk runs the other way: a run of 1- and 2-star reviews after a bad release pulls the factor down. Fix what low reviews complain about.

Where to start

1. Anything a release or a readme edit fixes: freshness past 180 days, and “Tested up to” more than one branch behind. These are the fastest wins.
2. Support: resolve the threads you’ve already answered.
3. Rating: earn your first reviews, and protect your average after each release.
4. Installs: these follow from the rest.

To see which factor holds you back for a particular search, the Rank Simulator shows all six for your plugin next to the plugins just above and below it. Compare the factors where they beat you with the ones you can change this week.

Text match comes first

None of this helps if your listing doesn’t match the search. WordPress.org only returns plugins whose text contains every word of the search, and your name and slug carry the most weight. How to choose a plugin name, short description and tags that search can find covers that side. Text match is estimated, so any predicted position is an estimate too, even though the six factors are exact.

If you’d rather not watch the dates yourself, TrackWP can track your plugin and warn you 30 and 7 days before it reaches 180 days, and when a new WordPress release leaves “Tested up to” behind.