Keyword Difficulty
How hard is a WordPress.org search to rank for?
Enter a search people type. We score the current top results with WordPress.org's own ranking formula and work out how many installs a plugin needs to break into the top 10.
- Difficulty from the search formula, not guesswork
- Installs it takes for the top 10, top 3 and #1
- Weak spots: stale, untested or off-topic results
- Optional: what your plugin would need
How hard is “seo”?
Difficulty
78/ 100Very hard
Owned by large plugins: aim at a longer, more specific phrase.
Installs it takes to reach
- The top 10
- 300K+
- The top 3
- Out of reach
- #1
- Out of reach
Audience
Large
The top 10 have 26.6M+ installs and 292.3K downloads a day between them. 9,143 plugins match the search.
The top 102 with weak spots
WordPress.org search, Nov 8, 2026| # | Plugin | Installs | Multiplier | To get here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Rank Math SEO | 4M+ | ×7.18 | Out of reach |
| 2 |  Yoast SEO | 10M+ | ×8.02 | Out of reach |
| 3 |  All in One SEO | 2M+ | ×5.38 | Out of reach |
| 4 |  SEOPress | 300K+ | ×2.11 | Out of reach |
| 5 |  The SEO Framework | 200K+ | ×2.52 | Out of reach |
| 6 |  Slim SEO | 70K+ | ×1.42 | 2M+ |
| 7 |  LiteSpeed CacheSearch not in its name | 7M+ | ×7.39 | 1M+ |
| 8 |  GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO | 30K+ | ×0.96 | 1M+ |
| 9 |  JetpackSearch not in its nameRated 3.7★ | 3M+ | ×7.05 | 600K+ |
| 10 |  Xagio SEO & AEO | 10K+ | ×0.87 | 300K+ |
Assumes a plugin named for “seo” (in its name, short description and tags; the slug seo is taken), released today, tested up to WordPress 7.1, with the support load and rating typical for plugins of each size. Our text estimate follows this search's real order closely (fit 0.71).
Find the searches your plugin can win
Track your plugin: every keyword gets a difficulty score, and from Boost we score new keyword ideas against your own numbers.
- Difficulty on every tracked keyword
- Ideas from your listing, tags and rivals
- What each one would take for you
Inside Keyword Difficulty
WordPress.org's own formula
Each result is scored the way plugin search scores it: text match times six published multipliers (installs, release date, Tested up to, support, rating, size).
Installs to break in
We find the smallest install band at which a plugin named for the search passes the tenth, third and first results.
Weak spots
Results with no release for six months, an old "Tested up to", a low rating or the search missing from their name are easier to pass.
Audience
WordPress.org doesn't publish search counts, so we show what the top 10 earn: their installs and downloads a day.
Your plugin
Add your plugin to see its position and the installs it would need, as it is and with the search in its name.
Opportunities
Signed in, every tracked keyword shows its difficulty; from Boost we score new keyword ideas for each product.
Questions
How is difficulty worked out?
WordPress.org's plugin search multiplies a text-match score by six factors whose formulas are public. We score the current top 20 that way, then find the smallest install band at which a plugin named for the search, released today, tested up to the current WordPress and with the support load and rating typical at its size, passes the tenth result. 0 means no installs needed; 100 means out of reach even at 10 million.
How exact is it?
The six multipliers are exact. The text-match part is our estimate, since only the live search index knows it precisely. Each report says how well our estimate matches the real order for that search; when the match is weak, treat the install figures as rough.
Why no search volume?
WordPress.org doesn't publish how often a term is searched. The installs and downloads a day of the plugins already ranking for it are the best public sign of how much it's worth.
Do themes work?
Not yet: theme search scoring isn't published in the same form, so we only score plugin searches.
More tools
Rankings
Daily rank, installs and downloads
Rank Simulator
Why a plugin ranks where it does
Keyword Tracker
Who ranks for a WordPress.org search
Rival Watch
Two products, side by side
Decay Countdown
Before a search score starts to fall
Niche Research
How crowded a tag is, and rising niches
Readme Checker
A readme scored the way search reads it