SEO Search Permalink vs Custom Permalinks

Head-to-head on the signals that matter, from the public WordPress.org data.

Health D46

Health B84

Active-install trajectory

SEO Search Permalink moved down one install band, 40+ to 30+. That's a single step across the whole window, so there's no trajectory to draw. The download trend below moves daily.

Metric	SEO Search Permalink	Custom Permalinks
Active installs Modeled from the public "N+" band and recent downloads.	30–40	100K–200K ✓
Install trend Change in active installs across the charted window.	-25%	0% ✓
Overall health	D · 46	B · 84 ✓
Maintenance How recently the plugin was updated.	6/100	100/100 ✓
Rating quality Volume-adjusted review quality.	74/100	77/100 ✓
Support Share of forum threads marked resolved.	70/100	70/100
Rating (adjusted)	3.98★	4.07★ ✓
Reviews	1	116 ✓
Ranking optimization How well the listing is tuned to rank on wp.org.	50/100	96/100 ✓
Removal risk Maintenance signals that precede a wp.org closure. Not an official status.	Elevated	Low ✓
Last updated	3.5y ago	19d ago ✓
Downloads · 30d	72	104.1K ✓
Install conversion Active installs over lifetime downloads. Downloads include every update, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower.	0.9%	3.7% ✓
Category	SEO	SEO

✓ marks the stronger plugin on each row. Rows where they're level show no marker.

Release activity

SEO Search PermalinkCustom Permalinks

7-day average daily downloads. Downloads spike for about a week after each release as the install base re-downloads, so read this as release cadence, not growth.