Admin Search
by Andrew Stichbury · Admin & Utilities
Admin Search adds a simple, easy-to-use interface to your WordPress admin site that gives you and your admin users the ability to search across multip …
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Health
B 83/100
no flags
Active installs
1K+
≈1.9K estimated
Momentum
+15%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “admin color scheme” and “remove admin bar” to your wp.org tags. You rank #10 and #23 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 3 listed these are the slots worth spending.
83 health vs 56 average across 5,895 Admin & Utilities plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →3.3%
of downloads still active
At least 1K of 30K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Admin & Utilities plugin keeps 0.6%, across 4,187 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Admin & Utilities plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 3 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
Recent review vibe
read from the latest 12 reviews to 2024-09-17Reviewers call it a fast, genuinely useful admin search across content types, with the few lower ratings asking for things it doesn't do yet like SKU or URL lookup.
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Excellent listing optimization
Well tuned across the board
Updated 156 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.0.8, the current branch or newer
4.5★ over 18 reviews, smoothed to 4.21★ and held back under 25 reviews
3 of 5 tags set · short description in place
Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
38
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.1
Velocity
places per keyword, 27d
16%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 27d
+0.0
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| admin search | #3 | #7 | up 1 |
| admin interface | #8 | #15 | 0 |
| admin taxonomy search | #5 | #13 | up 1 |
| admin customization | #10 | #16 | down 1 |
| search admin menus | #6 | #17 | — |
| admin color scheme | #10 | #19 | down 1 |
| admin ui | #14 | #21 | 0 |
| admin colors | #15 | #18 | down 1 |
| admin color | #16 | #19 | up 1 |
| hide admin bar from front end | #19 | #23 | 0 |
| admin menu search | #14 | #21 | 0 |
| search admin menu | #14 | #21 | 0 |
| remove admin bar | #23 | #21 | 0 |
| admin user search | #15 | #24 | down 2 |
| admin your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| advanced your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| search your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
80 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 14 listed. 66 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 3 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Add “admin color scheme” and “remove admin bar” to your wp.org tags. You rank #10 and #23 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 3 listed these are the slots worth spending.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 1.8K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
Occasionally updatedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
3
releases in the last 12 months
5mo ago
latest release · v1.5.0 · 28 May 2026
21
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 47% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “1K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 2.9 years ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 90% of the way through.
Install history since 19 Jan 2021
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ alastairt2.1y ago
Simple, effective and even searches the content in my Knowledge Base plug-in. Just what was needed. Thank you
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ discobrille2.2y ago
I was looking for a WP Jump Menu alternative for a long time. This is the one, great! Thank you.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ joehanna2.5y ago
This is a great timesaving tool. I was thinking of building something similar on the front end. I know this can work on the front end but I would want a different set of rules (post types etc) exposed to the front end. This would be a welcomed feature! Thank you for sharing this!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ alexandertimothy2.6y ago
Just got this plugin and it’s already made my day better. I’m used to these quick search panels in other software and something like this should just be merged into WP core because navigating through the dashboard is painful without it
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ techispot.com2.7y ago
in admin area want to search product though sku but there is no option available
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ petersweater2.9y ago
Really nice search. Search all content types from one place, search by slug… Thank you Andrew for this beautiful plugin!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Andrew P. Popov3.1y ago
doesn’t search by posts
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Martin Valchev3.6y ago
It works perfectly a lot – it searches everywhere in the administration.
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 4 languages, 0 at 90% or more · development strings
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
4 of 8 pass · checked 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Admin Search adds a simple, easy-to-use interface to your WordPress admin site that gives you and your admi..."
- ! Has a FAQ No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("use this"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ✓ Headings and lists 2 headings and 2 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 4,425 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 2 of 3 tags appear in the text; "advanced" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2023-12-25 900+ → 1K+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2023-12-24 1K+ → 900+ down after 4 days in tier
- 2023-12-20 900+ → 1K+ up after 69 days in tier
- 2023-10-12 800+ → 900+ up after 65 days in tier
- 2023-08-08 700+ → 800+ up after 119 days in tier
- 2023-04-11 600+ → 700+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2023-04-10 700+ → 600+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2023-04-09 600+ → 700+ up after 50 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
- A Advanced Custom Fields – Location Field add-on 900+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags D
-
Loginizer 1M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Redux Framework 900K+ installs · 4.4★ · 1 shared tag A -
Admin Menu Editor 300K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A -
White Label CMS 200K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A -
Search Regex 100K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Admin Search into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/admin-search" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Admin Search — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Admin Search: 1K+ active installs, 4.5★ (18 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/admin-search
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