ESV CrossReference Tool
by adamzapcrossway · Uncategorized
The ESV CrossReference Tool is a free resource created to make it easy to feature the text of the ESV Bible on your blog, personal website, or church …
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
B 83/100
Few reviews
Active installs
500+
≈550 estimated
Momentum
+31%
low volume, under 1,000 downloads a month
Biggest opportunity: Rating quality scores 57/100. Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Install conversion
How it's measured →3.4%
of downloads still active
At least 500 of 14.9K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,781 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Uncategorized 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 1 release 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
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
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 78 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
4.0★ over 6 reviews, weighted for review count to 4.1★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Get the full rank-higher report →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.
31
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.4
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| esv your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| crossref your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| scripture your tag | #4 | #5 | 0 |
| bible your tag | #9 | #9 | 0 |
| church website | #5 | #15 | down 1 |
| church | #13 | #19 | down 2 |
| tagging your tag | #23 | #23 | down 4 |
24 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 7 listed. 17 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,491 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 977 · 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.
1
releases in the last 12 months
6mo ago
latest release · v2.1 · 18 May 2026
3
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% 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 “500+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 11 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 17 Jul 2019
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ wnsgadmin6.9y ago
… find a way to disable the plugin from activity in the admin area. I say this because if I go in and edit an existing page wherein references already exist, the plugin will automagically convert them, then when saving the post the insertions get saved along with it. The page displays correctly on the front end, with links as links etc, but the pop-ups no longer appear as before the save.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Greg9.3y ago
Bummer that this doesn’t work with https. I even went in and edited the plugin file to force https, but it just doesn’t work.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ macoafi9.7y ago
It works well when I view the site on my laptop, but when I look on my cell phone, the Scripture references aren’t turned into links at all. There’s no linking and no popover effect, as if I hadn’t installed the plugin to start with.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ brianfreytag11.3y ago
Does what it says it’s going to do and does it without a problem.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Bink12.2y ago
Worked without a hitch and looks good.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ VTmorrison12.7y ago
Very clean and useful plugin. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!
Read on wp.org ↗
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.
This plugin’s searches fall outside the topics measured so far. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
3 of 8 pass · checked 30 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "The ESV CrossReference Tool is a free resource created to make it easy to feature the text of the ESV Bible..."
- ! Has a FAQ Only 1 question in the FAQ; 3 or more gives an assistant something to match.
- ! FAQ asks real questions 0 of 1 FAQ entries are headings, not questions ("undefined").
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("designed for"); 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 0 headings and 1 list; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,181 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "scripture", "tagging" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2025-12-05 600+ → 500+ down after 74 days in tier
- 2025-09-22 500+ → 600+ up after 1466 days in tier
- 2021-09-17 400+ → 500+ up after 235 days in tier
- 2021-01-25 200+ → 400+ up
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).
-
Logos Reftagger 10K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags B -
BibleLink Multilingual 300+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags B -
Truth 70+ installs · 3.9★ · 2 shared tags D -
BibleUp 60+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags D - W WP-Bible 40+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags D
-
Verse of the Day Widget for WP 20+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags B
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for ESV CrossReference Tool into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/esv-crossref" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="ESV CrossReference Tool — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> ESV CrossReference Tool: 500+ active installs, 4.0★ (6 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-03. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/esv-crossref
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