External Links Overview
by Christian Ott · SEO
Analyze, manage, and monitor all external links on your WordPress site. ---
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
C 67/100
Stale · Few reviews
Active installs
1K+
≈1.3K estimated
Momentum
+12%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “broken links” and “link checker” for “overview” and “external link”. “broken links” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “overview” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “link checker” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “external link” sits at #13 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
67 health vs 65 average across 2,216 SEO plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →18%
of downloads still active
At least 1K of 5.5K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median SEO plugin keeps 1.2%, across 1,192 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other SEO plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
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.
Room to improve
Most to gain: Support resolution
Updated 425 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.9.11, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 3 reviews, smoothed to 4.15★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
0 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
To rank higher: Mark more forum threads resolved — the resolved ratio feeds the ranking.
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
-0.9
Velocity
places per keyword, 27d
6%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 27d
-0.6
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| overview | #4 | #18 | 0 |
| outbound links your tag | #7 | #16 | 0 |
| external links your tag | #8 | #20 | 0 |
| external | #19 | #22 | up 1 |
| external link | #13 | #23 | 0 |
| external link checker | #10 | #17 | 0 |
| external links seo | #15 | #23 | down 1 |
| track outbound link | #18 | #19 | down 3 |
| links checker | #23 | #22 | 0 |
| outbound | #24 | #24 | down 1 |
| broken links your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| link checker your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| seo your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
19 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 10 listed. 9 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
- Swap “broken links” and “link checker” for “overview” and “external link”. “broken links” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “overview” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “link checker” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “external link” sits at #13 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 3 May 2025 · 547 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 593 · 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
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
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
1.2y ago
latest release · v1.3.0 · 1 Sep 2025
4
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 99% 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 3 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 25% of the way through.
At the current install trend, crossing 2K+ in roughly 611 days.
Install history since 2 May 2025
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.8.2
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 1 language, 0 at 90% or more
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
6 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 "Analyze, manage, and monitor all external links on your WordPress site. ---"
- ✓ Has a FAQ 3 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 3 of 3 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ✓ Headings and lists 4 headings and 1 list.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,715 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "link checker", "outbound links" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-07-31 900+ → 1K+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2026-07-29 800+ → 900+ up after 93 days in tier
- 2026-04-27 700+ → 800+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-04-26 800+ → 700+ down after 5 days in tier
- 2026-04-21 700+ → 800+ up after 56 days in tier
- 2026-02-24 600+ → 700+ up after 48 days in tier
- 2026-01-07 500+ → 600+ up after 34 days in tier
- 2025-12-04 400+ → 500+ up after 20 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).
-
Link Checker 4K+ installs · 3.4★ · 3 shared tags B -
Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ installs · 3.8★ · 2 shared tags B -
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag B -
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for External Links Overview into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/external-links-overview" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="External Links Overview — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> External Links Overview: 1K+ active installs, 5.0★ (3 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/external-links-overview
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