Image Zoom on Hover
by Mathew · Uncategorized
Also makes 4 other plugins · 1.1K+ installs across the portfolio →
Transform your WordPress images with elegant zoom functionality. Click any image to view it in a beautiful full-screen overlay with smooth animations.
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
40+
≈40 estimated
Momentum
+61%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “zoom” and “cinema” to your wp.org tags. You rank #13 and #14 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 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.
83 health vs 58 average across 25,734 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →3.5%
of downloads still active
At least 40 of 1.1K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,766 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 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
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 54 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 1 review, smoothed to 4.12★ and held back under 25 reviews
4 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.
60
Momentum
Gaining ground
+1.8
Velocity
places per keyword, 19d
60%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 19d
+0.9
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| image zoom your tag | #9 | #22 | down 1 |
| mobile hover your tag | #14 | #24 | — |
| zoom | #13 | #23 | up 6 |
| hover zoom | #6 | #23 | up 1 |
| hover | #18 | #24 | 0 |
| cinema | #14 | #18 | 0 |
| zoom images | #11 | #23 | 0 |
| image hover | #23 | #24 | 0 |
| zoom plugin | #13 | #23 | up 2 |
| hover image | #22 | #24 | — |
| lightbox your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| responsive your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
21 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 10 listed. 11 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Add “zoom” and “cinema” to your wp.org tags. You rank #13 and #14 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 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.
- One page off on “mobile hover”. #14 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
Daily downloads
Since 7 Aug 2025 · 450 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 155 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #21,400 to #22,800, alongside the other plugins at 40+ installs. Plugins with the same install count swap places between wp.org requests, so this is where most of them sit. Checked monthly, last on 21 Oct 2026.
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
Downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites.
Not enough installs to measure. This needs at least 100 active sites; below that, a handful of downloads reads as tens of thousands.
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 · v1.0.3 · 16 Jun 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 “40+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 2 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 40.
At the current install trend, crossing 50+ in roughly 850 days.
Install history since 8 Aug 2025
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0
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 Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 8 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 8 of 8 read like questions a user would type.
- ✓ Names who it is for Names its audience or use cases ("perfect for", "use cases").
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Zoom.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 5,507 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 2 of 4 tags appear in the text; "lightbox", "mobile hover" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-29 30+ → 40+ up after 17 days in tier
- 2026-10-12 20+ → 30+ up after 66 days in tier
- 2026-08-07 10+ → 20+ up after 27 days in tier
- 2026-07-11 30+ → 10+ down after 18 days in tier
- 2026-06-23 40+ → 30+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2026-06-22 30+ → 40+ up after 4 days in tier
- 2026-06-18 40+ → 30+ down after 5 days in tier
- 2026-06-13 30+ → 40+ up after 28 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).
-
Meow Lightbox 10K+ installs · 4.9★ · 2 shared tags A -
VenoBox Lightbox 1K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D -
Ultimate Lightbox 1K+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags B - B blueimp lightbox 1K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags D
- E Easy Photo Album 1K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags C
-
WF Magnific Lightbox 1K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Image Zoom on Hover into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/image-zoom-on-hover" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Image Zoom on Hover — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Image Zoom on Hover: 40+ active installs, 5.0★ (1 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/image-zoom-on-hover
Spotted a number that looks wrong? Report a data issue and we'll check it against the source.