Keep Emoticons as Text
by Geek Goddess · Uncategorized
Also makes 2 other plugins · 770+ installs across the portfolio →
Disables the default WordPress option of converting emoticons to image smilies
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
A 87/100
Few reviews
Active installs
700+
≈760 estimated
Momentum
+15%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “converting” and “text” to your wp.org tags. You rank #18 and #20 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.
87 health vs 58 average across 25,751 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →7.8%
of downloads still active
At least 700 of 8.9K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,772 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.
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 93 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.0.8, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 8 reviews, smoothed to 4.22★ and held back under 25 reviews
3 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.
33
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.6
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
8%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-0.2
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| emoticons your tag | #1 | #2 | 0 |
| emoticon | #1 | #2 | 0 |
| keep | #2 | #8 | 0 |
| smilies your tag | #3 | #3 | 0 |
| text formatting | #4 | #8 | 0 |
| text | #20 | #18 | 0 |
| formatting your tag | #21 | #23 | 0 |
| converting | #18 | #21 | up 1 |
| in text | #24 | #19 | down 2 |
13 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 9 listed. 4 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).
What to do about it
- Add “converting” and “text” to your wp.org tags. You rank #18 and #20 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 · 1,489 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 192 · 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.
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 “700+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 4 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 65% of the way through.
Install history since 1 Feb 2016
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ Taylor Gorman4.0y ago
The actual functioning PHP code is just one line, which is exactly what it needs to be. I went from “How do I turn this off on my client’s site” to Google to an article to installing this plugin to problem completely solved in literally one minute. Thank you for being awesome.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ davidg9397.0y ago
Great plugin, I need it!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ FGU Nord / Lars7.5y ago
🙂
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ jave.web9.6y ago
The super “massive” code of this plugin is, literally, : add_filter( 'option_use_smilies', '__return_false' ); altough for newer PHP 5.3+ I would suggest add_filter('option_use_smilies',function(){ return false; }); I fear the times, when you will have to install separate plugin for every WordPress option…
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ antonio79.8y ago
I’ve been looking for this plugin for so long!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Catfish-hh10.0y ago
spares me unwanted visual clutter – easy and efficient. Thanks a lot.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ DragoWeb10.2y ago
Thanks a lot for this. Searched for a solution during hours, tried so many things, but only this solved my problem.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ vetchyKocour10.8y ago
Thanks to this small plugin I does not need to modify the templates to achieve the same effect. Even if it’s just one line of code 🙂 Good job, thank you!
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
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
1 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 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 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 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 603 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 3 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-06-26 800+ → 700+ down after 3 days in tier
- 2026-06-23 700+ → 800+ up after 4 days in tier
- 2026-06-19 800+ → 700+ down after 323 days in tier
- 2025-07-31 900+ → 800+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2025-07-29 800+ → 900+ up after 3 days in tier
- 2025-07-26 900+ → 800+ down after 238 days in tier
- 2024-11-30 1K+ → 900+ down after 1166 days in tier
- 2021-09-21 700+ → 1K+ up after 1530 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).
-
Really Disable Emojis 700+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D -
TinyMCE Smiley Button 600+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags D - T Tango/GNOME Smilies 10+ installs · 4.0★ · 2 shared tags D
- C Custom Smilies Directory 10+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags
- A Advanced Excerpt 80K+ installs · 4.3★ · 1 shared tag A
- R Raw HTML 10K+ installs · 4.2★ · 1 shared tag C
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Keep Emoticons as Text into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/keep-emoticons-as-text" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Keep Emoticons as Text — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Keep Emoticons as Text: 700+ active installs, 5.0★ (8 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/keep-emoticons-as-text
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