kURL – Short URL Manager for YOURLS
by Gerald Drißner · Uncategorized
Also makes 2 other plugins · 70+ installs across the portfolio →
Connect WordPress to a self-hosted YOURLS instance to create, sync, manage, and track short URLs from the admin area.
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 84/100
Few reviews
Active installs
40+
≈40 estimated
Momentum
+41%
low volume, under 1,000 downloads a month
Biggest opportunity: Add “short url”, “short” and “short urls” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #6 and #6 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.
Install conversion
How it's measured →5.0%
of downloads still active
At least 40 of 803 lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,782 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 5 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 82 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
5.0★ over 2 reviews, weighted for review count to 4.1★ and held back under 25 reviews
4 of 5 tags set · short description in place
1 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
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.
40
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
23%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
+0.1
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| yourls your tag | #1 | #5 | 0 |
| short url | #4 | #19 | up 1 |
| short | #6 | #21 | 0 |
| short urls | #6 | #19 | down 1 |
| short url to random url | #3 | #20 | down 1 |
| url shortener your tag | #11 | #20 | 0 |
| url short | #6 | #23 | up 1 |
| short links | #16 | #22 | down 2 |
| custom links your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| shortlinks your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
30 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 8 listed. 22 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 “short url”, “short” and “short urls” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #6 and #6 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 “url shortener”. #11 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
Daily downloads
Since 4 May 2026 · 183 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 184 · 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 1 Nov 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
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
5
releases in the last 12 months
3mo ago
latest release · v1.0.9 · 13 Aug 2026
5
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 yesterday 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 66 days.
Install history since 3 May 2026
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ mayurdoriel6mo ago
Thank you so much for developing the perfect companion plugin for my YOURLs. It just makes everything so easy. Especially with a large resource site, the current permalinks are long, my self hosted YoURLs was one step forward in keeping in line with overall branding with a short domain. The only thing I was lacking was a connection between my website and the shortner in YOURLs. Your plugin just launched in the nick of time as I’m undertaking a major project. Thank you so much! This topic was modified 2 months, 1 week ago by mayurdoriel.
Read on wp.org ↗
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.
This plugin’s searches fall outside the topics measured so far. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
5 of 8 pass · checked 3 Nov 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Connect WordPress to a self-hosted YOURLS instance to create, sync, manage, and track short URLs from the a..."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 9 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 9 of 9 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("built 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 3 headings and 1 list.
- ✓ Enough to quote 2,450 characters of description.
- ! Tags match the text Only 1 of 4 tags appear in the text ("custom links", "shortlinks", "url shortener" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-11-02 30+ → 40+ up after 34 days in tier
- 2026-09-29 20+ → 30+ up after 29 days in tier
- 2026-08-31 30+ → 20+ down after 24 days in tier
- 2026-08-07 20+ → 30+ up after 50 days in tier
- 2026-06-18 10+ → 20+ 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).
-
Link Shortner 700+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A - B Bit.ly Shortlinks Multisite (Uses OAuth 2 API) 10+ installs · 3.9★ · 2 shared tags D
-
Custom Link Shortener 10+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags - B BuddyPress Tweet Urls — installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags
-
Westroo Short URL Manager — installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags -
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for kURL – Short URL Manager for YOURLS into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/kurl-short-url-manager-yourls" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="kURL – Short URL Manager for YOURLS — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> kURL – Short URL Manager for YOURLS: 40+ active installs, 5.0★ (2 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-03. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/kurl-short-url-manager-yourls
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