MC Good-bye Howdy
by Mike Hickcox · Uncategorized
Also makes 6 other plugins · 240+ installs across the portfolio →
Seven ways to replace Howdy: Random Lists, Day/Date, Daypart, or Remove.
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
100+
≈150 estimated
Momentum
+227%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Rating quality scores 51/100. Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
83 health vs 58 average across 25,734 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →2.4%
of downloads still active
At least 100 of 4.2K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,764 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 52 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
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.
32
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.1
Velocity
places per keyword, 25d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 25d
-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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| remove howdy your tag | #1 | #9 | 0 |
| change howdy your tag | #1 | #10 | 0 |
| howdy your tag | #1 | #11 | 0 |
| disable howdy your tag | #2 | #13 | 0 |
| remove howdy in admin | #1 | #7 | 0 |
| replace howdy your tag | #3 | #16 | 0 |
| good | #5 | #23 | 0 |
13 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 7 listed. 6 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).
What to do about it
- Your five tags are all earning their place. Each gets you onto page 1 of its own search, so none is worth giving up. “good” (#5 untagged) would be the next worth testing if a slot frees up.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,487 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 352 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #13,300 to #16,400, alongside the other plugins at 100+ 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
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.
3
releases in the last 12 months
2mo ago
latest release · v2.7.2 · 9 Sep 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. 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 “100+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Modeled within the band wp.org reports; tightens as we track daily.
Install history since 4 Oct 2022
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ PuzzlesFrustrateAndDelight4.3y ago
Excellent Plugin. I’ve been using this plugin for some time now. I replace the boring Howdy message with ‘I AM BLESSED WITH – (name of the website). So each time I look at it, my success rates are blessed. Easy to use and effective. So long as the updates are kept up I’ll donate soon. Will be setting up a donations acct to help those who have helped me with my websites. Thanks Mike Hickcox keep it up!
Read on wp.org ↗
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.6.2
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
3 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 "Seven ways to replace Howdy: Random Lists, Day/Date, Daypart, or Remove."
- ✓ 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 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 2 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 483 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ! Tags match the text Only 2 of 5 tags appear in the text ("change howdy", "Disable Howdy", "remove howdy" missing).
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
No tier crossings observed yet.
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).
-
Disable/Remove Howdy 10+ installs · 3.6★ · 5 shared tags -
Remove Howdy 700+ installs · 4.2★ · 4 shared tags D - T TM Replace Howdy 200+ installs · 4.1★ · 3 shared tags D
- W WP Easy Replace Howdy 100+ installs · 3.6★ · 3 shared tags
-
Remove Howdy 10+ installs · 3.7★ · 3 shared tags D -
Custom Howdy 10+ installs · 4.0★ · 3 shared tags D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for MC Good-bye Howdy into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/mc-good-bye-howdy" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="MC Good-bye Howdy — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> MC Good-bye Howdy: 100+ active installs, 5.0★ (1 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/mc-good-bye-howdy
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