Rapid Canonical URLs
by Peter Wilson · Uncategorized
Also makes 4 other plugins · 260+ installs across the portfolio →
Reduce 301 redirects and HTTP requests by using HTML5’s history API to show visitors the correct, canonical URL.
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
Not scored
no reviews to score from
Active installs
100+
≈150 estimated
Momentum
-27%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “canonical url” and “canonical” to your wp.org tags. You rank #7 and #10 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.
Not scored yet. Nobody has reviewed this plugin, so a grade would come from directory averages rather than from anything measured here.
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.3%
of downloads still active
At least 100 of 7.6K 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.
This plugin shipped 1 release 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.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 56 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
No reviews yet, so wp.org scores it as a middling unrated listing
3 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: No reviews yet. wp.org scores an unrated plugin as middling on rating, so the first good reviews lift it.
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.
42
Momentum
Mixed: one swing, the rest drifting
+0.5
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
25%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-0.5
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| canonical urls your tag | #5 | #20 | 0 |
| rapid | #5 | #18 | 0 |
| canonical url | #7 | #21 | down 1 |
| canonical | #10 | #22 | 0 |
| history api your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| html5 your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
4 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days. 2 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Add “canonical url” and “canonical” to your wp.org tags. You rank #7 and #10 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 196 · 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 1 Nov 2026.
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.
1
releases in the last 12 months
6mo ago
latest release · v1.0.3 · 9 May 2026
4
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 “100+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 21 months ago; a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 6 Sep 2015
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
4 of 8 pass · checked 31 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Reduce 301 redirects and HTTP requests by using HTML5’s history API to show visitors the correct, canonical..."
- ✓ 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 One audience phrase ("use this"); 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 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 473 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text 2 of 3 tags appear in the text; "canonical urls" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2025-02-05 200+ → 100+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2025-02-04 100+ → 200+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2025-02-02 200+ → 100+ down after 28 days in tier
- 2025-01-05 100+ → 200+ up after 12 days in tier
- 2024-12-24 200+ → 100+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2024-12-23 100+ → 200+ up after 3 days in tier
- 2024-12-20 200+ → 100+ down after 1 days in tier
- 2024-12-19 100+ → 200+ up after 3 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).
-
Easy Video Player 20K+ installs · 4.1★ · 1 shared tag A -
Videojs HTML5 Player 7K+ installs · 4.4★ · 1 shared tag A - G Gravity Forms – Placeholders add-on 2K+ installs · 4.6★ · 1 shared tag D
-
Video Player for WPBakery 2K+ installs · 3.9★ · 1 shared tag B -
Bradmax Player 1K+ installs · 4.1★ · 1 shared tag B -
mb.YTPlayer for background videos 1K+ installs · 4.0★ · 1 shared tag D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Rapid Canonical URLs into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/rapid-canonical-urls" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Rapid Canonical URLs — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Rapid Canonical URLs: 100+ active installs, no reviews yet. Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-02. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/rapid-canonical-urls
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