Christmas Countdown Widget
by Monica Haught · Admin & Utilities
Also makes 2 other plugins · 320+ installs across the portfolio →
Displays a cute Santa Claus Christmas Countdown in your sidebar. Use the shortcode [countdown] to display the countdown on any post or page.
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
C 66/100
Stale
Active installs
300+
≈350 estimated
Momentum
-0%
low volume, under 1,000 downloads a month
Biggest opportunity: Swap “holiday” and “widget” for “santa” and “cute”. “holiday” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “santa” sits at #6 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “widget” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “cute” sits at #10 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
66 health vs 56 average across 5,904 Admin & Utilities plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →0.7%
of downloads still active
At least 300 of 41.5K lifetime downloads are still running, in line with its category: the median Admin & Utilities plugin keeps 0.6%, across 4,194 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Admin & Utilities 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.
Well optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 493 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 6.8.12; the current branch is 7.1
5.0★ over 10 reviews, weighted for review count to 4.2★ and held back under 25 reviews
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 493 days ago — ship an update; wp.org decays a listing's search weight after ~180 days.
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.
31
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.4
Velocity
places per keyword, 27d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 27d
-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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| christmas countdown your tag | #1 | #2 | 0 |
| santa claus your tag | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| christmas your tag | #4 | #5 | down 2 |
| santa | #6 | #6 | 0 |
| cute | #10 | #6 | down 1 |
| countdown widget | #16 | #18 | 0 |
| santa plugin | #7 | #7 | 0 |
| new year countdown widget | #10 | #14 | 0 |
| holiday your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| widget your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
14 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 8 listed. 6 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
- Swap “holiday” and “widget” for “santa” and “cute”. “holiday” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “santa” sits at #6 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “widget” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “cute” sits at #10 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,490 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 876 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #10,100 to #11,100, alongside the other plugins at 300+ 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
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 · 72% 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 “300+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 9 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 8 Dec 2016
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
2 of 8 pass · checked 2 Nov 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Displays a cute Santa Claus Christmas Countdown in your sidebar. Use the shortcode [countdown] to display t..."
- ! Has a FAQ Only 2 questions in the FAQ; 3 or more gives an assistant something to match.
- ! FAQ asks real questions 0 of 2 FAQ entries are headings, not questions ("undefined").
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("if you want"); 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 801 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text 4 of 5 tags appear in the text; "holiday" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-01-29 400+ → 300+ down after 61 days in tier
- 2025-11-29 300+ → 400+ up after 262 days in tier
- 2025-03-12 400+ → 300+ down after 68 days in tier
- 2025-01-03 500+ → 400+ down after 16 days in tier
- 2024-12-18 400+ → 500+ up after 34 days in tier
- 2024-11-14 300+ → 400+ up after 169 days in tier
- 2024-05-29 400+ → 300+ down after 141 days in tier
- 2024-01-09 500+ → 400+ down after 37 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).
-
WP Snow Effect 1K+ installs · 4.9★ · 2 shared tags B -
Black Studio TinyMCE Widget 200K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Image Widget 100K+ installs · 4.8★ · 1 shared tag A -
Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag A -
Fixed Widget and Sticky Elements for WordPress 70K+ installs · 4.7★ · 1 shared tag D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Christmas Countdown Widget into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/santas-christmas-countdown" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Christmas Countdown Widget — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Christmas Countdown Widget: 300+ active installs, 5.0★ (10 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-03. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/santas-christmas-countdown
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