SEO Internal Link Shortcode
by Steven Vachon · Uncategorized
Also makes 4 other plugins · 1.1K+ installs across the portfolio →
Internal links to posts, custom-type posts, pages, categories and tags with any HTML attribute(s).
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
D 47/100
Stale · Likely abandoned · Few reviews
Active installs
60+
≈65 estimated
Momentum
+9%
low volume, under 1,000 downloads a month
Biggest opportunity: “categories”, “category” and “content” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.2%
of downloads still active
At least 60 of 5.1K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,785 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.
High removal-risk signals
63/100Maintenance and integrity signals that tend to precede a WordPress.org removal. Not an official status, a heads-up to act.
- Long abandoned. No update in 12+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 3.7.41, well behind 7.1.
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.
Under-optimized
Most to gain: Update recency
Updated 4675 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 3.7.41; the current branch is 7.1
4.8★ over 6 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 4675 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.
Not enough tracked days yet to call a direction. Momentum needs at least three keywords measured a week or more apart.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| categories your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| category your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| content your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| html5 your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| link your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
1 search this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 0 listed. 1 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 5 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- “categories”, “category” and “content” aren't earning a slot. You list them, but you're not in the first 24 results for those searches. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so free the slot for a search you can win.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,490 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 182 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank
Ranked about #19,000 to #20,000, alongside the other plugins at 60+ 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.
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
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
No release in a yearHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
0
releases in the last 12 months
12.8y ago
latest release · v0.1.1 · 15 Jan 2014
2
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 “60+”. 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 10 Mar 2015
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ pdwalker11.2y ago
if you’re tired of changing all your internal links when you change your page url, this url will solve your problem. It does mean you’ll be linking pages by page ids, but that’s an acceptable tradeoff.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ RobertFischer12.7y ago
This is far and away the best version of this plugin, both the sense of “simplest” and “most functional”. The only thing it is missing is the ability to link to comments. I’d like to link to this URL: http://blog.enfranchisedmind.com/2013/11/congratulations-you-are-screwed/#comment-1139063511, but there’s no way to either specify the anchor or the comment id to generate the link. If it had that, it would be 5 stars with a bullet. In any case, I’m still recommending this to everyone.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ l3bel13.0y ago
tnks a zillion tested and works perfectly with 3.7.1
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Michael H.E. Roth13.3y ago
Great Plugin! Straitforward and intuitive to use! Finally I can get my internal linking under control… Thanks Michael
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ avfigueiredo13.3y ago
Does exactly what it says. It’s very simple to use and does the job flawlessly. Great plugin!
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ holgerhubbs13.6y ago
I haven’t had a chance to try out the plugin, but it looks promising 😉 I am looking for a solution for external links. Basically I want to have clean, user-friendly, permanent slugs on my own website, I can point to, which then get forwarded to cryptic external links… I want to have one place to manage the ugly external urls, without being in need to update my whole website; also avoiding 404s from search engines indexing my site. In a way similar to a customizable url shortener… or just a slug for the already built-in WP Links feature. Did I just find my own answer while composing an email to you? Greetings, Holger
Read on wp.org ↗
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 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 No FAQ section.
- ! FAQ asks real questions No FAQ to judge.
- ! 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 6 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ✓ Enough to quote 1,168 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 4 of 5 tags appear in the text; "HTML5" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-02-03 70+ → 60+ down after 229 days in tier
- 2025-06-19 80+ → 70+ down after 3 days in tier
- 2025-06-16 100+ → 80+ down after 976 days in tier
- 2022-10-14 200+ → 100+ down after 10 days in tier
- 2022-10-04 400+ → 200+ down after 2116 days in tier
- 2016-12-18 300+ → 400+ up after 566 days in tier
- 2015-06-01 400+ → 300+ down
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).
-
PublishPress Taxonomies – Tag, Category, and Taxonomy Manager – Autotagger Automatically Add Terms 40K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A -
Media Library Categories 20K+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags A - R Recent Posts by Category Widget 4K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
- C Custom Recent Posts Widget 1K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
- L Links shortcode 800+ installs · 4.2★ · 2 shared tags D
-
Advanced Categories Widget 700+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags D
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for SEO Internal Link Shortcode into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/seo-internal-link-shortcode" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="SEO Internal Link Shortcode — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> SEO Internal Link Shortcode: 60+ active installs, 4.8★ (6 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-03. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/seo-internal-link-shortcode
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