Unique Headers
by Ryan Hellyer · Media
Also makes 13 other plugins · 76.3K+ installs across the portfolio →
Add unique custom header images to individual pages, posts, categories, or tags.
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Health
A 87/100
no flags
Active installs
10K+
≈19K estimated
Momentum
+17%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Swap “attachments”, “media” and “taxonomy” for “headers”, “header” and “individual”. “attachments” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “headers” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “media” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “header” sits at #12 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “taxonomy” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “individual” sits at #17 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
87 health vs 62 average across 3,294 Media plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →2.2%
of downloads still active
At least 10K of 461.4K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Media plugin keeps 0.8%, across 2,324 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Media 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 6 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
Well tuned across the board
Updated 176 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.0.8; the current branch is 7.1
4.9★ over 160 reviews, smoothed to 4.71★
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
1 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
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.
38
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
19%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| unique | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| unique posts | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| unique id | #1 | #1 | 0 |
| headers | #4 | #4 | 0 |
| header images your tag | #7 | #7 | down 1 |
| custom header your tag | #13 | #9 | up 1 |
| header | #12 | #9 | down 1 |
| custom headers | #5 | #4 | down 1 |
| individual | #17 | #19 | 0 |
| header media | #10 | #10 | down 1 |
| header tags | #10 | #11 | 0 |
| change page header images | #17 | #20 | up 1 |
| header plugin | #19 | #15 | down 2 |
| attachments your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| media your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| taxonomy your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
74 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 13 listed. 61 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 3 of its tags aren't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Swap “attachments”, “media” and “taxonomy” for “headers”, “header” and “individual”. “attachments” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “headers” sits at #4 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “media” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “header” sits at #12 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. “taxonomy” isn't earning its slot: you're not in the first 24 results for its own search. “individual” sits at #17 untagged, close enough for a declared tag to move it up. All five slots are taken, so one has to go.
- One page off on “custom header”. #13 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,490 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 32.8K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
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
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
6
releases in the last 12 months
6mo ago
latest release · v2.1.3 · 10 May 2026
54
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 44% 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 “10K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 5 months ago and the previous band took 3.2 years to cross, so the real count is still just under 20K.
Install history since 10 Dec 2020
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ italliance2.5y ago
Super easy to use. Thank you for developing this.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ SSVapes3.0y ago
works perfectly. the shortcodes could be better
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ laserulm3.9y ago
thx
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Jeffrey S. Whitmore4.0y ago
Why isn’t it part of default? It took me a month to make a bunch of header images and put them in all my old posts. It was awesome! No sarcasm. This made my posts so much better.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ singingfalls4.8y ago
Easy to use. A real asset to site customization. My gratitude for it’s production.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ fureniku5.4y ago
The plugin does technically do its job of allowing a unique header per page. However, it offers absolutely no guidelines on how your base image should be in terms of size or aspect ratio, and no cropping or positioning tools, leaving you to trial and error to try and get an image that actually shows up correctly with your theme. It’s very frustrating and time consuming, but does look good once finished.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ langerent5.6y ago
It was a great plug in but it made my site crash (500 Error) once I updated to WordPress 5.7. Once I uninstalled the plug in, the site worked normally again. Thanks
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ comueller5.6y ago
Perfect Tool. It works very well. This topic was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by comueller.
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- 2026-05-10 Version 2.1.3 Resolved issue where custom header images would not display on WooCommerce product category pages due to taxonomy caching at plugin init time Restored ability to upload video headers in the customizer 2.1.3
- 2026-05-08 Version 2.1.2 Fix: Removed strict string type declarations from postHeaderImageFilter and taxonomyHeaderImageFilter to prevent TypeError when WordPress Customizer passes an array through the theme_mod_header_image filter 2.1.2
- 2026-05-07 Version 2.1.1 Fixing version number Shortening readme description to meet WordPress.org requirements 2.1.1
- 2026-05-07 Version 2.1 Fixed PSR-4 container namespacing bug 2.1
- 2026-05-01 Version 2.0.1 CI: restricted PHP version matrix to 8.4 and 8.5 CI: fixed lock file resolution issue for different PHP versions Docs: added plugin longevity note (since 2012, 20,000+ sites) Docs: reorganized README sections for better 2.0.1
- 2026-05-01 Version 2.0 Major architectural overhaul: migrated to PSR-4 autoloading with Composer and Inpsyde Modularity Replaced legacy classes with AdminModule, DisplayModule, and AttachmentHelper service Rewrote admin JavaScript as ES6 class 2.0
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 106 languages, 8 at 90% or more
Plus 82 more locales with partial translations.
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
7 of 8 pass · checked 27 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Add unique custom header images to individual pages, posts, categories, or tags."
- ✓ 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 Names its audience or use cases ("use this", "for developers").
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ✓ Headings and lists 5 headings and 2 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 2,503 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text 3 of 5 tags appear in the text; "attachments", "taxonomy" do not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-06-12 20K+ → 10K+ down after 1156 days in tier
- 2023-04-13 30K+ → 20K+ down after 2 days in tier
- 2023-04-11 20K+ → 30K+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2023-04-10 30K+ → 20K+ down after 436 days in tier
- 2022-01-29 20K+ → 30K+ up after 1391 days in tier
- 2018-04-09 10K+ → 20K+ up after 829 days in tier
- 2016-01-01 9K+ → 10K+ up after 133 days in tier
- 2015-08-21 8K+ → 9K+ up after 75 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).
-
Media Deduper 9K+ installs · 3.9★ · 2 shared tags C -
WP Header Images 4K+ installs · 4.3★ · 2 shared tags A -
WP Attachments – Smarter File Management & Download Lists 3K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags A -
F4 Media Taxonomies 1K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A - U Unattach 900+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags D
-
WP Media Categories 800+ installs · 4.1★ · 2 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Unique Headers into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/unique-headers" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Unique Headers — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Unique Headers: 10K+ active installs, 4.9★ (160 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-02. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/unique-headers
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