Use Google Libraries
by Jason Penney · Performance
Also makes 1 other plugin · 10K+ installs across the portfolio →
Allows your site to use common javascript libraries from Google's AJAX Libraries CDN, rather than from WordPress's own copies.
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
Active installs
10K+
≈15K estimated
Momentum
+24%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: “cdn”, “google” and “javascript” 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.
47 health vs 69 average across 1,807 Performance plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →1.3%
of downloads still active
At least 10K of 751.3K lifetime downloads are still running, in line with its category: the median Performance plugin keeps 1.4%, across 1,100 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Performance 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 8+ years — the top precursor to removal once a vulnerability is found.
- Compatibility drift. Tested only up to WordPress 4.7.39, well behind 6.8.
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 3259 days ago, past the ~180 days where wp.org starts discounting
Tested up to WordPress 4.7.39; the current branch is 6.8
4.4★ over 47 reviews, smoothed to 4.25★
5 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Last updated 3259 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.
32
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.3
Velocity
places per keyword, 25d
0%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 25d
0.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| cdn your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| google your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| javascript your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| jquery your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
| performance your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
4 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 0 listed. 4 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
- “cdn”, “google” and “javascript” 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 · 1,488 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 650 · 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
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
8.9y ago
latest release · v1.6.2.3 · 28 Nov 2017
24
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 98% 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 2.4 years ago; the previous band took 18 months to cross, which places it about 50% of the way through.
Install history since 11 Mar 2021
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ robkipa2.1y ago
Since this hasn’t been updated in forever, some modifications are needed to enable the plugin due to version checking. debug.log will show: Not yet qualified with this version of WordPress. Bypassing UGL. To fix: comment out lines 229-232 of use-google-libraries.php: /*if ( version_compare( get_bloginfo( 'version' ), '4.8', '>=') ) { self::debug( 'Not yet qualified with this version of WordPress. Bypassing UGL.' ); return; }*/ I can confirm jquery.js then loads from Google’s AJAX library (tested on WP 6.6.2)
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ rngala3.6y ago
Plugin has not been updated in awhile – 6 years+How to fix: WordPress post edit area – white text white backgroundYou can actually select the white paragraph text to highlight it, and copy-paste it in a text editor, and fix the content or links – then paste it back. Just a quick, and live fix where WP’s displays white text on white background.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Posandu5.1y ago
**************
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Preston Reyes7.6y ago
this plugin no longer works at all. dont even bother to install. it has not been updated in 2 years.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ eduardbein8.3y ago
Интересно в каком веке она перестала работать и почему она находится в топе ?!)) 😊
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ joshmakar8.7y ago
Tested this plugin on a local installation of WP 4.9.4 using the Twenty Seventeen theme but could not get it to work. Installed plugin, refreshed site and launched the Chrome inspector. Searched “jquery” and found where jquery is being loaded from the wp-includes folder. Thanks for writing the plugin! If I’m able to get this plugin to work, I’ll come back and update my review.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Antony Agnel8.7y ago
Works as described.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Daniel9.3y ago
feels like Mario Kart on my multisite now 🙂 thanks a lot!
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 1.6.2.3 Updated supported version. used archive.org to get around link that’s now malware 1.6.2.3
- — Version 1.6.2.1 Bypass functionality when running under 4.2+ until next version to avoid breaking sites. 1.6.2.1
- — Version 1.6.2 added some missing jQuery UI modules (hopefully fixes issues from support forums I couldn’t reproduce previously). 1.6.2
- — Version 1.6.1 same as 1.6 (due to SVN issue with 1.6) 1.6.1
- — Version 1.6 Drop support for PHP4, and WordPress clean up PHP 5.x strict issues 1.6
- — Version 1.5.2 using protocol-relative URLS with WordPress >= 3.5 use WordPress provided is_ssl rather than custom check (only for WordPress Detect if ‘jquery’ is a meta-script registration, and actual jQuery is loaded as ‘jquery-core’ 1.5.2
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 7.2.16 · WP 5.3
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 7 languages, 6 at 90% or more
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 28 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ✓ Says what it does "Allows your site to use common javascript libraries from Google's AJAX Libraries CDN, rather than from Word..."
- ✓ Has a FAQ 6 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 5 of 6 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for One audience phrase ("if you need"); say who the plugin is for and what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions Gravity Forms.
- ✓ Headings and lists 14 headings and 4 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 3,022 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 5 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2024-05-23 20K+ → 10K+ down after 553 days in tier
- 2022-11-17 30K+ → 20K+ down after 560 days in tier
- 2021-05-06 40K+ → 30K+ down after 327 days in tier
- 2020-06-13 50K+ → 40K+ down after 248 days in tier
- 2019-10-09 60K+ → 50K+ down after 191 days in tier
- 2019-04-01 70K+ → 60K+ down after 304 days in tier
- 2018-06-01 80K+ → 70K+ down after 607 days in tier
- 2016-10-02 90K+ → 80K+ down after 258 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).
-
W3 Total Cache 900K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags A -
Breeze Cache 300K+ installs · 3.6★ · 2 shared tags B -
Speculative Loading 70K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A -
Async JavaScript 60K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags C - J jQuery Updater 20K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags A
-
Web Worker Offloading 10K+ installs · 3.8★ · 2 shared tags B
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for Use Google Libraries into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/use-google-libraries" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Use Google Libraries — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> Use Google Libraries: 10K+ active installs, 4.4★ (47 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-10-31. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/use-google-libraries
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