---
title: Keep your plugin(s) up to date
date: '2015-01-17'
tags:
  - downloads
  - plugins
---

If you've ever submitted a plugin to the WordPress.org repository, you know that with the ever-growing speed at which the WordPress core team releases new versions, it's inevitable that plugins will fall behind and out of date.

It's a fact of life, if only because we don't necessarily have the time to stay on top of it. We've all done it.

But here's the thing: once a plugin is more than two years out of date, it's dropped from search results on WordPress.org. To be more specific, it's dropped from search results on WordPress.org and _**within the WordPress dashboard**_.

This last point is key.

I doubt it comes as a great surprise to most plugin developers though, especially since it was announced in Matt Mullenweg's [State of the Word](http://wordpress.tv/2011/08/14/matt-mullenweg-state-of-the-word-2011/) speech three years ago at WCSF 2011.

I just wanted to share with you this morning, a visual representation of what it looks like when one of your plugins hits the 2-years out-of-date mark.

![out\_of\_date\_stats](/images/keep-plugins-date/out_of_date_stats.png)

This is a screenshot of the download stats for a plugin I maintain. You'll notice that average daily downloads is cut almost in half around the December 10th mark. Up until this morning, the last-updated date was December 8, 2012. It's pretty interesting to see what a difference it makes to have your plugin available in search results.

Do yourself a favor and keep your plugin(s) updated.