Error messages during installation

If you encounter error messages while installing WooRanker, here’s how to identify and resolve the most common issues:

“The package could not be installed. No valid plugins were found.” This typically means the plugin ZIP file is invalid or corrupted.

• Download a fresh copy of WooRanker from your account dashboard
• Make sure you’re downloading the complete ZIP file (not just extracting it first)
• Try using a different browser for downloading

“Installation failed: The plugin does not have a valid header.” This indicates file corruption or an incomplete download.

• Download the plugin again
• Check if your browser is automatically unzipping downloaded files
• Try uploading via FTP instead of the WordPress installer

“Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.” This is usually caused by PHP compatibility issues.

• Check your PHP version (WooRanker requires PHP 7.2+)
• Look for specific error messages in your server’s error logs
• Contact your hosting provider to update PHP if needed

“Destination folder already exists.” This happens when a previous installation attempt wasn’t properly cleaned up.

• Go to /wp-content/plugins/ and delete the wooranker folder
• Try installing again

“Unable to connect to the filesystem.” Your WordPress installation doesn’t have proper file permissions.

• Check file permissions (folders should be 755, files 644)
• Try using FTP credentials in the installer when prompted
• Contact your hosting provider for assistance with file permissions

“The plugin generated X characters of unexpected output during activation.” This indicates PHP warnings or notices are being displayed.

• Check your wp-config.php file and set WP_DEBUG to false
• Look for PHP error logs to identify the specific issue
• Ensure your server meets all minimum requirements

“This plugin requires WooCommerce to be installed and active.” Self-explanatory – WooRanker depends on WooCommerce.

• Install and activate WooCommerce first
• Ensure you’re using WooCommerce 4.0 or higher

“Memory exhausted” error WordPress has run out of available PHP memory.

• Increase PHP memory limit in wp-config.php by adding: define(‘WP_MEMORY_LIMIT’, ‘256M’);
• Contact your hosting provider if you cannot modify this setting

“Internal Server Error” (500) This is a general server error that can have multiple causes.

• Check server error logs for specific details
• Temporarily deactivate all other plugins to check for conflicts
• Try increasing PHP memory limit
• Contact your hosting provider for assistance

If you encounter any other error messages not listed here, please contact our support team with the exact error message and screenshots if possible.

If you’re experiencing issues with WooRanker settings not saving properly, this is usually caused by either permission problems, caching issues, or conflicts with other plugins. Here are troubleshooting steps to resolve this:

• Check your user permissions in WordPress to ensure you have administrator access
• Try clearing your browser cache and cookies, then attempt to save settings again
• Temporarily disable caching plugins or server-side caching and retry
• Check for JavaScript errors in your browser console (press F12 to open developer tools)
• Temporarily deactivate all other plugins to check for conflicts
• Ensure your wp-config.php file has proper write permissions
• Try using a different browser to rule out browser-specific issues
• Check that your server has sufficient memory and resources
• Verify that your database is not corrupted (run a repair through phpMyAdmin if possible)
• Try resetting WooRanker to default settings and reconfigure from scratch

If you’re using a staging or development environment with security plugins, check if they’re blocking admin-ajax.php requests which are used for saving settings.

If you’ve tried all these steps and your settings still aren’t saving correctly, please contact our support team with details about your WordPress version, server environment, and a list of active plugins to help us diagnose the specific issue.

If you notice that WooRanker isn’t functioning properly and suspect a conflict with another plugin, follow these systematic troubleshooting steps:

• Identify potential conflicts by temporarily deactivating all other plugins except WooCommerce and WooRanker
• If WooRanker works correctly after this, reactivate other plugins one by one until the conflict reappears
• Common conflict sources include other product sorting plugins, catalog management tools, and performance optimization plugins
• For theme conflicts, try temporarily switching to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four
• Check for JavaScript errors by opening your browser’s developer console (F12 or right-click → Inspect → Console)
• If using a caching plugin, try clearing the cache completely
• For AJAX-related conflicts, disable “AJAX add to cart” in WooCommerce settings temporarily
• Contact our support team with details of the conflicting plugin, and we can provide specific compatibility patches

In most cases, conflicts can be resolved by adjusting settings in either plugin rather than having to choose between them. Our support team can provide specific configuration recommendations once the conflicting plugin is identified.

After successfully installing and activating WooRanker, follow these steps to set up the plugin for the first time:

• Navigate to WooCommerce → WooRanker in your WordPress dashboard
• Choose your primary business goal (increase sales, promote specific products, clear inventory)
• Choose a preset option that suits your business or set sliders as you like
• Set your initial scoring factors, focusing on the metrics most important to your business
• Adjust the weight percentages for each factor (sales, stock, tags, categories, etc.)
• Configure how often scores should be recalculated (hourly, daily, or weekly)
• Use the preview button to see how your products will be sorted with current settings
• Click “Save Settings” to apply your configuration
• Visit your shop page to verify that products are being sorted according to your preferences

For optimal results, start with a balanced configuration of factors, then gradually adjust weights based on performance data. Many store owners find that a combination of 40% sales data, 30% stock levels, and 30% product attributes works well as a starting point.

Remember to review your product rankings after a week of operation and make small adjustments as needed to fine-tune the system to your specific store needs.

• Missing sales data might be affecting score calculation – products with no recent sales will score lower in the sales factor
• Products may lack the tags or categories that are weighted heavily in your current configuration
• Custom fields that contribute to scoring might be empty or have invalid values for these products
• Stock levels might be negatively impacting scores if you’ve configured low stock to reduce ranking
• The product might be relatively new with limited performance history and you haven’t given boost to new products with the relevant slider
• Check if these products fall into a category that you’ve accidentally de-prioritized
• Products with incomplete data (missing images, short descriptions, etc.) might be penalized in some scoring factors
• Seasonal products might temporarily score lower outside their peak season
• Check for data entry errors in product attributes that affect scoring
• A recent configuration change might have shifted weightings away from these products’ strengths

To diagnose specific cases, use the Product Score Preview in the WooRanker dashboard to see a detailed breakdown of each factor’s contribution to the final score. This will help pinpoint exactly which components are causing the unexpectedly low overall score.

If your bestselling products aren’t appearing at the top of your product listings despite using WooRanker, check these potential issues:

• The sales factor weight might be set too low – increase the percentage allocated to sales data in your scoring configuration
• The timeframe for sales data might be too short or too long – adjust to capture the right sales period (30 days is often optimal)
• Other factors might be overpowering sales in your current configuration – review all factor weights
• The “Bestseller” designation might be based on different criteria than WooRanker’s sales calculations
• Product tags or categories might have higher weights than sales in your current setup
• Custom field scores might be overriding sales performance in your ranking formula
• Your bestsellers might have low stock levels, which could be affecting scores if stock is weighted heavily
• You might need to update your bestseller data by triggering a manual score recalculation
• Check if you’ve accidentally applied filters that exclude certain products from ranking calculations
• Product exclusions might be preventing certain bestsellers from being properly ranked

To fix this issue, try adjusting your factor weights to prioritize sales data more heavily. If you want bestsellers to consistently rank at the top regardless of other factors, consider increasing the sales weight to 60+% of the total score calculation.

If you notice that WooRanker is using incorrect sales data for product scoring, there are several approaches to diagnose and fix the issue:

• Check your WooCommerce Analytics to verify the actual sales numbers compared to what WooRanker is using
• Ensure the sales data timeframe in WooRanker settings matches your expectations (7 days, 30 days, etc.)
• Look for duplicate orders that might be inflating sales numbers for certain products
• Verify that refunded or canceled orders aren’t being counted in your sales metrics
• Check if your WooCommerce database tables are properly optimized and not corrupted
• For products with incorrect data, consider using the manual score override option as a temporary fix
• Ensure that sales from different variants of variable products are being consolidated properly
• Check for conflicts with other plugins that might be modifying WooCommerce order data
• For persistent issues, you may need to run a database repair on your WooCommerce orders table

If some products in your WooCommerce store don’t have scores assigned by WooRanker, this can happen for several reasons:

• New products might not have been indexed yet – wait for the next scheduled recalculation
• Products might be excluded from scoring based on your configuration settings
• Certain product types might not be compatible (like grouped or external/affiliate products)
• Products might be missing required data fields that are essential for your scoring formula
• Database errors might have occurred during score calculation for specific products
• Products might be in draft or private status and excluded from public calculations
• Large product catalogs might experience timeout issues before all products are processed
• Custom product types from third-party plugins might not be recognized by WooRanker
• Your WooRanker license might limit the number of products that can be scored
• Temporary server performance issues might have interrupted the scoring process

To resolve these issues, try running a manual score calculation from the WooRanker dashboard. If products still have missing scores, check your exclusion settings and ensure all products have the necessary data for your scoring formula. For persistent problems, the “Reset All Data” option in the Tools section can help establish a clean starting point.

Properly handling seasonal products in WooRanker requires a strategic approach to ensure these items appear prominently during relevant periods but don’t clutter your top listings off-season. Here are effective methods to set up seasonal product scoring:

• Use product tags like “summer,” “winter,” “christmas,” etc., and increase the weight of these tags during the appropriate season
• Create a dedicated “Seasonal” category with subcategories for specific seasons, allowing you to adjust category weights as seasons change
• In the Pro version, set up multiple scoring presets (like “Summer Strategy,” “Holiday Strategy”) that you can switch between as seasons change
• Combine tag-based seasonal indicators with stock levels to automatically promote seasonal items that still have healthy inventory
• Use WooRanker’s preview function to test how your seasonal strategy will look before implementing it
• Consider creating a manual “Featured Products” list that you can update seasonally
• For recurring seasonal events, document your successful configurations to easily reimplement them next year
• Balance seasonal factors with ongoing sales data to ensure popular items remain visible
• Adjust weights before and after seasonal periods to control product visibility

Configuring WooRanker for effective clearance sales requires strategic settings adjustments to prioritize older inventory while maintaining profitability. Here’s how to optimize your product ranking for clearance events:

• Create a specific tag like “Clearance” or “Sale” for all clearance products and increase the tag factor weight to 30-40%
• Adjust stock level weighting to prioritize products with higher inventory levels that need clearing (increase stock weight to 25-30%)
• For Pro users, create a custom field for “Days in Inventory” with your developer and give higher scores to this custom meta field – products that have been in stock longer
• Consider reducing the weight of the sales factor temporarily during clearance events to give less popular items more visibility
• Use the discount percentage slider to give priority to items with steeper discounts – increase this weight to make heavily discounted items appear higher in results
• Create a dedicated “Clearance” category and increase its weight during sale periods
• Combine inventory age and current stock levels in your formula to target slow-moving items with significant remaining inventory
• Test your clearance configuration with the preview feature before implementing

To effectively showcase your new arrivals using WooRanker, implement these strategic configurations:

• Use the “New Products” weight slider to give preference to recently added items – the slider includes a “days” field where you can set the duration of the boost
• When you set the days field (e.g., to 10 days), the score boost follows a gradual decay pattern – 100% of the slider value on day 1, 90% on day 2, 80% on day 3, and so on until reaching 0% after the specified time period
• Create and use a specific “New Arrival” tag for all new products and increase the tag factor weight to boost visibility
• Dedicate a “New Products” category and increase its weight in your scoring configuration
• Balance new product promotion with sales data to ensure better-performing new items get more visibility
• The automatic decay of the new product boost ensures a smooth transition in rankings without manual adjustment
• Create a strategy preset specifically for new product launches that you can activate during major inventory updates
• Use the preview feature to test how your new products will display before implementing changes
• Consider combining new product prioritization with stock level weighting to prevent promoting items that sell out quickly
• For seasonal businesses, adjust the “days” field to match your typical seasonal cycle – shorter for fast-moving fashion items, longer for slower-moving goods

Experiment with different decay periods based on your specific business needs – shorter periods (5-7 days) work well for stores with frequent new arrivals, while longer periods (14-30 days) are better for stores that update inventory less frequently.

Finding the right balance between stock levels and popularity in your WooRanker scoring formula is essential for maximizing both sales and inventory efficiency. Here’s how to achieve an effective balance:

• Adjust the weight distribution between the Sales Factor and Stock Factor sliders based on your current business priorities
• For a balanced approach, set both factors to similar high weights with less weight to other factors
• If preventing stockouts of popular items is a priority, increase the Stock Factor weight and configure it to favor products with healthy inventory levels
• For creating urgency, increase the Stock Factor weight but configure it to prioritize products with lower stock levels
• Use the Preview function to see how different weight combinations affect your product ordering before saving changes
• Consider seasonal adjustments – during high-demand periods, you might weight popularity higher, while during inventory clearance periods, stock levels might take precedence
• The “Low Stock Threshold” setting determines when products begin receiving modified scores based on inventory levels
• For fast-moving items, create a special tag and use tag weighting in conjunction with stock and sales factors
• Remember that popular items with low stock can create customer frustration if they sell out quickly
• Monitor the performance of your balance regularly and be prepared to adjust as your inventory situation changes

The ideal balance often changes throughout your business cycle – there’s no single perfect setting that works year-round for most stores.

If your product stock levels don’t seem to be influencing WooRanker scores, check these common issues:

• The Stock slider weight might be set too low compared to other factors – try increasing its value
• The stock threshold field might be set incorrectly – verify that you’ve selected the proper “over/under” option
• Check if you’ve entered an appropriate numeric value in the threshold field that matches your inventory reality
• Stock data might not be refreshing properly – try triggering a manual recalculation
• Another factor with a very high weight might be overshadowing the stock factor’s influence
• Verify that your products have accurate stock quantity data in WooCommerce
• The stock status calculation might be disabled in your current configuration
• For variable products, check if parent product stock calculation is working correctly
• Background stock synchronization might be delayed – wait for the next scheduled update
• Stock-related custom fields might be overriding the main stock factor settings

Try using the preview feature after adjusting your stock settings to see if changes have the expected effect. If you’re still having issues, check if there are errors in your site’s error log that might indicate database or calculation problems.

To optimize how WooRanker handles preorder products in your store’s rankings:

• Create a specific “Preorder” tag for all upcoming products and increase its weight in the Tag Factor settings
• Use the “New Products” slider to boost preorder items, as they represent fresh additions to your catalog
• Configure the Stock slider appropriately – since preorder items typically show as zero or low stock, adjust the threshold and over/under setting to prevent them from being penalized
• If using the “under” stock threshold setting, set it higher than 0 to ensure preorder items (which often have 0 stock) aren’t negatively affected
• Create a dedicated category for preorder items to make them easier to manage in your scoring system
• Balance preorder visibility with currently available products by adjusting the relative weights of different factors
• For seasonal preorders, combine with category or tag weights to ensure they appear in appropriate sections
• Use the preview function to check how preorder products will display before finalizing settings
• Consider creating a separate scoring configuration specifically for launch periods when preorders are a focus
• Monitor conversion rates on preorder products to determine if your ranking strategy is effective

For products with high preorder demand, you might want to create a special tag like “Hot Preorder” and give it extra weight to highlight these items even more prominently in your store.

WooRanker can help prevent overselling by strategically adjusting how products with limited inventory appear in your store:

• Configure the Stock slider to prioritize products with healthy inventory levels by selecting “over” in the threshold field and setting an appropriate value
• Products below your minimum desired stock level will receive lower scores, pushing them further down in listings
• Use the Stock slider in combination with the Sales slider to ensure popular items maintain visibility only when they have sufficient inventory
• Create a balance that automatically reduces exposure for items approaching your safety stock threshold
• Consider using tags to identify products with reliable inventory and increase their weight in your ranking formula
• Implement regular score recalculation schedules to ensure rankings reflect current inventory status
• Use the preview feature to test how your configuration affects products at various stock levels
• For fast-selling items, create a specific tag and adjust its weight based on current inventory capabilities
• Monitor your bestsellers regularly and adjust stock thresholds accordingly to prevent customer disappointment
• Consider creating separate scoring configurations for high-traffic periods when overselling risk increases

This approach helps manage customer expectations while maximizing sales of well-stocked items, reducing the frequency of backorders and out-of-stock notifications.

WooRanker allows you to prioritize specific product categories and tags to boost their visibility in your store. Here’s how to set this up effectively:

• Locate the Categories and Tags sliders in the WooRanker configuration panel
• Adjust the vertical slider position to determine how strongly these factors influence the final score
• In the field below the slider, add the specific category or tag slugs you want to prioritize
• Products with these tags or in these categories will receive a scoring boost based on the slider position
• You can add multiple categories or tags and they will all contribute to the score
• Use this feature to highlight seasonal collections, promotional items, or strategically important product groups
• Combine with other factors like Revenue or Stock for more nuanced ranking strategies
• Preview the results before saving to ensure your priority products are appearing as expected

This approach gives you precise control over which product groups receive extra visibility in your store without having to manually reorder hundreds of items. It’s particularly useful for promotional campaigns or when launching new product lines that need additional exposure.

WooRanker allows you to create sophisticated weighted scoring formulas by combining multiple factors to achieve your specific business goals:

• Each vertical slider represents a factor in your scoring formula and can be positioned to reflect its relative importance
• The higher you position a slider, the more influence that factor has on the final product score
• To create an effective weighted formula, consider which factors are most important for your current business objectives
• Balance complementary factors – for example, combine Revenue (30% importance) with Stock (20%) and Reviews (20%) with the remaining weight distributed to other factors
• For seasonal strategies, adjust your weights temporarily – increase the Category slider and add your “Summer” category to the field below
• Test different combinations using the Preview button to see how products reorder before implementing changes
• Create formulas for specific scenarios:
  • Bestseller focus: Position Revenue slider high, with moderate Stock influence
  • New arrivals: Position Creation Date slider high with a 14-30 day threshold
  • Clearance: Position Stock slider high with “over” threshold setting and add clearance tags
  • Profit maximization: Position Custom Meta slider high configured for margin data

The power of WooRanker comes from combining these factors into balanced formulas that automatically adjust your product rankings based on real-time store performance data.

WooRanker allows you to create custom ranking strategies tailored to your specific store type and business goals:

• Begin by analyzing your unique store characteristics – product types, customer behavior, inventory cycles, and business objectives
• Create a “baseline” formula that reflects your general business priorities as a starting point
• Adjust individual sliders to match your store’s specific needs:
  • Fashion stores: Emphasize Creation Date with a shorter threshold to highlight new arrivals
  • Electronics stores: Balance Reviews and Revenue factors to promote reliable, popular items
  • Seasonal businesses: Use Categories and Tags with higher weights to promote in-season merchandise
  • Specialty stores: Leverage Custom Meta fields to prioritize products with store-specific attributes
  • High-volume retailers: Increase Stock factor weight to prevent overselling popular items
• Consider your business cycle when developing strategies – create different formulas for different periods
• For stores with diverse product categories, consider creating separate strategies for different sections
• Use the preview feature extensively when building your unique formula to ensure results match expectations
• Document successful configurations so you can replicate or modify them for future campaigns
• Monitor performance metrics after implementing new strategies to measure their effectiveness

Remember that effective ranking strategies should align with your overall business goals – whether that’s maximizing profit margins, clearing excess inventory, or promoting specific brands or collections.

When you encounter issues with complex WooRanker configurations, try these systematic troubleshooting approaches:

If scoring results seem inconsistent, check for conflicting factors – high weights on opposing criteria can create unpredictable results
For performance issues with large catalogs, reduce the batch size in the performance settings area
If certain products never appear in top positions despite high scores, verify you haven’t accidentally excluded their categories or tags
When scores aren’t reflecting recent sales, check that your “Orders from” timeframe is appropriate for your sales volume
If custom fields aren’t influencing scores correctly, verify the exact field name in your database and ensure the data type selection matches the actual data
For unexpected ranking behavior, use the preview function to isolate which factor is causing the issue by temporarily setting others to zero
If tags or categories aren’t affecting scores as expected, verify you’ve entered the correct slugs (not names) in the field below the slider
When changes don’t seem to take effect, try forcing a manual recalculation of scores
For server timeout issues during calculations, try increasing PHP memory limits or reducing the calculation batch size
If frontend sorting doesn’t match backend preview, check for caching plugins that might be preserving old sort orders

When making complex changes, adjust one factor at a time and test the results to maintain a clear understanding of how each change affects your overall product ordering.

WooRanker allows you to adapt your product scoring and ranking to match seasonal business cycles throughout the year:

• Create dedicated seasonal scoring configurations that can be quickly applied when seasons change
• Adjust the Categories slider weight and add seasonal categories to the field below to boost visibility of season-appropriate merchandise
• Use tags like “summer,” “winter,” “holiday,” etc., and increase their weight during relevant periods
• For pre-season preparation, combine the Creation Date factor with seasonal tags to highlight new seasonal items early
• During seasonal transitions, gradually shift weight from outgoing seasonal items to upcoming seasonal products
• Adjust the Stock factor threshold to create urgency for seasonal items as the season progresses
• For holiday shopping periods, increase the Revenue factor weight to ensure bestsellers remain prominent
• Use Custom Meta fields to incorporate seasonal relevance scores or promotional discount values
• Document your seasonal configurations for reuse in future years
• Schedule regular reviews of your seasonal strategy as the season unfolds to make necessary adjustments
• After each season ends, evaluate performance data to refine next year’s strategy

Effective seasonal strategy requires planning ahead – create your scoring configurations before the season begins and use the preview feature to test how they’ll affect your product listings. This proactive approach ensures your store always showcases the most relevant products as customer interests shift throughout the year.

WooRanker can be configured to automatically optimize product rankings during time-sensitive flash sales, ensuring your discounted items receive maximum visibility:

• Create a specific “Flash Sale” tag for products included in the promotion and increase the Tags slider weight significantly
• Adjust the Stock factor to create urgency by prioritizing products with limited remaining inventory
• If using the discount percentage slider, increase its weight to prioritize items with deeper discounts
• Consider temporarily reducing the weight of the Revenue factor during flash sales to give all sale items equal opportunity
• For the duration of the sale, adjust the Creation Date factor to highlight newly added flash sale products
• Use the preview function to test your flash sale configuration before the event begins
• For recurring flash sales, save your configuration as a template for quick implementation
• Balance urgency with inventory management by carefully setting the Stock threshold to prevent immediate sellouts
• Consider creating a dedicated flash sale category for easier management of these promotions
• For short-duration sales (24 hours or less), manually trigger score recalculation at the beginning of the event
• After the flash sale concludes, quickly restore your standard scoring configuration

This approach ensures that during your flash sale, the most compelling offers rise to the top of your product listings, maximizing conversion opportunities during these short but intense selling periods.

WooRanker offers powerful capabilities for implementing customer segmentation strategies by tailoring product visibility to different customer groups:

• Create distinct scoring configurations that align with different customer segments’ preferences and shopping behaviors
• For price-sensitive customers, increase the weight of discount percentage scoring to highlight value offerings
• Target luxury shoppers by using Custom Meta fields to prioritize premium products, high-end brands, or items with specific quality indicators
• For new customers, emphasize products with strong reviews and bestseller status to build trust through social proof
• Returning customers may respond better to new arrivals and exclusive items, which can be prioritized through tags and creation date factors
• Seasonal shoppers can be targeted by increasing category weights for season-specific product collections
• For trend-focused segments, create a regularly updated “Trending” tag and increase its weight to highlight current popular items
• When targeting specific demographics, use categories that appeal to these groups and increase their scoring weight
• For bulk buyers or wholesale customers, adjust the Stock factor to prioritize well-stocked items
• Implement different ranking strategies for mobile users versus desktop shoppers by considering typical browsing behaviors

By thoughtfully configuring WooRanker to align with your customer segments, you create more relevant shopping experiences that speak directly to each group’s preferences and needs, ultimately increasing conversion rates and customer satisfaction.