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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “404 tracker”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “404 tracker”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 3 plugins are pushed down for signals wp.org ignores: errors, a host-installed base, or removal risk.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether it throws errors on current PHP, whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

LLM Bot Tracker – AI Crawler Detection & Analytics shows at wp.org #9 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Wp-Insert places #10 on merit, 4.5★ from 142 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #7 ↓2 4 too low 4 atec 404 Tracker 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Events Tracker for Elementor 9K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Analytics Tracker 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 Wp-Insert 9K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 Plausible Analytics 10K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #22 ↓1 11 too low 12 Matomo Tracker 100+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #5 ↑1 7 too high 13 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #23 ↓5 10 too low 14 C Custom Post Type Widgets 10K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #24 ↓1 10 too low 15 Check for Broken Links – Broken Link Checker & SEO Suite 1K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 Essential Classy Addons for Elementor – 150+ Widgets, Templates & Performance Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #20 ↑2 4 too low 17 Kansleri Cookie Consent 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 ↑1 2 too low 18 Issues Tracker 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 SEO Fury – SEO & GEO: Schema, XML Sitemap, Redirects, 404 Monitor, llms.txt 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 iCONstat Tracker 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑1 10 too high 21 Royal Links – Affiliate Link Cloaking, Shortener & Tracker 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Time Tracker 30+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 LLM Bot Tracker – AI Crawler Detection & Analytics 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #9 14 too high 24 Live Traffic Analytics – Real-Time Visitor & Bot Tracking – Google Analytics Alternative 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.