Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “advertising”

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 “advertising”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 5 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

Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking (UET) shows at wp.org #5 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 251 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Product Feed for Google Shopping, Microsoft Advertising and 40+ Channels for WooCommerce Merchant 2K+ · 4.8★ (87) wp.org #1 2 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Actirise – Advertising & Monetization 200+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing 40K+ · 4.9★ (399) wp.org #10 ↑4 6 too low 5 Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (22) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too high 6 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #16 ↓3 10 too low 7 Ads.txt Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #14 ↑2 6 too low 9 Quads Ads Manager for Google AdSense 20K+ · 4.9★ (1087) wp.org #18 ↑1 9 too low 10 ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 GA Google Analytics – Connect Google Analytics to WordPress 400K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 Quick Adsense 20K+ · 3.9★ (74) wp.org #15 ↑2 3 too low 13 YITH WooCommerce Wishlist 400K+ · 3.9★ (262) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too low 14 Ads.txt & App-ads.txt Manager for WordPress 2K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 too low 15 Advanced Popups 60K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Pixel Tag Manager for WooCommerce – Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, and More Pixels 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #23 ↑1 7 too low 17 Mediavine Control Panel 10K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 WP Bannerize Pro 800+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 tarteaucitron.io – Cookie Banner & GDPR Consent Management 10K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #21 ↑3 2 too low 20 Add Tiktok Pixel for Tiktok ads (+Woocommerce) 2K+ · 3.0★ (11) wp.org #8 ↓1 12 too high 21 Meta for WooCommerce 400K+ · 2.1★ (481) wp.org #12 ↓2 9 too high 22 AI Powered Marketing 50K+ · 2.7★ (29) wp.org #13 ↑2 9 too high 23 Reddit for WooCommerce 90K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↑1 16 too high 24 Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking (UET) 4K+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↓1 19 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.