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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “air quality”

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 “air quality”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

Global Weather Pro: Weather Widget for WordPress shows at wp.org #9 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #1 2 Shipping Live Rates and Access Points for UPS for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 WP Ultimate Review 60K+ · 3.4★ (17) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #4 5 Automated FedEx live/manual rates with shipping labels – HPOS supported 200+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 ElementsReady Addons for Elementor 3K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 Achievements sports league 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #7 8 Radio Station by netmix® – Manage and play your Show Schedule in WordPress! 1K+ · 4.6★ (30) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Popular Brand Icons – Simple Icons 3K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #24 15 too low 10 Air Quality Data from Foobot — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Order Tags or Order Label for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 PDS Weather 10+ · 2.5★ (2) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 VMPlayer 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Bizuno Accounting – ERP/Accounting/CRM (for WordPress) 30+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 WFY24 Weather Widget 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Global Weather Pro: Weather Widget for WordPress 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 Sigora Widget — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Noesia Smart Waiter — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 AreaIntelig Lite — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 APIFreaks — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 21 AudioLinter – Podcast Loudness Check & Audio Normalization — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 22 XTX Integration for Netatmo — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Shiperman for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 JNE Shipping – Plugin Ongkos Kirim Resmi Untuk WooCommerce 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 7 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.