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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “article importer”

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 “article importer”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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

Archiveo – Importer for the Wayback Machine shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Download Monitor places #8 on merit, 4.5★ from 525 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Ultimate CSV Importer – WordPress CSV, XML & Excel Import Export 20K+ · 4.4★ (593) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 WordPress Importer 2M+ · 3.1★ (327) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Get Use APIs – JSON Content Importer 5K+ · 4.9★ (78) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #6 ↑8 2 too low 5 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #5 6 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Download Monitor 80K+ · 4.5★ (525) wp.org #19 11 too low 9 FG Joomla to WordPress 7K+ · 4.7★ (336) wp.org #20 11 too low 10 CSV Importer Plus for ACF 400+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 FG Drupal to WordPress 700+ · 4.6★ (111) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 FG PrestaShop to WooCommerce 800+ · 4.7★ (125) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 SmartDoc to Post Importer 300+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #7 ↓1 7 too high 15 aBlocks – Gutenberg Blocks, User Dashboard Builder, Popup Builder, Form Builder & Animation Builder 2K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Ultimate Markdown – Markdown Editor, Importer, & Exporter 2K+ · 4.0★ (10) wp.org #10 ↓1 6 too high 17 AF Companion – Starter Sites, Speed Booster & Growth Suite for Professional Publishing 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #17 18 Kubio AI Page Builder 80K+ · 4.4★ (79) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 Blogger Importer 50K+ · 3.1★ (57) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Visibility – Lightweight SEO, AEO and GEO for Search and AI 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 Archiveo – Importer for the Wayback Machine 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓1 13 too high 22 xm Importer 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 7 too high 23 ERA Markdown Importer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 9 too high 24 W WP Nasa/ADS Query Importer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.