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

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 “australia”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 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

Interactive Australia Map shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 90+ 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

AfterShip Tracking – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking (Free plan available) places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 633 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 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Australia Post WooCommerce Extension 3K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Weight Based Shipping Table Rate for WooCommerce – Flexible Shipping 100K+ · 4.9★ (706) wp.org #13 9 too low 5 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too low 7 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #4 ↑4 3 too high 8 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #11 ↑3 3 too low 9 SMTP2GO for WordPress – Email Made Easy 40K+ · 5.0★ (67) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 AfterShip Tracking – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking (Free plan available) 7K+ · 4.8★ (633) wp.org #24 ↓2 13 too low 12 Shipping Live rates for Australia Post for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #6 ↓2 6 too high 13 Beautiful Cookie Consent Banner 40K+ · 4.5★ (95) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 MapGeo – Interactive Geo Maps 30K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 ELEX WooCommerce Australia Post Shipping 200+ · 4.1★ (13) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 too high 16 WPLP Cookie Consent – Cookie Banner & Consent Management for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 9K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Free Cookie Notice & Consent Banner for Privacy Compliance (GDPR, CCPA, DSGVO and others) 7K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 Live Shipping Rates Australia for woocommerce – Get real-time shipping rates for your store 80+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 ShipStation for WooCommerce 40K+ · 3.3★ (13) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too high 20 Address Validation and Autocomplete for WooCommerce | Addressfinder 900+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓2 2 too low 21 Country and State Selection Addon for Gravity Forms 900+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 eBay Link 90+ · 3.4★ (5) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 Interactive Australia Map 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓1 15 too high 24 ReachShip WooCommerce Multi-Carrier & Conditional Shipping 300+ · 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.