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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “automatic current year”

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 “automatic current year”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Dynamic Copyright Year Customizer shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 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

Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 6053 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #3 ↑3 1 too low 3 Dynamic Year Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #4 ↑4 5 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #7 ↓2 1 too low 7 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #14 ↑1 6 too low 9 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too low 10 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too low 11 reSmush.it : The original free image compressor and optimizer plugin 100K+ · 4.3★ (166) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 WP Store Locator 40K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #19 ↑3 6 too low 14 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too high 15 Linguise – AI Automatic Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too high 16 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 VS Event List 8K+ · 4.9★ (82) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Prevent Browser Caching 10K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too low 21 Dynamic Copyright Year 800+ · 3.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↓2 15 too high 22 Dynamic Copyright Year Customizer 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↓2 17 too high 23 Current Year Shortcode 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too high 24 Automatic FFL 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 ↓2 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.