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

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 date”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 4 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

Auto Update Post Date shows at wp.org #5 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1463 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 W WP Meta and Date Remover 80K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #1 2 پارسی دیت – Parsi Date 100K+ · 4.6★ (130) wp.org #2 3 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Automatic YouTube Gallery – Embed Auto-Updating YouTube Video Galleries, Feeds, Playlists & Channels 9K+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #15 6 too low 10 Easy Updates Manager 300K+ · 4.8★ (726) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #19 8 too low 12 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Availability Datepicker – Booking Calendar for Contact Form 7 – Input WP 10K+ · 4.1★ (42) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Nepali Date Converter 800+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #6 13 too high 20 Scheduled & Automatic Order Status Controller for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Automatic Product Categories for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Auto Update Post Date 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 17 too high 23 Automatic Internal Links for SEO by Pagup 1K+ · 3.0★ (8) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 QR Code Composer – Automatic QR code generation 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #23 1 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.