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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bad bots”

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 “bad bots”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

EDH Bad Bots shows at wp.org #6 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 50+ 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

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Blackhole for Bad Bots 30K+ · 4.7★ (148) wp.org #1 2 BBQ Firewall – Fast & Powerful Firewall Security 100K+ · 4.9★ (160) wp.org #2 3 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #3 4 Kadence Security – Password, Two Factor Authentication, and Brute Force Protection 700K+ · 4.6★ (3992) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1039) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #13 ↑2 6 too low 8 Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots 10K+ · 4.8★ (142) wp.org #10 ↓2 2 too low 9 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too low 10 SecuPress with Simple SSL – Simple and Performant Security 40K+ · 4.1★ (106) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 GA Google Analytics – Connect Google Analytics to WordPress 400K+ · 4.9★ (158) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers 800+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 ↑1 9 too high 14 Booter – Bots & Crawlers Manager 7K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #5 ↓1 9 too high 15 Banhammer – Monitor Site Traffic, Block Bad Users and Bots 1K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #8 ↑3 7 too high 16 Disable WP REST API 30K+ · 4.8★ (36) wp.org #18 ↑3 2 too low 17 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #17 18 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #21 ↓1 3 too low 19 Disable Lazy Load 9K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 Disable WP Sitemaps 10K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #20 ↓2 21 Known Agents – Track AI Bots and Crawlers, Block Scrapers, Analyze LLM Referral Traffic 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22 EDH Bad Bots 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 16 too high 23 CloudFilt Bot & Spam Protection 500+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too high 24 DevDome Bot Protection: Bot Blocker and AI Crawler Control 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.