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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bing webmaster”

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 “bing webmaster”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

SiteStats Analytics – Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster & Search Console shows at wp.org #8 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 40+ 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

Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets places #10 on merit, 4.0★ from 162 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too low 2 Insert Headers And Footers 200K+ · 5.0★ (135) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Bing URL Submissions Plugin 40K+ · 3.3★ (21) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 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 ↓3 1 too low 5 IndexNow Plugin 100K+ · 3.2★ (47) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #6 7 Meta Tag Manager 70K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #7 8 Head, Footer and Post Injections 200K+ · 4.9★ (735) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Simple SEO 10K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #15 ↑3 5 too low 11 ReCrawler 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 DELUCKS SEO 300+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 Dynamic XML Sitemaps Generator for Google 20K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Catch Web Tools 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Auto Ping Booster 900+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↑2 2 too low 16 SiteStats Analytics – Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster & Search Console 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↑1 8 too high 17 AISA — AI SEO & GEO Assistant with MCP: Alt Text for Accessibility (WCAG), Meta, Schema, Brand Voice — Your Own API Keys 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Instant Indexing & Check for Google and Bing SEO 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 Prime SEO – AI SEO, LLMs.txt Generator, AI Bots Manager & AI Crawler Stats 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 LinkMesh: Semantic AI Internal Links for SEO 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑2 1 too high 21 Fast Index for Google Indexing API 300+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #18 3 too high 22 Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too high 23 XML News Sitemap Generator 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 CitedSEO 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 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.