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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “bit.ly”

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 “bit.ly”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Opinionnaire® Survey analysis and Fast Forum® reports shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 10+ 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

Simple Share Buttons Adder places #7 on merit, 4.3★ from 627 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #1 2 WP Socializer – Simple & Easy Social Media Share Icons 10K+ · 4.5★ (128) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Jquery Validation For Contact Form 7 8K+ · 4.6★ (87) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 XPoster – Share to Bluesky and Mastodon 10K+ · 3.8★ (69) wp.org #5 6 URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Simple Share Buttons Adder 40K+ · 4.3★ (627) wp.org #23 16 too low 8 NextScripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster 20K+ · 3.3★ (617) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 Recarto – Abandoned Cart Recovery for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Hum 500+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 우커머스 네이버페이 300+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Taxonomy Images 8K+ · 4.4★ (40) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 NotifSMS – SMS Notifications OTP & 2FA for WordPress & WooCommerce 1K+ · 3.4★ (18) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Powerkit – Supercharge your WordPress Site 10K+ · 4.5★ (14) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 코드엠샵 소셜톡 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 Dashdig — Humanize and Shortenize URLs — · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Activity Link Preview For BuddyPress 100+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 Ultimate SMS Notifications – Messaging, Alerts & OTP 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 U Unwrap Shortlinks — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 AOS Comment Spam Cleanup 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 The 9 Dollar URLnip — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 StickEasy Protected Contact Form — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Link Scanner — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Opinionnaire® Survey analysis and Fast Forum® reports 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 11 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.