wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “broken link youtube”
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 “broken link youtube”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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
Link Checker shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.2★ average from 30 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 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.
Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #1 2 
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520)
wp.org #3 1 too low 3 
Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) not PHP-current
wp.org #2 1 too high 4 
Feeds for YouTube (YouTube video, channel, and gallery plugin) 100K+ · 4.8★ (205)
wp.org #5 1 too low 5 
WP YouTube Lyte 20K+ · 4.8★ (206)
wp.org #6 1 too low 6 
Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP 10K+ · 4.7★ (322)
wp.org #8 2 too low 7 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706)
wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too low 8 
Broken Link Notifier 1K+ · 4.8★ (14) thin reviews
wp.org #4 4 too high 9 
Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (150)
wp.org #9 10 
Simple Link Directory – AI Powered 2K+ · 4.8★ (121)
wp.org #10 11 
Automatic YouTube Gallery – Embed Auto-Updating YouTube Video Galleries, Feeds, Playlists & Channels 9K+ · 4.8★ (31)
wp.org #7 4 too high 12 
Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537)
wp.org #17 5 too low 13 
SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267)
wp.org #19 6 too low 14 
BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP 20K+ · 4.8★ (85)
wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too high 15 
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #15 16 
Cyrlitera – Transliteration of Links and File Names 40K+ · 4.6★ (62)
wp.org #12 4 too high 17 
FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410)
wp.org #18 1 too low 18 
Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) not PHP-current
wp.org #20 2 too low 19 
All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ · 4.8★ (136)
wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Link Checker 4K+ · 3.2★ (30)
wp.org #11 9 too high 21 
Embeds for YouTube 9K+ · 4.2★ (24) thin reviews
wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 
Affiliate Links – Link Cloaking and Management 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) not PHP-current thin reviews
wp.org #21 1 too high 23 
GS YouTube Gallery – Video Feed, Channel Playlist & YouTube Slider 100+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #23 24 
Extend Link 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #16 8 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.