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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “citation note”

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 “citation note”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Zotero Notes shows at wp.org #7 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 10 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Zotpress 2K+ · 4.9★ (66) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Footnotes Made Easy 2K+ · 4.6★ (40) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 Reference Manager for WordPress with Footnotes, Citations, Bibliographies, Tooltips and Glossary 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 LexonRank: AI Link Building, Free Backlinks, GEO & SEO Automation 800+ · 4.1★ (31) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 StockPack – Stock photos and AI images from Unsplash, Adobe Stock, Freepik and more 7K+ · 4.4★ (24) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 CM Footnotes – Boost your content’s credibility with footnotes, citations, and bibliography 100+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #20 13 too low 8 Cite This Article – Author Box & Citation 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 6 too high 9 LaTeX2HTML 200+ · 4.8★ (9) wp.org #14 5 too low 10 RankReady – AI SEO, Schema, llms.txt, AEO and GEO for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 500+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 AI Chat App – Live Agent Handover, Help Docs, Email, Call Button, Fast Support 100+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 Add LinkedIn Insight Tag for LinkedIn Ads 4K+ · 3.3★ (4) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Georix – GEO & AI Citation — · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 C Citation Note — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 BitBot – AI Chatbot, Content Generator, Forms & Leads 70+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 EZY.ai – AEO & AI SEO for ChatGPT, Claude & Gemini 100+ · 3.0★ (4) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Zotero Notes 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 AP Family Trees 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 JReferences 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 CiteLure – AI Citation Engine 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 P Pleasant Viewer 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too high 22 AI Content Writer – Automatic Content Generator and Auto Poster 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Rapid URL Indexer for WP – Index Websites in Google 700+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 Iris AI – AI Homepage, Chatbot & Site Assistant 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.