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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “claudebot”

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 “claudebot”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

AI Deny shows at wp.org #11 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 20+ 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

Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance places #6 on merit, 4.5★ from 102 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 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #1 2 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too low 3 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too low 4 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #4 5 AI Content Signals 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #13 ↓3 7 too low 7 Comments – GraphComment | AI-Moderated Comment System 400+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers 800+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 Atlant Security 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 LovedByAI – GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) & AI SEO Plugin: AEO, llms.txt 1K+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 RankReady – AI SEO, Schema, llms.txt, AEO and GEO for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 500+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Prime SEO – AI SEO, LLMs.txt Generator, AI Bots Manager & AI Crawler Stats 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #17 ↓3 4 too low 14 Smalk AI Analytics 40+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓2 4 too low 15 LLMs.txt Curator 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓2 9 too low 16 Hack The SEO – MCP Server for Claude, AI Bot Tracker, llms.txt, GEO Score & Cannibalization 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 17 W3P SEO – Lightweight SEO, Schema & AI Search Toolkit 90+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑1 7 too high 18 AEOmatic – AEO for AI Search: llms.txt, Schema & AI Crawler Check 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 AI Deny 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑2 8 too high 20 HS3Dev AI Content Index for llms.txt 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 AlmaWeb AI Visitor Analytics 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 AI-O Optimiser 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 1 too low 23 Forge AI Bot Log – Block AI Bots, Crawler Detection & Verification 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 GeoAgent Optimizer Lite 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓2 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.