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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “clean html”

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 “clean html”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

HTML Page Publisher shows at wp.org #9 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #1 2 Clean Login 5K+ · 4.7★ (144) wp.org #2 ↑3 3 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (779) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too low 4 Hierarchical HTML Sitemap 4K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Minify HTML 10K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #5 ↓2 6 Contact Form Clean and Simple 7K+ · 4.7★ (195) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Asset CleanUp: Page Speed Booster 100K+ · 4.9★ (1564) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too low 8 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #14 ↑1 6 too low 9 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Kwayy HTML Sitemap 6K+ · 4.7★ (18) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #22 ↓1 11 too low 12 Custom HTML Block Extension 7K+ · 5.0★ (13) wp.org #6 ↑1 6 too high 13 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #19 6 too low 14 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #15 ↓3 1 too low 15 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too low 16 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 FluentSMTP – WP Mail SMTP Plugin with Amazon SES, SendGrid, Mailgun, Postmark, Cloudflare, toSend, Gmail and Any SMTP 700K+ · 4.8★ (410) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too low 18 Export WordPress Pages to Static HTML & PDF — Static Site Export 4K+ · 3.8★ (51) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 Plethora Tabs + Accordions 2K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Dynamic HTML Sitemap 60+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21 Jamie's Visual HTML Editor 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too high 22 Media Export & Clean 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 HTML Page Publisher 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #9 14 too high 24 Advance Custom HTML – Show Off Code Snippets with Live Preview 10K+ · 2.5★ (4) wp.org #10 14 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.