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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “click tracker”

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 “click tracker”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 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

Smart Click Tracker shows at wp.org #2 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 300+ 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

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 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 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #5 4 too low 2 Ad Invalid Click Protector (AICP) 10K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 HandL UTM Grabber / Tracker 10K+ · 4.8★ (146) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #9 ↑4 4 too low 6 Email Tracker 800+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #22 14 too low 9 Simple Download Monitor 20K+ · 4.7★ (158) wp.org #21 12 too low 10 WhatsLink Click Tracker 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 9 too high 11 SlimStat Analytics – Real-Time Stats, Heatmaps & Ecommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (816) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Media Tracker – Track Unused, Duplicate & Used Media 1K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 UTM Event Tracker and Analytics, UTM Grabber 800+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 7 too high 14 Events Tracker for Elementor 9K+ · 4.5★ (48) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 Smart Click Tracker 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 13 too high 16 Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts 1K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #20 ↑3 4 too low 17 BaseCloud UTM Tracker 90+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑1 4 too high 18 Click Counter and Heat Maps (Free) 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Matomo Tracker 100+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #19 ↑1 20 Flexible Refund for WooCommerce – EU One Click Return 2K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↑2 3 too high 21 Linkyy – A Link Click Tracker 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 ConsentOwl — Cookie Consent & Tracker Blocker 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 UTM Tracker for Gravity Forms 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑2 8 too high 24 Scinorx Click Tracker 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 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.