Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “clicks analyzer”

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 “clicks analyzer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 2K+ 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

Child Theme Configurator places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 280 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #1 2 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #2 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #8 4 too low 5 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Headline Analyzer 900+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #4 4 too high 9 Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions 60K+ · 4.7★ (181) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Child Theme Configurator 300K+ · 4.7★ (280) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #12 13 DietPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Speed Analyzer – Speed Test & Performance Audit 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 11 too high 15 Disk Usage Insights 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer 3K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 13 too high 19 Nginx Cache Purge Preload 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Shortcodes Analyzer 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 Disk Usage Details 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 OrphanPages – Internal Link Audit, Orphaned Pages, Broken Links & SEO Content Structure Analyzer 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Neurax Site Health Analyzer 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 ClickTrail – UTM, Click ID & Ad Tracking (with Consent) 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 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.