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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “content navigation”

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 “content navigation”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

MAS Static Content shows at wp.org #10 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 10K+ 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

TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation places #10 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #1 2 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #2 3 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1139) wp.org #5 6 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #6 7 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851) wp.org #7 8 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #8 9 Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction 10K+ · 4.7★ (270) wp.org #9 10 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #16 ↓3 6 too low 11 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #14 ↑2 3 too low 12 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #20 ↓3 7 too low 14 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #21 ↓7 7 too low 15 Content Egg – Affiliate Product Importer & Price Comparison 10K+ · 3.9★ (56) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Pagination by BestWebSoft – Customizable WordPress Content Splitter and Navigation Plugin 5K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Advanced Floating Content Lite 7K+ · 4.1★ (30) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too high 19 Table Of Content Block – Auto-Generate Clickable Table of Contents 3K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Classic Menu in Navigation Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Content Slider Block – Bring your content to life with slides 3K+ · 3.2★ (5) wp.org #17 ↑2 4 too high 22 MAS Static Content 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 12 too high 23 Admin Posts Navigation 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓3 24 Navigation JHAC 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓2

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.