Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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

Social Share Block – Help Visitors Spread Your Content Everywhere shows at wp.org #12 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 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 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #1 2 Simple Share Buttons Adder 40K+ · 4.3★ (627) wp.org #2 3 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #3 4 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too low 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1911) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 Genesis Simple Share 10K+ · 4.4★ (33) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #16 ↓3 8 too low 9 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #14 ↑3 5 too low 10 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #21 11 too low 11 Social Share for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Super Web Share – Native Social Sharing Button 2K+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too high 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #15 ↓10 2 too low 14 Highlight and Share – Unobtrusive and Lightweight Content Sharing 700+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #13 ↑3 1 too high 15 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #11 ↑3 4 too high 16 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #18 ↓8 2 too low 17 Nelio Content – Editorial Calendar & Social Media Auto-Posting 3K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 ShareThis Share Buttons 10K+ · 3.5★ (26) wp.org #10 ↑2 8 too high 19 Share This Image 1K+ · 4.1★ (22) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 Social Share Button 1K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #20 21 Content Mask 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Social Share Block – Help Visitors Spread Your Content Everywhere 2K+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #12 ↑3 10 too high 23 Easy Share Solution For WordPress 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 Share Link 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.