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← Rankings

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

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 warning”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 4 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

MAS Static Content shows at wp.org #7 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 17 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

Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 5925 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #1 2 SSL Insecure Content Fixer 100K+ · 4.8★ (221) wp.org #2 3 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Content Control – The Ultimate Content Restriction Solution! Restrict Content, Create Conditional Blocks & More 40K+ · 4.9★ (575) wp.org #5 6 Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925) wp.org #11 ↓5 5 too low 7 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 Toolkit for Polylang – Translation Inspector & Duplicate Content 10K+ · 4.5★ (33) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Cookies and Content Security Policy 10K+ · 4.9★ (67) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 AI Puffer – AI Chatbot & MCP Server for Claude and ChatGPT 10K+ · 4.6★ (166) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 Nelio Content – Editorial Calendar & Social Media Auto-Posting 3K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Widget Content Blocks 10K+ · 4.8★ (60) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Specific Content For Mobile – Customize the mobile version without redirections 4K+ · 4.8★ (31) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too low 17 Accessibility New Window Warnings 1K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Restrict – membership, site, content and user access restrictions for WordPress 2K+ · 4.2★ (25) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too high 19 Interactive Content – H5P 40K+ · 4.8★ (61) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #21 ↑3 1 too low 21 Content Mask 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 Type Attribute Warnings Removal 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 Essential Content Types 20K+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #10 ↑1 13 too high 24 MAS Static Content 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 ↑1 17 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.