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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “coronavirus”

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 “coronavirus”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 8 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

Covid-19 Corona Virus Report shows at wp.org #10 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance places #3 on merit, 4.5★ from 102 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #12 9 too low 4 COVID19 – Coronavirus Outbreak Data 200+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 Simple Website Banner 600+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Corona Virus Data 1K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Corona Bangladesh Live 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 Awesome Guten Text – 8 Powerful Blocks for Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Coronavirus Spread Prediction Tools Free Version 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 SA Coronavirus Banner 60+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 VirusWeather Covid-19 Coronavirus 30+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too low 12 DR SARA COVID 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Coronavirus Info 10+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Live Update Popup 10+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 ↑1 9 too low 15 Coronavirus Alert Bar 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 Covid-19 Corona Virus Report 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 Corona Update 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Coronavirus 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 5 too high 19 Corona 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 3 too low 20 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Symptom Checker by Symptoma 20+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↑2 2 too high 21 COVID-19 em Tempo Real 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 Coronavirus Update 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too high 23 COVID-19 Float Button 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 South African COVID19 Banner 50+ · 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.