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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “country code”

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 “country code”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

Wawp Country Code & Chat Widget for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 400+ 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

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too low 2 Country Code For Elementor Form Telephone Field 10K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Price Based on Country for WooCommerce 20K+ · 4.8★ (262) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 IP2Location Country Blocker 30K+ · 4.1★ (128) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 iQ Block Country 20K+ · 3.9★ (166) wp.org #6 ↓3 1 too low 6 Tracking Code Manager 90K+ · 4.1★ (58) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 UPI QR Code Payment Gateway for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.8★ (256) wp.org #8 ↑3 1 too low 8 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #19 ↓2 11 too low 9 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too low 10 Country & Phone Field Contact Form 7 40K+ · 4.5★ (41) wp.org #10 ↓1 11 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #21 ↑2 8 too low 14 WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway 700K+ · 3.1★ (237) wp.org #9 ↓2 5 too high 15 WooCommerce PayPal Payments 800K+ · 2.9★ (583) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 R Restrict Products by Country & Country Catalogs for WooCommerce 200+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 QR Code Composer – Automatic QR code generation 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Cool FormKit Lite – Advanced Form Builder for Elementor 20K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #24 ↓2 6 too low 19 Advanced Country Blocker 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Country Access Blocker 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 Wawp Country Code & Chat Widget for WooCommerce 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↑3 14 too high 22 Product Visibility by Country for WooCommerce 400+ · 4.3★ (4) wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too high 23 Country and State Selection Addon for Gravity Forms 900+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 Softech Country Phone Validator 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑2 2 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.