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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “css icons”

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 “css icons”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 2 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

Custom Icons for Elementor and WPBakery shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 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

WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2617 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Menu Icons by Themeisle – Add Icons to Navigation Menus 100K+ · 4.9★ (851) wp.org #2 ↑1 1 too low 2 Simple Custom CSS and JS 600K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Skyboot Custom Icons for Elementor – Elementor Icons library – 14300+ Icons 200K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 Simple Social Icons 100K+ · 4.3★ (92) wp.org #5 6 WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 CSS & JavaScript Toolbox 10K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too low 9 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 The Icon Block 40K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #22 ↓1 11 too low 12 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #17 ↑3 5 too low 13 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14 Orbit Fox: Duplicate Page, Menu Icons, SVG Support, Cookie Notice, Custom Fonts & More 100K+ · 4.8★ (317) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 M MimeTypes Link Icons 8K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #15 ↓1 16 Easy Social Icons 20K+ · 4.4★ (84) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too low 17 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #10 ↓1 7 too high 18 Post/Page Specific Custom Code 6K+ · 4.6★ (42) wp.org #24 ↓2 6 too low 19 Fuse Social Icons 10K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #18 ↓2 1 too high 20 Speed Up – Optimize CSS Delivery 500+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #20 ↓2 21 Subtle Icons – SVG Icon Block Suite, Icon Picker & ACF Field 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 Icon List Block – Add Icon-Based Lists with Custom Styles 4K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #23 ↓4 1 too low 23 Custom Icons for Elementor and WPBakery 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓1 15 too high 24 Mox Icons – Icon Pack for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 ↓1 10 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.