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

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 selectors”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Berq Used CSS – Remove Unused CSS Automatically shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 70+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts & Upload Fonts places #12 on merit, 5.0★ from 1221 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 SiteOrigin CSS 100K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #1 2 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 GravityWP – CSS Selector 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Visual CSS Style Editor 30K+ · 4.1★ (90) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 D Debloat – Remove Unused CSS, Optimize JS 30K+ · 4.8★ (41) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1917) wp.org #14 ↓2 5 too low 10 Add Admin CSS 10K+ · 4.9★ (35) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Recent Posts Widget With Thumbnails 100K+ · 4.8★ (215) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too low 12 Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts & Upload Fonts 200K+ · 5.0★ (1221) wp.org #21 ↓1 9 too low 13 Redux Framework 900K+ · 4.4★ (273) wp.org #11 ↓5 2 too high 14 A Adminimize 100K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #20 ↓3 6 too low 15 PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #16 ↑6 1 too low 16 Pattern CSS – The CSS Editor For Blocks 100+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #9 ↑1 7 too high 17 Page Speed Optimizer: HTTP/2 Push, Async JavaScript, and Defer CSS 6K+ · 4.7★ (64) wp.org #22 ↓1 5 too low 18 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #19 ↓3 1 too low 19 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 matchHeight 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #18 ↓3 2 too high 21 Berq Used CSS – Remove Unused CSS Automatically 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Advanced Custom CSS for Elementor 200+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑5 9 too high 23 L Live CSS Preview 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓3 6 too high 24 Click Counter and Heat Maps (Free) 200+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.