Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 “ctr”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

WP Adsterra Dashboard shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 400+ 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

SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 51 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #1 2 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #2 3 Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #17 ↑3 11 too low 7 AffiliateX – Amazon Affiliate Plugin, Product Boxes, Comparison Tables & Affiliate Link Tracking 9K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #7 ↑2 8 Classified Listing – AI-Powered Classified ads & Business Directory 9K+ · 4.8★ (138) wp.org #16 ↑6 8 too low 9 WP Bannerize Pro 800+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 SendPulse Free Web Push 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #11 ↑1 1 too low 11 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #23 ↑1 10 too low 14 CTRify AI SEO Content 100+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #8 ↓2 6 too high 15 Embedder for Google Reviews 6K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #14 ↑1 1 too high 16 SEO Repair Kit – Spam Monitor, Meta Manager, Schema Manager, Internal Linking, SEO Content Monitoring, GSC Integration 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too high 17 Search Console 2K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 Auto Ping Booster 900+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too high 19 CTA Button Styler 400+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too high 20 AI Open Graph Image Generator – OpenGraph.xyz 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑1 7 too high 21 WP Adsterra Dashboard 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 too high 22 Tap Chat – Floating Contact Button 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 SiteStats Analytics – Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster & Search Console 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 DominoPost – Advanced Post Editor with AI Writer, Link Building Suite, Free Google Search Console & GA4 Analytics 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 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.