Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “custom advertisements”

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 “custom advertisements”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 5 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

CM Pop-Up – Create engaging popups to capture attention and boost interaction shows at wp.org #12 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.4★ average from 13 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages places #10 on merit, 4.4★ from 1319 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Custom Taxonomy Order 50K+ · 4.8★ (96) wp.org #1 2 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #4 ↑2 2 too low 3 User Role Editor 700K+ · 4.5★ (288) wp.org #3 4 Custom Field Template 30K+ · 4.0★ (24) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too low 6 Quads Ads Manager for Google AdSense 20K+ · 4.9★ (1087) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions 90K+ · 4.7★ (143) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 Lazy Load for Videos 9K+ · 4.4★ (105) wp.org #7 ↑3 1 too high 9 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages 70K+ · 4.4★ (1319) wp.org #17 ↑1 7 too low 11 Videopack 10K+ · 4.8★ (63) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #19 ↑1 7 too low 13 Easy Modal 7K+ · 4.4★ (124) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Ajax Load More – Infinite Scroll, Load More, & Lazy Load 30K+ · 4.8★ (287) wp.org #23 ↑1 9 too low 15 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #8 ↓1 7 too high 16 Post Types Unlimited 10K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #10 ↓1 6 too high 17 BlockSpare – Gutenberg Blocks, AI Content Generator & Site Builder for news, magazine, blog and business sites 10K+ · 4.8★ (34) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 No External Links 4K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 Responsive Tabs — Horizontal, Vertical & Accordion Tabs for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Spam Protect for Contact Form 7 10K+ · 4.1★ (12) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 CM Pop-Up – Create engaging popups to capture attention and boost interaction 8K+ · 3.4★ (13) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 Video Gallery – YouTube, Vimeo & Video Slider with Lightbox 1K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too high 23 Jock On Air Now (JOAN) 400+ · 3.8★ (9) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Full Width Banner Slider Wp 2K+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 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.