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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “date archives”

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 “date archives”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

WPC Estimated Delivery Date for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 9 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 #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 پارسی دیت – Parsi Date 100K+ · 4.6★ (130) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Bangla Date Display 4K+ · 4.6★ (11) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Smart Archive Page Remove 6K+ · 4.9★ (59) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 E Expanding Archives 3K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too low 7 Custom Post Type Permalinks 200K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #21 ↓4 13 too low 9 Compact Archives 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Simple Yearly Archive 6K+ · 4.7★ (30) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #22 ↓2 11 too low 12 JS Archive List 3K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #12 13 Post Types Order 600K+ · 4.5★ (296) wp.org #17 ↓3 4 too low 14 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #18 ↑1 4 too low 15 Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone 20K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #20 ↑2 5 too low 16 Collapsing Archives 3K+ · 4.1★ (21) wp.org #7 ↓1 9 too high 17 Estimated delivery date per product for WooCommerce 300+ · 4.3★ (83) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too high 18 Xpro Theme Builder For Elementor – FREE 20K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #16 ↑5 2 too high 19 Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 WPC Estimated Delivery Date for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #6 ↑1 14 too high 21 Archive Title 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 WPGraphQL Yoast SEO Addon 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 Internet Archive Wayback Machine Link Fixer 1K+ · 3.8★ (8) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Archives by Category and Date 80+ · 2.5★ (2) wp.org #10 14 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.