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

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 remover”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

ContentRemover – remover titles, dates, author shows at wp.org #5 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Hatom/hentry remover (Fixes errors in Google Webmaster Tools) places #9 on merit, 4.4★ from 54 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 W WP Meta and Date Remover 80K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #1 2 AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages 70K+ · 4.4★ (1319) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Appointment Bookings for Zoom GoogleMeet and more – Wappointment 1K+ · 4.7★ (50) wp.org #8 5 too low 4 SSL Mixed Content Fix 8K+ · 4.1★ (34) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Serial Codes Generator and Validator with WooCommerce Support 700+ · 4.6★ (13) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 ImageRecycle pdf & image compression 1K+ · 4.5★ (26) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 EasyCommerce – Agentic AI Ecommerce & Online Store Builder 10+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too low 9 Hatom/hentry remover (Fixes errors in Google Webmaster Tools) 800+ · 4.4★ (54) wp.org #21 ↓1 12 too low 10 Smart Bulk Delete & Content Cleaner for WordPress 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 8 too high 11 WP Old Post Date Remover 2K+ · 4.5★ (16) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 WP Author, Date and Meta Remover 10K+ · 3.2★ (25) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13 Friends 900+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #16 3 too low 14 Site Lockdown Security 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too low 15 ContentRemover – remover titles, dates, author 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #5 ↓1 10 too high 16 Massoftind Custom Fields & Field Builder 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑2 5 too high 17 Clenex 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓2 8 too high 18 Clarvity Custom Product Designer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 WP-Farsi 600+ · 3.7★ (7) wp.org #22 ↓1 3 too low 20 PosterMyWall Events Calendar — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 M Manuel — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 CacheLoop – Simple Page Cache & Speed Optimization — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 H Hide Pages from Dashboard Page List 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Menu Restrict for Anonymous users — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.