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← Rankings

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

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 seo”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Auto Update Post Date shows at wp.org #8 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ 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

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 5039 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #1 2 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #2 3 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 پارسی دیت – Parsi Date 100K+ · 4.6★ (130) wp.org #5 ↑2 6 W WP Meta and Date Remover 80K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #9 10 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #19 ↓1 6 too low 14 Simple SEO 10K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #14 15 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #15 ↑5 16 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 SOOZ – AI for SEO – Bulk Generate Focus Keyphrases, Metadata, Alt Text (SEO Autopilot) 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too low 18 FV Simpler SEO 2K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 WPGraphQL Yoast SEO Addon 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 Auto Update Post Date 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 noindex SEO 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too high 23 WP All Import – Import SEO Settings for Rank Math SEO 6K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 BoldGrid Easy SEO – Simple and Effective SEO 40K+ · 3.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓1 7 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.