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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “directive block”

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 “directive block”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20.

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

Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin shows at wp.org #3 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode places #12 on merit, 4.4★ from 440 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 Custom Block Builder – Lazy Blocks 20K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Widget Options – Advanced Conditional Visibility for Gutenberg Blocks & Classic Widgets 100K+ · 4.9★ (1516) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Block AI Crawlers 2K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Appointment Hour Booking – Booking Calendar 10K+ · 4.9★ (524) wp.org #8 ↑4 3 too low 6 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #11 ↓1 4 too low 8 Germanized for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.8★ (496) wp.org #17 ↓1 9 too low 9 GDPR Cookie Compliance – Cookie Banner, Cookie Consent, Cookie Notice for CCPA, EU Cookie Law 300K+ · 4.6★ (205) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 EU Withdrawal and Legal Guarantee Compliance 1K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 WPConsent – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for Privacy Compliance (GDPR / CCPA / EU Compliance Cookie Notice) 200K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Cookiebot – Cookie Banner & Cookie Consent for GDPR, CCPA & Google Consent Mode 100K+ · 4.4★ (440) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 Termly – GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 80K+ · 3.6★ (204) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 WC Price History 5K+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #14 15 Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too low 16 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Free Cookie Notice & Consent Banner for Privacy Compliance (GDPR, CCPA, DSGVO and others) 7K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI Agents 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 noindex SEO 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 13 too high 20 Bot Traffic Shield – Block Bad Bots and Stop AI Bots Crawlers 800+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 ↑1 4 too high 21 phpinfo() WP – Site Health, PHP Compatibility & Server Audit 3K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Htaccess by BestWebSoft – WordPress Website Access Control Plugin 400+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↑1 19 too high 23 Block Archive.org via WordPress robots.txt 400+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓2 13 too high 24 Instant Back/Forward 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 11 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.