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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “dofollow”

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 “dofollow”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Image Credits nofollow shows at wp.org #6 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.5★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO places #4 on merit, 4.6★ from 683 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 Auto Affiliate Links 2K+ · 4.1★ (39) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Logo Slider – Logo Showcase, Logo Carousel, Logo Gallery and Client Logo Presentation 30K+ · 4.7★ (252) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 DoFollow Case by Case 1K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #21 ↓1 17 too low 5 R Rel Nofollow 700+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 SEO Auto Linker 3K+ · 4.3★ (16) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Nofollow for external link 9K+ · 3.8★ (36) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Inline Related Posts 100K+ · 4.3★ (77) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 too low 9 RSS Feed Retriever 6K+ · 4.7★ (38) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too low 10 Advanced Marquee Effect for Elementor – Smooth Marquee, News Ticker, Image Box & Icon Box Marquee 2K+ · 4.7★ (6) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 T Taxonomy List Widget 1K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #18 ↓1 7 too low 12 Sticky Genesis Topbar 100+ · 4.2★ (12) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too low 13 Keywords to Links Converter 600+ · 3.0★ (10) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Coupon & Discount Code Reveal Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 AnyBacklink: Backlink Checker and Link Swaps — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Image Credits nofollow 100+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #6 10 too high 17 Enter Addons – Ultimate Template Builder for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18 Simon's Auto Keyword Linker 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 LinkChimp – Auto Internal Link Builder & SEO Optimizer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 6 too high 20 S SEOChat Analyzer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too high 21 Image Source Overlay 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↓1 9 too high 22 BitBot – AI Chatbot, Content Generator, Forms & Leads 70+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #22 ↓1 23 LinkAuthority Partners 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Coupon Zen 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 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.