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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “duplicate checker”

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 “duplicate checker”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 5 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

Web Accessibility Toolkit – Accessibility Checker & ARIA for WCAG, Section 508 & ADA Compliance shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder places #7 on merit, 4.4★ from 1397 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Duplicate Post 300K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker – WCAG, ADA, EAA and Section 508 compliance 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #17 ↓1 10 too low 8 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #18 10 too low 9 Unique Title Checker 900+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #7 ↓1 2 too high 10 Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates 6K+ · 4.8★ (184) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Editoria11y Accessibility Checker 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 ↑1 5 too high 12 Duplicate Title Validator 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 Plugin Check (PCP) 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #20 ↓2 7 too low 14 Media Tracker – Track Unused, Duplicate & Used Media 1K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 BD Courier Order Ratio Checker 2K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 7 too high 16 Filikod – Alt Text Checker & Bulk Image Alt Text Editor 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Broken Link Notifier 1K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 WP Site Checker – Speed, Security & QA Monitoring 10+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #22 ↓2 4 too low 19 Check for Broken Links – Broken Link Checker & SEO Suite 1K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Kadence Central – Site Management, Backups, Security, and Reporting 30K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Check Pincode For WooCommerce 300+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #21 ↓2 22 Unique Slug Checker 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23 Web Accessibility Toolkit – Accessibility Checker & ARIA for WCAG, Section 508 & ADA Compliance 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 Duplicate Post by AIOSEO – Clone Posts, Duplicate Pages and Republish Content 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 8 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.