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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “editorial notes”

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 “editorial notes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Multicollab: Content Team Collaboration and Editorial Workflow shows at wp.org #7 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 10 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 4132 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Peter's Post Notes – Admin Notes for Posts and Pages 3K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #1 2 PublishPress Planner – Editorial Calendar, Marketing Content, Kanban Board 6K+ · 4.9★ (178) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 ECS – Ele Custom Skin for Elementor 100K+ · 4.6★ (117) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Category Order and Taxonomy Terms Order 500K+ · 4.5★ (162) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 AI 60K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 too high 8 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Bulk Auto Image Alt Text (Alt tag, Alt attribute) optimizer (image SEO) 10K+ · 4.2★ (111) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Create 6K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 PublishPress Permissions: Access Control, Content Permissions, User Access 10K+ · 4.3★ (66) wp.org #14 ↑4 3 too low 12 Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 Multicollab: Content Team Collaboration and Editorial Workflow 300+ · 3.7★ (10) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 StoryChief 1K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Justify for Paragraph Block 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too high 16 Inline Context – Footnotes, Tooltips & Glossary Notes 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 5 too high 17 Auto Focus Keyword for SEO 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Agency Toolkit 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 Newsroom OS – Google Discover, Google News, Schema & Editorial Workflow 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 Really Simple Disable Comments 500+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 EuroNur Editorial Markers 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too high 22 PP Editorial Notes & Review Workflow — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 Editorial Blocks – Magazine & News Post Grid Blocks 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 B Bee Notes — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.