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

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 “encoding”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

FV Player 8 shows at wp.org #15 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ 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

WP All Import – Drag & Drop Import for CSV, XML, Excel & Google Sheets places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 1966 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPvivid — Backup, Migration & Staging 900K+ · 4.9★ (1568) wp.org #1 2 Email Encoder – Protect Email Addresses and Phone Numbers 90K+ · 4.9★ (94) wp.org #2 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Email Address Encoder 100K+ · 4.2★ (160) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) 40K+ · 4.6★ (447) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Admin Menu Editor 300K+ · 4.6★ (312) wp.org #6 7 CompressX — AVIF & WebP Converter, Media Replacement 40K+ · 5.0★ (197) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 HTTP Headers 40K+ · 4.3★ (70) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #11 ↑5 1 too low 11 WP All Import – Drag & Drop Import for CSV, XML, Excel & Google Sheets 100K+ · 4.7★ (1966) wp.org #18 ↑1 7 too low 12 NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) – Advanced Security Plugin and Firewall 100K+ · 4.9★ (220) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too low 13 Cyrlitera – Transliteration of Links and File Names 40K+ · 4.6★ (62) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Seraphinite Accelerator 50K+ · 4.8★ (476) wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 FV Flowplayer Video Player 10K+ · 4.4★ (90) wp.org #16 ↓2 1 too low 16 TinyPNG Image Optimization – Image Compression JPEG & PNG | Convert to WebP & AVIF 100K+ · 4.5★ (181) wp.org #22 ↑2 6 too low 17 SVG Block 4K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 Merge + Minify + Refresh 3K+ · 4.2★ (68) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too high 19 Cyr to Lat Reloaded – Transliteration of Links and File Names 30K+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 WP All Import – Import Add-On for ACF 50K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #20 21 LWS Tools 10K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 BEA – Sanitize Filename 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓2 3 too high 23 B Basic URL ShortCodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 FV Player 8 1K+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓2 9 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.