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

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 “expander”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Read More Button – Expand Content Without Refresh shows at wp.org #4 but places #9 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 100+ 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

Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN places #3 on merit, 4.7★ from 1488 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 signals wp.org

Responsive Lightbox & Gallery 100K+ · 4.9★ (2003) wp.org #1 2

ContentBot AI Writer (AI Content) 400+ · 4.7★ (19) thin reviews wp.org #2 3

Hummingbird Performance – Cache & Page Speed Optimization for Core Web Vitals | Critical CSS | Minify CSS | Defer CSS Javascript | CDN 70K+ · 4.7★ (1488) wp.org #12 ↓1 9 too low 4

Oliver POS – WooCommerce POS for iPhone, iPad & Android 700+ · 4.2★ (90) wp.org #6 2 too low 5

WP Wand – AI Content Writer for OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, OpenRouter and Deepseek 1K+ · 3.8★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #5 6

a3 Portfolio 100+ · 3.0★ (12) thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #3 3 too high 7

On This Day (by Room 34) 200+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓2 7 too low 8 S Show/Hide Shortcode 200+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviewsstale but ranked wp.org #7 1 too high 9

NHS Blocks 400+ · 4.5★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #13 3 too low 11

Serve Markdown 80+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #8 3 too high 12

Athena AI Content Assistant — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #9 3 too high 13 F FR Read More — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #10 3 too high 14

Page Parts 40+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15

Esselink.nu Settings 400+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #15 ↓1 16

Resurs Bank Payments for WooCommerce 100+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓1 17

Sideconvo Voice, Chat & Search Agent 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too low 18

Twitter Expander 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓1 19

AdminSanity 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20

BlockExpander — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↓2 1 too low 21

Luma Product Fields 10+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too high 22

GetSiteCalendar Lite 10+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↓2 23

Harvify Stock Manager — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #23 24

CiteBoost GEO — · 0.0★ (0) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓2

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.