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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “expires header”

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 “expires header”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Expire User Passwords shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 8869 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 HTTP Headers 40K+ · 4.3★ (70) wp.org #2 ↑2 1 too low 2 Far Future Expiry Header 6K+ · 3.2★ (31) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #5 ↑7 2 too low 4 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too high 5 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #8 ↓2 3 too low 6 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too low 7 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8869) wp.org #12 ↑1 4 too low 9 Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 Temporary Login Without Password 90K+ · 5.0★ (1550) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 WP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload 10K+ · 4.6★ (339) wp.org #10 ↓3 1 too high 12 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #13 ↓4 1 too low 13 Depicter — Popup & Slider Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (236) wp.org #16 ↑1 3 too low 14 AEH Speed Optimization: Browser Cache, Optimized Minify, Lazy Loading & Image Optimization 2K+ · 3.2★ (20) wp.org #4 ↓1 10 too high 15 Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 GSheetConnector – CF7 Google Sheets Connector & Save CF7 Entries to Database 40K+ · 4.4★ (129) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too low 17 WPBruiser Security – No CAPTCHA Anti-Spam & Login Protection 10K+ · 4.6★ (213) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Easy HTTPS Redirection (SSL) 100K+ · 4.2★ (71) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 xSpeed Cache: AI-Powered Performance Hub with MCP, Caching & CDN 10K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too high 21 Expire User Passwords 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #7 ↑1 14 too high 22 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #19 ↑3 3 too high 23 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 24 Tracking Script Manager 2K+ · 4.1★ (7) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 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.