Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “facebook link”

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 “facebook link”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 of the top 20. 2 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

Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 8K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.1★ average from 15 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP2Social Auto Publish places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 640 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502) wp.org #3 4 Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (446) wp.org #4 5 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #5 6 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #9 ↓3 2 too low 8 WP2Social Auto Publish 9K+ · 4.8★ (640) wp.org #14 6 too low 9 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Visual Link Preview 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too high 11 ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #15 4 too low 12 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #12 13 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #23 ↓1 10 too low 14 Pixel Cat – Conversion Pixel Manager 40K+ · 4.0★ (41) wp.org #8 ↑1 6 too high 15 BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP 20K+ · 4.8★ (85) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 WP Review Slider 6K+ · 4.8★ (181) wp.org #13 4 too high 18 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Import Social Events 3K+ · 4.8★ (116) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 Widgets for Reviews & Recommendations 8K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #24 ↓1 3 too low 22 Social LikeBox & Feed 10K+ · 3.3★ (47) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Easy Social Like Box – Popup – Sidebar Widget 6K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #18 ↑1 5 too high 24 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #11 13 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.