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

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 shortcode”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20. 3 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

Profile Box Shortcode And Widget shows at wp.org #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 2144 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Easy Social Feed – All In One Social Feed Plugin for WordPress 30K+ · 4.6★ (502) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 3 Nextend Social Login and Register 200K+ · 4.9★ (446) wp.org #3 4 Smash Balloon Social Post Feed – Simple Social Feeds for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (1511) wp.org #4 5 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #7 8 WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #8 9 Buttonizer – Social Media Share Buttons, Social Icons, & Social Feeds 40K+ · 4.8★ (396) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #20 ↑1 10 too low 11 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12 WP Review Slider 6K+ · 4.8★ (181) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #21 ↓1 8 too low 14 Import Social Events 3K+ · 4.8★ (116) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too low 15 Snippet Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #19 ↓7 2 too low 18 Widgets for Reviews & Recommendations 8K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Genial Comments 4K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too high 20 Social LikeBox & Feed 10K+ · 3.3★ (47) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too high 21 Easy Social Like Box – Popup – Sidebar Widget 6K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too high 22 Simple Like Page – Fast & Privacy-Friendly Page Embeds 10K+ · 4.3★ (24) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 XT Event Widget for Social Events 800+ · 4.5★ (15) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Profile Box Shortcode And Widget 1K+ · 3.7★ (7) wp.org #12 ↑1 12 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.