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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fade content”

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 “fade content”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Content Slider Block – Bring your content to life with slides shows at wp.org #4 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4514 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #1 2 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #2 3 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #6 ↑2 2 too low 5 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #12 ↑5 7 too low 6 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #13 ↑3 5 too low 9 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #15 ↑3 6 too low 10 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #19 ↑5 9 too low 11 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 Super block slider – Image/video background & content slider 8K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 upPrev 1K+ · 4.6★ (126) wp.org #18 ↓6 5 too low 14 F Fade Slider 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #3 11 too high 15 WP Image Zoom 10K+ · 4.3★ (119) wp.org #24 ↓4 9 too low 16 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Rich Table of Contents 20K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #16 ↓3 2 too high 19 Content Slider Block – Bring your content to life with slides 3K+ · 3.2★ (5) wp.org #4 15 too high 20 bSlider – Build Sliders That Bring Your Content to Life 5K+ · 4.0★ (11) wp.org #10 ↑1 10 too high 21 Text Unfold For Elementor 3K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓3 4 too high 22 Advanced Popups 60K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #22 ↓3 23 Collapse Magic 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #11 ↓1 12 too high 24 Image Ticker Carousel | by Creavi 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 3 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.