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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “filter rss”

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 “filter rss”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

RSS Control shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 300+ 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

Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 3220 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (565) wp.org #1 2 RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #2 3 Super RSS Reader – Add attractive RSS Feed Widget 9K+ · 4.6★ (67) wp.org #3 4 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #12 7 too low 6 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #17 11 too low 7 Beautiful taxonomy filters 2K+ · 4.9★ (68) wp.org #9 2 too low 8 Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 All-In-One Security (AIOS) – Security and Firewall 1M+ · 4.7★ (1720) wp.org #14 ↑1 5 too low 10 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 RSS Feed Widget 2K+ · 3.9★ (26) wp.org #5 ↑2 6 too high 12 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 A Add Featured Image to RSS Feed 2K+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #7 ↓1 10 too high 18 Link Library 10K+ · 4.7★ (97) wp.org #16 ↓2 2 too high 19 Seriously Simple Podcasting 20K+ · 4.7★ (330) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Import XML and RSS Feeds 2K+ · 3.8★ (24) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 RSS Control 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 17 too high 22 P PE Category Filter 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 DaazSync – RSS News Aggregator 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 RSS llama 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.