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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “fix 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 “fix shortcode”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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.

S

Ranked above its merit

Surbma | Yoast SEO Breadcrumb Shortcode shows at wp.org #13 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 3K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #3 on merit, 4.8★ from 27820 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Shortcode in Menus 50K+ · 4.7★ (82) wp.org #1 2 Shortcode Widget 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #2 3 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #9 6 too low 4 Shortcode Redirect 10K+ · 4.3★ (31) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 WP Date and Time Shortcode 10K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Shortcoder — Create Shortcodes for Anything 100K+ · 4.9★ (227) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Simple Divi Shortcode 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Shortcode for Current Date 10K+ · 5.0★ (116) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 PDF.js Viewer 20K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Snippet Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 Shortcodes Finder 4K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #12 13 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #24 10 too low 15 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Bootstrap Shortcodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Arconix Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #18 19 Blocks to Shortcode – Use blocks everywhere: in page templates, Elementor, etc. 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 S Surbma | Yoast SEO Breadcrumb Shortcode 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Five-Star Ratings Shortcode 500+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 Shortcodes for Elementor 5K+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Display During Conditional Shortcode 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 4 too high 24 S Shortcodes in Sidebar 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 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.