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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “floating bar”

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 “floating bar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 4 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

Blog Floating Button shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 8K+ 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

NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 228 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #1 2 Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #2 3 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 XT Floating Cart for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (149) wp.org #7 3 too low 5 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #13 ↑2 8 too low 6 EU Cookies Bar for WordPress 9K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #6 ↑1 7 Advanced Floating Content Lite 7K+ · 4.1★ (30) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too high 8 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #20 12 too low 9 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #21 ↓1 12 too low 10 Popup Builder & Popup Maker for WordPress – OptinMonster Email Marketing and Lead Generation 1M+ · 4.3★ (821) wp.org #11 ↓2 1 too low 11 NotificationX – FOMO, Live Sales Notification, WooCommerce Sales Popup, GDPR, Social Proof, Announcement Banner & Floating Notification Bar 30K+ · 4.8★ (228) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 Fuse Social Icons 10K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #14 15 Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 Floating Social Share Icons and Social Share buttons – Next Previous Post Links – FL 200+ · 4.7★ (73) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Free Shipping Label and Progress Bar for WooCommerce 5K+ · 5.0★ (43) wp.org #23 ↓6 6 too low 18 Floating Button – Easily Create Sticky, Fixed & Floating Buttons 4K+ · 3.0★ (15) wp.org #9 ↑1 9 too high 19 Addonify Floating Cart For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #15 ↓2 4 too high 20 Notice Bar 700+ · 3.6★ (9) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Blog Floating Button 8K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↓1 17 too high 22 Bolt CTA Button – Floating Call Button for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↑4 5 too high 23 Floating Cart Product For WooCommerce 300+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 YooBar – Notification Bar & Announcement Bar 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↑1 6 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.