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

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 header”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 5 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

Floating Side Tab shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 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 #2 1 too low 2 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Simple Floating Menu 10K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 XT Floating Cart for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.6★ (149) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #11 ↑1 3 too low 9 Advanced Floating Content Lite 7K+ · 4.1★ (30) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Floating Chat Widget: Contact Chat Icons, Telegram Chat, Line Messenger, WeChat, Email, SMS, Call Button – Chaty 300K+ · 5.0★ (1244) wp.org #22 ↑1 11 too low 12 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #23 ↓3 10 too low 14 Buttonizer – Floating Menus, Sticky Buttons, & Popup Builder 70K+ · 4.5★ (151) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Infinity23 (Formerly Tag Manager) – One Plugin That Replaces All The Rest 20K+ · 4.7★ (53) wp.org #19 ↑2 4 too low 16 Float menu – awesome floating side menu 30K+ · 4.4★ (41) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17 Floating Contact Button for MAX and Telegram 1K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Stick My Header for Astra 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #10 8 too high 19 Sticky Floating Forms Lite 800+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 Addonify Floating Cart For WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #18 ↓1 2 too high 21 Floating Cart Product For WooCommerce 300+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #17 ↑1 4 too high 22 Floating Side Tab 600+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Floaty Header – Sticky Header, Floating Bar & Announcement Bar 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 Header Footer Custom Html 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #14 10 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.