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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “full site editing”

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 “full site editing”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

Disable Full Site Editing shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1267 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #1 2 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 3 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #3 4 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #6 ↑1 2 too low 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5038) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 Custom Fonts – Host Your Fonts Locally 400K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #4 ↓1 2 too high 7 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #15 ↓2 7 too low 9 Gutenverse – WordPress Blocks, Page Builder & Site Editor 20K+ · 4.9★ (190) wp.org #11 ↓5 2 too low 10 Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #7 ↓2 3 too high 11 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #18 ↓4 7 too low 12 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #9 3 too high 13 Max Mega Menu 300K+ · 4.8★ (882) wp.org #20 ↓3 7 too low 14 Restricted Site Access 10K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #14 ↓1 15 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 Splide Carousel Block 4K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #13 ↓5 3 too high 17 Gutenify – Visual Site Builder Blocks & Starter Templates 5K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too high 18 Gutenberg 400K+ · 2.1★ (3888) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 Cozy Blocks – Website Builder & Business Growth Toolkit | Popups, Lead Forms & Inbox 6K+ · 4.6★ (21) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too low 20 Gutentools 4K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Plover Kit – Blocks, Patterns, Responsive Layout and Gutenberg Editor Enhancements 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 Query Loop Load More 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Disable Full Site Editing 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 Ansar Import – One Click Starter Sites – for WordPress Themes 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓2 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.