wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “gallagher”
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 “gallagher”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 0 of the top 17. 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Avatar Manager 5K+ · 4.9★ (39) closure risk stale but ranked
wp.org #2 1 too low 2 
Gallagher Website Design 80+ · 0.0★ (0) thin reviewslow rating, top placement
wp.org #1 1 too high 3 
Convert Emoticons Font Awesome 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviewslow rating, top placementstale but ranked
wp.org #3 4 P Pure Web Brilliant's base framework 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviewslow rating, top placementstale but ranked
wp.org #4 5 P Pure Web Brilliant's Social Graph Control 10+ · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviewslow rating, top placementstale but ranked
wp.org #5 6 K Kevinjohn Gallagher: Pure Web Brilliant's Cross Pollination Post Pagination — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviewsstale but ranked
wp.org #6 7 P Pure Web Brilliant's Login Control — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviewsstale but ranked
wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too low 8 B BlaatLogin: OAuth 10+ · 5.0★ (1) closure risk thin reviewsstale but ranked
wp.org #7 1 too high 9 P Pure Web Brilliant's Image Controls — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviewsstale but ranked
wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 J jTab Guitar Tab Shortcode 10+ · 5.0★ (1) closure risk thin reviewsstale but ranked
wp.org #8 2 too high 11 P Pure Web Brilliant's JavaScript Control — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↑2 12 P Pure Web Brilliant's URL not HTML — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↑2 13 P Pure Web Brilliant's Meta Controls — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↓3 14 P Pure Web Brilliant's CSS3 selectors for tags — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #14 ↑1 15 P Pure Web Brilliant's Capital P iss off — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓3 16 P Pure Web Brilliant's Social Graph Twitter Cards Extention — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #16 17 P Pure Web Brilliant's Social Graph: Open Graph extras Extention — · 0.0★ (0) closure risk thin reviews
wp.org #17 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.