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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “glossary”

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 “glossary”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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.

Ranked above its merit

My WP Glossary shows at wp.org #4 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Tooltipy (tooltips for WP) places #10 on merit, 4.6★ from 68 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Glossary 2K+ · 4.7★ (84) wp.org #1 2 CM Tooltip Glossary 7K+ · 4.3★ (157) wp.org #2 3 BetterDocs – AI Documentation, Knowledge Base, MCP Server, Docs, Wikis, FAQ & Chatbot 30K+ · 4.8★ (515) wp.org #9 ↓3 6 too low 4 Echo Knowledge Base – Documentation, FAQs, Chat & Smart Search 10K+ · 4.9★ (124) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 Heroic Glossary – Block for building Glossaries, Dictionaries and more 3K+ · 3.8★ (10) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 Name Directory 2K+ · 4.9★ (81) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 weDocs: AI Powered Knowledge Base, Docs, Documentation, Wiki & AI Chatbot 5K+ · 4.6★ (69) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too low 8 ConveyThis AI Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.4★ (145) wp.org #19 ↓3 11 too low 9 T Tooltips for WordPress 5K+ · 3.8★ (75) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too low 10 Tooltipy (tooltips for WP) 1K+ · 4.6★ (68) wp.org #23 ↓2 13 too low 11 CM Search And Replace – Optimize content edits with a powerful search and replace tool 2K+ · 4.2★ (15) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 Team Showcase 1K+ · 4.0★ (53) wp.org #22 ↓2 10 too low 13 G Glosseta A-Z Glossary 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 ↑2 7 too high 14 Glossary Tooltip – Highlight Terms & Show Tooltips 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 Linguator – AI Auto Translate & Create Multilingual Sites 3K+ · 4.6★ (20) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 My WP Glossary 200+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #4 12 too high 17 Reference Manager for WordPress with Footnotes, Citations, Bibliographies, Tooltips and Glossary 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 CM E-Mail Blacklist – Simple email filtering for safer registration 700+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #21 ↓2 3 too low 19 CM Pop-Up – Create engaging popups to capture attention and boost interaction 8K+ · 3.4★ (13) wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too low 20 W WordPress.org Glossary 300+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #16 ↓1 4 too high 21 Inline Context – Footnotes, Tooltips & Glossary Notes 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 CM Header and Footer – Add custom scripts and styles to your header and footer with ease 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 Universally – AI Translation & Multilingual SEO: Translate Your Site into 110+ Languages 30K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 12 too high 24 Glossary Index 80+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑6 7 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.