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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “google webmasters”

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 “google webmasters”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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.

Ranked above its merit

Redirect 404 to Home Page – Custom URL shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 4K+ 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

Head, Footer and Post Injections places #5 on merit, 4.9★ from 735 reviews, but shows at wp.org #9. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 SMNTCS Google Webmaster Tools 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #1 2 too high 4 Sitemap by BestWebSoft – WordPress XML Site Map Page Generator Plugin 20K+ · 4.3★ (115) wp.org #4 5 Head, Footer and Post Injections 200K+ · 4.9★ (735) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 Meta Tag Manager 70K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 Dynamic XML Sitemaps Generator for Google 20K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Insights from Google PageSpeed 10K+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Analytify – Google Analytics 4 Tracking and Reporting in WordPress 20K+ · 4.7★ (488) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages 70K+ · 4.4★ (1319) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Simple SEO 10K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 Insert Headers And Footers 200K+ · 5.0★ (135) wp.org #13 1 too low 13 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Link Juice Keeper 10K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 SEO SIMPLE PACK 100K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 ReCrawler 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Opt-Out for Google Analytics (DSGVO / GDPR) 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Analytify – Dashboard Widget for Google Analytics 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 21 Redirect 404 to Home Page – Custom URL 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 W WP Site Verification tool 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 WP Consent API 200K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 SiteStats Analytics – Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster & Search Console 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 5 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.