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← Rankings

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

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 “googlebot”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Crawler Record shows at wp.org #6 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Simple Googlebot Visit 1K+ · 4.8★ (16) wp.org #1 2 Blackhole for Bad Bots 30K+ · 4.7★ (148) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Quttera ThreatSign – Web Malware Scanner for WordPress 10K+ · 3.9★ (47) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Advanced IP Blocker 3K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #4 ↑3 5 MOBILOOK — Mobile View & Mobile‑Friendly Test 1K+ · 4.9★ (27) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 Most And Least Read Posts Widget 900+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 Known Agents – Track AI Bots and Crawlers, Block Scrapers, Analyze LLM Referral Traffic 1K+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Atlant Security 800+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #13 ↓8 5 too low 9 BitFire Security – Firewall, Malware Scanner, Bot Blocker, Login Protection 300+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too low 10 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #19 ↓1 9 too low 11 Advanced Age Verification Popup 700+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too high 12 LovedByAI – GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) & AI SEO Plugin: AEO, llms.txt 1K+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 GranTech IP Firewall for AbuseIPDB 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓1 1 too high 14 Crawler Record 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 WP Maintenance Mode & Site Under Construction 3K+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too high 16 Tasty Recipes Lite – WordPress Recipe Card Plugin with Built-In Recipe Schema 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 1 too low 17 Log-Hero.com Plugin 40+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #18 ↑2 1 too low 18 EDH Bad Bots 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 Force login to make the site private – Gozer 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 ReportedIP Hive: Firewall, Brute Force Protection, 2FA and Anti-Spam 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 CB Bot Guard 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Royal AI Firewall 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 IndexJump Submitter 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓5 3 too high 24 BKoding – Orphan Page Finder 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓1 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.