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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “h1”

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 “h1”, 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 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

Extend Link shows at wp.org #8 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel places #6 on merit, 4.7★ from 434 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 ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO 100K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 M Mammoth .docx converter 20K+ · 4.8★ (62) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 WPS Bidouille 9K+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 PublishPress Checklists: Pre-Publishing Approval Checklist – Validate Post Requirements 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 AI-Powered Carousel, Slider, Video & Photo Gallery Blocks by WP Carousel 60K+ · 4.7★ (434) wp.org #15 ↑2 9 too low 7 Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 Flex Posts – Responsive Posts Block 2K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 Animated Headline 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #3 6 too high 10 Product Addons for Woocommerce – Product Options with Custom Fields 30K+ · 4.9★ (474) wp.org #19 ↓3 9 too low 11 Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce – Checkout Manager 20K+ · 4.9★ (165) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too low 12 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too low 13 Logos Reftagger 10K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too low 14 Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 Spectra Blocks – AI Website Builder for the Block Editor 60K+ · 4.6★ (53) wp.org #20 ↓5 5 too low 16 WP Anchor Header 300+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #9 7 too high 17 Magazine Blocks – Blog Designer, Magazine & Newspaper Website Builder, Page Builder with Posts Blocks, Post Grid 6K+ · 4.9★ (11) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 YITH WooCommerce Product Add-Ons 20K+ · 3.7★ (57) wp.org #18 ↑1 19 Rocket Font – 한글 1K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 SmartDoc to Post Importer 300+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 Khattat – Arabic Fonts 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 BeyondSEO – AI SEO to Improve Rankings, Listings & Online Visibility 20K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 Extend Link 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #8 15 too high 24 Quicktags for WP 100+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.