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

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 “head”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Add Code To Head shows at wp.org #6 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 2K+ 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

Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 2433 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Head & Footer Code 100K+ · 5.0★ (51) wp.org #1 2 Head Meta Data 10K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 Head, Footer and Post Injections 200K+ · 4.9★ (735) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 AddFunc Head & Footer Code 20K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Header Footer Code Manager 600K+ · 4.9★ (309) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #17 ↑3 9 too low 9 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #18 ↓3 9 too low 10 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #15 ↑2 5 too low 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too low 12 PixelYourSite – Your smart PIXEL (TAG) & API Manager 400K+ · 4.3★ (281) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 BuddyPress 90K+ · 4.1★ (375) wp.org #13 14 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #9 ↓1 6 too high 16 Burst Statistics – Simple WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) 200K+ · 4.9★ (186) wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too low 17 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Header and Footer Scripts 200K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #14 4 too high 19 ReCaptcha v2 for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 5.0★ (89) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #21 ↓5 1 too low 21 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 W wp_head() cleaner 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 ↑2 12 too high 23 Add Code To Head 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 17 too high 24 Analytics Head 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 17 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.