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← Rankings

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

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 “headline”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 3 plugins are 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 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

News Ticker – Floating Headlines & Sticky Alerts shows at wp.org #9 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 1.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 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 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #1 2 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too low 4 Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285) wp.org #7 ↓3 3 too low 5 SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 400K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Animated Headline 2K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Website Builder by SeedProd — Theme Builder, Landing Page Builder, Coming Soon Page, Maintenance Mode 600K+ · 4.9★ (4699) wp.org #17 ↑1 9 too low 9 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #14 ↑2 5 too low 10 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #19 ↑1 9 too low 11 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 Headline Analyzer 900+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO 100K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Inline Related Posts 100K+ · 4.3★ (77) wp.org #20 ↓3 6 too low 15 Nelio A/B Testing – AB Tests and Heatmaps for Better Conversion Optimization 4K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 Speed Contact Bar 4K+ · 4.6★ (56) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17 Gutenberg 400K+ · 2.1★ (3888) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #5 ↑2 13 too high 19 Vertical News Scroller 5K+ · 4.3★ (17) wp.org #16 ↓3 3 too high 20 Extendify 500K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #12 8 too high 21 Animated Headline – Visual Composer (WPBakery Page Builder) 70+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 EasyTest – Simplify A/B Testing 10K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓3 4 too high 23 Ad Auto Insert H 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓3 1 too high 24 News Ticker – Floating Headlines & Sticky Alerts 100+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #9 15 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.