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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “html lang”

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 “html lang”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 2 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

Juiz Lang Attribute shows at wp.org #7 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Accessibility places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 68 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 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #4 ↓2 2 too low 3 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 CHL-Change HTML Lang 7K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 WP Multilang – Translation and Multilingual Plugin 10K+ · 4.3★ (100) wp.org #6 ↓2 1 too low 6 Checkout Field Editor for WooCommerce – Checkout Manager 20K+ · 4.9★ (165) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too low 7 Geolocation IP Detection 20K+ · 4.7★ (59) wp.org #9 ↓2 2 too low 8 Italy Cookie Choices (for EU Cookie Law & Cookie Notice) 9K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 A Advanced Excerpt 80K+ · 4.3★ (101) wp.org #18 ↓4 9 too low 10 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #13 ↑3 3 too low 11 WP Accessibility 60K+ · 4.8★ (68) wp.org #23 12 too low 12 wp-forecast 4K+ · 4.2★ (23) wp.org #20 ↓2 8 too low 13 WP WooCommerce Mailchimp 5K+ · 4.3★ (35) wp.org #17 ↓5 4 too low 14 Currency Converter Widget ⚡ PRO 300+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #22 ↓3 8 too low 15 Language Attribute for Container Blocks and Pages/Posts 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 12 too high 16 LiveLang – Smart Multilingual Visual Translator 30+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Abbreviation Button for the Block Editor 300+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #14 ↓3 3 too high 18 LATW Multilingual 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓2 3 too high 19 LegalBlink 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓1 9 too high 20 Web Accessibility Toolkit – Accessibility Checker & ARIA for WCAG, Section 508 & ADA Compliance 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 12 too high 21 Juiz Lang Attribute 1K+ · 2.5★ (4) wp.org #7 ↓1 14 too high 22 Tranzly™ – AI Translation & Multilingual 7K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↑1 6 too high 23 Quick Multilingual 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓4 4 too high 24 Traducto – Automatic Website Translation 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24

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.