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

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 “hygiene”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 4 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Cite This Article – Author Box & Citation shows at wp.org #14 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 4 places. Its 10+ 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 Media Hygiene: Remove or Delete Unused Images and More! 4K+ · 4.2★ (41) wp.org #1 2 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #2 3 SiteLock Security – WP Hardening, Login Security & Malware Scans 1K+ · 3.4★ (14) wp.org #5 ↓1 2 too low 4 Securizer 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Spotrebiteľské práva pre WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Feather – Elementor Performance Optimizer | Asset Cleanup, Page Speed & Database Cleanup 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 D Data Hygiene for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 8 Technical Site Auditor 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 9 Pinny’s REST Lock – Block REST User Enumeration 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 10 Yuhi — Smarter Content Controls 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 11 Webmastery Site Toolkit for MCP 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑1 12 Herroepingsknop & Bedenktijd for WooCommerce 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Agentimus – AI SEO, llms.txt & MCP for AI Agents 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓4 7 too low 14 Capo – Head Optimizer 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↑1 1 too high 15 Steel Security & Hardening – Site Audit Tools 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 Inlay — Native Ad Monetisation 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 17 AIFORYA Product SEO for WooCommerce 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑1 18 Cite This Article – Author Box & Citation 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 Recap Site Auditor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 20 Omninox Site Toolkit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Pasted HTML Cleanup — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Plogins Withdraw – Right of Withdrawal Button for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 MLX Orphaned Cart for WooCommerce — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 SpeeSeek – Find What Slows Your WordPress Site — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 1 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.