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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “icons shortcode”

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 “icons shortcode”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Mox Icons – Icon Pack for Elementor shows at wp.org #7 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 1K+ 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

All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 542 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 3 WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144) wp.org #3 4 Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Shortcode Widget 10K+ · 4.9★ (34) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1911) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 All-in-one Sticky Floating Contact Form, Call, Click to Chat, and 50+ Social Icon Tabs – My Sticky Elements 40K+ · 4.9★ (542) wp.org #14 7 too low 8 Shortcoder — Create Shortcodes for Anything 100K+ · 4.9★ (227) wp.org #13 5 too low 9 Snippet Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Latest Post Shortcode 4K+ · 4.8★ (46) wp.org #8 2 too high 11 Easy Social Icons 20K+ · 4.4★ (84) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Shortcodes Finder 4K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #15 3 too low 13 Fuse Social Icons 10K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 PDF.js Viewer 20K+ · 4.4★ (53) wp.org #21 ↑1 7 too low 15 Easy Bootstrap Shortcode 6K+ · 4.0★ (50) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Font Awesome 400K+ · 3.6★ (61) wp.org #16 17 Bootstrap Shortcodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Arconix Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19 Mox Icons – Icon Pack for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #7 12 too high 20 Icon Separator 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 Shortcode for Font Awesome 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 10 too high 22 Icon List Block – Add Icon-Based Lists with Custom Styles 4K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 Five-Star Ratings Shortcode 500+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #19 ↑1 4 too high 24 T Themify Shortcodes 7K+ · 3.0★ (2) 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.