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

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 shortcodes”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

T

Ranked above its merit

Themify Shortcodes shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ 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 #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 542 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 Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #2 ↑4 3 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #5 ↓4 2 too low 4 Shortcodes Finder 4K+ · 4.9★ (53) wp.org #3 ↑2 1 too high 5 Easy Social Icons 20K+ · 4.4★ (84) wp.org #4 ↑7 1 too high 6 WPZOOM Connect: Social Icons Widget & Block, Share Buttons & Click to Chat 90K+ · 4.9★ (144) wp.org #6 ↓3 7 Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1911) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too low 8 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 #17 9 too low 9 Shortcoder — Create Shortcodes for Anything 100K+ · 4.9★ (227) wp.org #16 7 too low 10 Arconix Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #8 ↓1 2 too high 11 Bootstrap Shortcodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Nested Shortcodes 1K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #7 ↑1 5 too high 13 Easy Bootstrap Shortcode 6K+ · 4.0★ (50) wp.org #10 ↓6 3 too high 14 Fuse Social Icons 10K+ · 4.6★ (58) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too low 15 Font Awesome 400K+ · 3.6★ (61) wp.org #20 ↑2 5 too low 16 User Access Shortcodes 1K+ · 4.9★ (13) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 Wbcom Designs – Shortcodes & Elementor Widgets For BuddyPress 600+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Uix Shortcodes 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 CSSIgniter Shortcodes 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 20 Icon Separator 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #23 ↓3 3 too low 21 Mox Icons – Icon Pack for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓2 9 too high 22 Icon List Block – Add Icon-Based Lists with Custom Styles 4K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #21 ↓6 1 too high 23 R Rescue Shortcodes 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 T Themify Shortcodes 7K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #11 13 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.