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← Rankings

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

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 “index”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Fast Index for Google Indexing API shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.3★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Sticky Menu & Sticky Header places #8 on merit, 4.7★ from 763 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #1 2 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #6 ↓2 3 too low 4 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 Sticky Menu & Sticky Header 90K+ · 4.7★ (763) wp.org #19 ↓5 11 too low 9 Index WP Users For Speed 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 ↓1 6 too high 10 XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #14 ↑6 4 too low 11 Anchor Episodes Index (Spotify for Podcasters) 1K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #4 ↑1 7 too high 12 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #18 ↑4 6 too low 13 FiboSearch – Ajax Search for WooCommerce 100K+ · 4.9★ (1815) wp.org #23 ↓4 10 too low 14 Dynamic XML Sitemaps Generator for Google 20K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 WP Search with Algolia 7K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #13 ↑3 2 too high 16 Sitemap by BestWebSoft – WordPress XML Site Map Page Generator Plugin 20K+ · 4.3★ (115) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 V Visual Recipe Index 300+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #11 ↓2 7 too high 19 Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 AlphaListing 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #15 ↓2 5 too high 21 Multisite Site Index 100+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #9 ↓2 12 too high 22 Fast Index for Google Indexing API 300+ · 3.3★ (3) wp.org #8 ↑4 14 too high 23 HS3Dev AI Content Index for llms.txt 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 MW LLMS Index 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↓2 4 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.