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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “inline text”

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 “inline text”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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.

I

Ranked above its merit

Inline Tooltips shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 70+ 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.

Buried gem

AJAX Login and Registration modal popup + inline form places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 120 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #1 2 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #2 3 Inline Related Posts 100K+ · 4.3★ (77) wp.org #3 4 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #7 ↑1 3 too low 5 Inline Image Upload for BBPress 3K+ · 4.6★ (65) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too low 6 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Simple Custom CSS and JS 600K+ · 4.4★ (104) wp.org #11 ↑9 4 too low 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #16 ↓2 8 too low 9 Text Unfold For Elementor 3K+ · 4.6★ (7) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #19 ↓2 8 too low 12 AJAX Login and Registration modal popup + inline form 3K+ · 4.7★ (120) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Text to Speech – TTSWP 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #9 ↑9 5 too high 15 Quran multilanguage Text & Audio 400+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too low 16 Inline Tweet Sharer – Twitter Sharing Plugin 300+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17 Text Replace – Find and Replace WordPress Strings 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too high 18 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #23 5 too low 19 No unsafe-inline 200+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too high 20 MrSeokar Inline Related Products for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓2 7 too high 21 Inline Context – Footnotes, Tooltips & Glossary Notes 40+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓2 6 too high 22 I Inline Tooltips 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 ↓1 14 too high 23 LMSCrafter Gradient Text for Elementor 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Typing Text 500+ · 2.8★ (4) wp.org #14 ↓2 10 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.