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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “insert title”

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 “insert title”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 5 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

VK All in One Expansion Unit shows at wp.org #16 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates places #7 on merit, 4.9★ from 1680 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #1 2 Insert PHP Code Snippet 90K+ · 4.9★ (707) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 I Insert Pages 30K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Insert Html Snippet 20K+ · 4.9★ (237) wp.org #4 5 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #12 ↑2 5 too low 8 Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93) wp.org #8 ↓1 9 SiteOrigin Widgets Bundle 400K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #10 ↑1 11 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #14 ↓2 3 too low 12 Title and Nofollow For Links (Classic Editor) 10K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #6 6 too high 13 Forminator Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form & Custom Form Builder 600K+ · 4.8★ (2144) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 Quiz Maker by AYS 20K+ · 4.9★ (601) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #11 ↓2 4 too high 16 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (221) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Search Regex 100K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce 300K+ · 5.0★ (1865) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #24 ↓4 4 too low 21 Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #21 22 Simple Author Box 90K+ · 4.3★ (115) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too high 23 WP Dynamic Keywords Injector 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too high 24 VK All in One Expansion Unit 100K+ · 4.0★ (7) wp.org #16 8 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.