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

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 “insertion”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 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

DKI Dynamic Location Inserter shows at wp.org #7 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 50+ 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

If-So Dynamic Content – Elementor & All Page Builders Personalization places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 92 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1916) wp.org #1 2 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #2 ↑9 3 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #3 ↓1 4 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #4 5 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #5 ↓2 6 Insert Headers And Footers 200K+ · 5.0★ (135) wp.org #6 ↓1 7 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #10 ↓1 3 too low 8 Meta Tag Manager 70K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #8 ↓2 9 Translate and boost SEO – Automatic AI translation – wpLingua 2K+ · 4.9★ (33) wp.org #11 ↓1 2 too low 10 Product page shipping calculator for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #17 ↑6 7 too low 11 Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts 50K+ · 4.5★ (221) wp.org #18 ↑4 7 too low 12 If-So Dynamic Content – Elementor & All Page Builders Personalization 7K+ · 4.7★ (92) wp.org #20 ↓1 8 too low 13 Wp-Insert 9K+ · 4.5★ (142) wp.org #15 ↓7 2 too low 14 WP Dynamic Keywords Injector 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↓2 5 too high 15 T Testimonial Slider 3K+ · 4.2★ (69) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 WP Simple Adsense Insertion 3K+ · 4.5★ (19) wp.org #22 ↓5 6 too low 17 Legal Text Connector of the IT-Recht Kanzlei 10K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 If-So Geolocation 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 CallRail Phone Call Tracking 10K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #21 ↓3 2 too low 20 DKI Dynamic Location Inserter 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 13 too high 21 Press This Extended 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓2 2 too low 22 Embed Chessboard 500+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓3 3 too high 23 If-So Conditional Content for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 Dynamic Keyword Insertion for WP 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 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.