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

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 “japan”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

KOMOJU Payments shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 1K+ 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

AfterShip Tracking – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking (Free plan available) places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 633 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too low 2 PDF Invoice Japan for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 MapGeo – Interactive Geo Maps 30K+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Sitemap by BestWebSoft – WordPress XML Site Map Page Generator Plugin 20K+ · 4.3★ (115) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 Japanized for WooCommerce 10K+ · 3.3★ (21) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 AfterShip Tracking – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking (Free plan available) 7K+ · 4.8★ (633) wp.org #18 ↑1 12 too low 7 Free Cookie Notice & Consent Banner for Privacy Compliance (GDPR, CCPA, DSGVO and others) 7K+ · 4.0★ (16) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 Welcart e-Commerce 10K+ · 4.5★ (6) wp.org #4 ↓1 4 too high 9 PDF & Print by BestWebSoft – WordPress Posts and Pages PDF Generator Plugin 9K+ · 3.9★ (102) wp.org #12 3 too low 10 affiliate-toolkit – Multi-Network Affiliate & Amazon Product Display 2K+ · 4.5★ (22) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 Affiliate Super Assistent 1K+ · 4.6★ (36) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Locatoraid Store Locator 1K+ · 4.5★ (17) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 Rich Table of Contents 20K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #24 ↓1 11 too low 14 Amazon Pay for WooCommerce 10K+ · 2.5★ (27) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 GDPR CCPA Compliance & Cookie Consent Banner 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 Promolayer – Popup Builder & Abandonment Preventer 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 17 SizeSync – Size Chart & Size Guide for WooCommerce 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 10 too high 18 AmaSync – Amazon Affiliate Plugin, Product Importer for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 PayLexer – Payment Integration Solution for WordPress (Stripe, PayPal, Paystack, and more) 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Japan Clickable Map 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Friendly Functions for Welcart 900+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #19 ↓1 2 too high 22 KOMOJU Payments 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Formzu WP 3K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 24 HametuPack 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.