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

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 “jargon”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Juiz Lang Attribute shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 2.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 CM Tooltip Glossary 7K+ · 4.3★ (157) wp.org #1 2 BetterDocs – AI Documentation, Knowledge Base, MCP Server, Docs, Wikis, FAQ & Chatbot 30K+ · 4.8★ (515) wp.org #2 3 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Index WP Users For Speed 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Heroic Glossary – Block for building Glossaries, Dictionaries and more 3K+ · 3.8★ (10) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Codevera AI Tooltip Explainer for Jargon and Confusing Terms — · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #6 7 GEO Suite – AI SEO, llms.txt & Schema – Octoplug 60+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #7 8 Ordafide Order Integrity for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #20 12 too low 9 Glossary Tooltip – Highlight Terms & Show Tooltips 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 GEO Pilot – AI Search Optimization & llms.txt 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 1 too high 11 Herroepingsknop & Bedenktijd for WooCommerce 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑2 12 Semantic Journey 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Klarvo AI Transparency for EU AI Act 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 CCA Site Health Advisor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 Royal Access – Accessibility Toolbar & WCAG Tools 60+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 16 ScoreFix – Boost Lighthouse & Improve UX — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 Pixelmole – Follow-up emails 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 SW Site Doctor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 19 Flavio 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 20 Glossary Pages 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 Aegistha Security Checkup — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Digent Smart AI – Connect Site to Claude, Cursor & ChatGPT via MCP Server — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 Peligent AI Assistant — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 Juiz Lang Attribute 1K+ · 2.5★ (4) wp.org #13 ↓1 11 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.