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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “journalism tool”

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 “journalism tool”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 17. 2 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rankwell AI — Journalism Assistant — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 2 Citeroom: AEO and GEO for News, Works with Any SEO Plugin — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 3 AIM Transparency – AI Disclosure for EU AI Act 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #3 4 Qurio — · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too low 5 Podcast-Style Text to Speech – Hi, Moose 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Advanced Charts for Gutenberg Blocks Editor 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Plucky Works — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 1 too high 8 L listicle 10+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #17 9 too low 9 Weblooks Writer – AI Writer, SEO Content & Auto Blogging — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Timelines 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Redact — Blackout & Erasure Poetry — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 TOCguide — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 2 too high 13 PEMPO AI Discovery – Boost LLM Traffic from ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews & More 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Storymaps 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 2 too low 15 Pointwise Summary – AI-Powered TLDR, AI Summarize & Social Sharing — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 TDMRep: TDM Reservation Protocol 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Civil Publisher Tools — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 3 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.