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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “jquery text effect”

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 “jquery text effect”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

LMSCrafter Gradient Text for Elementor shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 995 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 jQuery Smooth Scroll 10K+ · 4.5★ (47) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 LightPress Lightbox 40K+ · 4.6★ (72) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Marquee Running Text 5K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #13 ↑2 7 too low 7 FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #15 ↓3 8 too low 8 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too low 9 Nexter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder & AI Website Builder 9K+ · 4.8★ (90) wp.org #10 ↑12 1 too low 10 Master Slider – Responsive Touch Slider 60K+ · 4.6★ (504) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 JS Archive List 3K+ · 4.8★ (45) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Lightbox for Gallery & Image Block 20K+ · 5.0★ (88) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 JS Categories List Widget 1K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #7 ↓1 6 too high 14 Social Proof Popups & Real-Time Notifications – Herd Effects 900+ · 3.9★ (15) wp.org #4 10 too high 15 DearFlip – PDF Flipbook, 3D Flipbook, PDF embed, PDF viewer 200K+ · 4.9★ (194) wp.org #18 ↓5 3 too low 16 CMP – Coming Soon & Maintenance Plugin by NiteoThemes 200K+ · 4.7★ (326) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Ultimate Responsive Image Slider 30K+ · 4.5★ (248) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Divi Torque Lite 50K+ · 4.7★ (116) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19 Options for Twenty Twenty-One 6K+ · 4.9★ (64) wp.org #23 ↑1 4 too low 20 Fix Alt Text 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #20 ↓2 21 Awesome Guten Text – 8 Powerful Blocks for Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↓1 10 too high 22 LMSCrafter Gradient Text for Elementor 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 SmartParallax – Parallax Scroll Effects & Scroll Animations 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 DesignSetGo 8K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #19 5 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.