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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “keyword analysis”

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 “keyword analysis”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 4 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

SiteSEO – SEO Simplified shows at wp.org #10 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 400K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 807 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #3 4 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 GetGenie – AI SEO Assistant & Content Writer with Keyword Research, AEO & GEO 70K+ · 4.8★ (119) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #6 7 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too low 8 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #8 9 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #11 ↑4 2 too low 10 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #16 ↓4 6 too low 11 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #15 ↓1 4 too low 12 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (151) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 SEO Booster 800+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too low 15 Bulk Auto Image Alt Text (Alt tag, Alt attribute) optimizer (image SEO) 10K+ · 4.2★ (111) wp.org #20 ↑2 5 too low 16 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Textmetrics 400+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 SilentShield – Captcha & Anti-Spam for WordPress (CF7, WPForms, Elementor, WooCommerce) 10K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #14 ↑5 4 too high 19 LinkBoss – Semantic AI Internal Linking 2K+ · 4.8★ (17) wp.org #21 ↑2 2 too low 20 Generate Images (AI) – Magic Post Thumbnail 5K+ · 4.3★ (25) wp.org #22 ↑2 2 too low 21 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Link Manager – Analyze, Automate, and Monitor Links 1K+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 WriteText.ai 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑2 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.