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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “link 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 “link analysis”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 3 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

Interlinks Manager – Internal Links Optimizer shows at wp.org #6 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 7K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library places #11 on merit, 4.6★ from 778 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO 100K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #1 ↑2 1 too high 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 ↑1 4 Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (150) wp.org #4 ↑1 5 Gallery Custom Links 30K+ · 4.7★ (208) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #8 ↑3 2 too low 7 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3220) wp.org #11 ↑10 4 too low 8 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #13 ↑2 5 too low 9 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1668) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (759) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Media Cleaner: Delete Unused Images & Clean Your Media Library 90K+ · 4.6★ (778) wp.org #21 ↑2 10 too low 12 Spam Protection | Maspik 30K+ · 4.7★ (87) wp.org #18 ↓1 6 too low 13 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #24 ↓2 11 too low 14 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #5 ↑1 9 too high 15 LexonRank: AI Link Building, Free Backlinks, GEO & SEO Automation 800+ · 4.1★ (31) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3156) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too low 17 Link Manager – Analyze, Automate, and Monitor Links 1K+ · 4.4★ (10) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Interlinks Manager – Internal Links Optimizer 7K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #6 ↑1 12 too high 19 MxChat – AI Chatbot & Content Generation for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #22 ↑2 3 too low 20 Check for Broken Links – Broken Link Checker & SEO Suite 1K+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 CIELO API PIX, credit card, debit payment for WooCommerce 600+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 I Internal Link Visualizer 100+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 AI Internal Links 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 Link Diagnostics – Broken Links, Redirects, and Link Insights 50+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 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.