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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “link analyzer”

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 analyzer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Url Rewrite Analyzer shows at wp.org #3 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 400+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) places #9 on merit, 4.5★ from 3157 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #1 2 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #2 3 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window 80K+ · 4.3★ (247) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Headline Analyzer 900+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #5 2 too high 8 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too low 12 DietPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #22 ↓2 10 too low 13 Disk Usage Insights 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 WPEPP – Essential Security, Password Protect & Login Page Customizer 3K+ · 4.1★ (19) wp.org #20 ↑1 5 too low 16 ImageKit – URL based image manipulation and optimization 1K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 Url Rewrite Analyzer 400+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #3 14 too high 18 OrphanPages – Internal Link Audit, Orphaned Pages, Broken Links & SEO Content Structure Analyzer 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 5 too high 19 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Shortcodes Analyzer 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 C Content Space Analyzer 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑3 22 Neurax Site Health Analyzer 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 SEO Information Viewer & Analyzer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓2 8 too high 24 DominoPost – Advanced Post Editor with AI Writer, Link Building Suite, Free Google Search Console & GA4 Analytics 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.