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← Rankings

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

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 redirect”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

VK Link Target Controller shows at wp.org #14 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 30K+ 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

404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring places #11 on merit, 4.7★ from 321 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 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 301 Redirects – Redirect Manager 300K+ · 4.7★ (578) wp.org #3 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #4 5 Redirection 100K+ · 5.0★ (419) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too low 6 All 404 Redirect to Homepage 200K+ · 4.1★ (96) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too high 7 Redirection for Contact Form 7 200K+ · 4.7★ (275) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too high 8 BetterLinks – Link Shortener, Link Cloaking, Redirects, Affiliate Link Manager & MCP 20K+ · 4.8★ (85) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Links, Link Branding, Link Tracking & Marketing Plugin 30K+ · 4.6★ (251) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 404 to 301 – Redirect Manager, 301 Redirection, 404 Error Logs & 404 Monitoring 100K+ · 4.7★ (321) wp.org #19 ↓1 8 too low 12 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #8 ↓3 4 too high 13 Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (150) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Simple 301 Redirects by BetterLinks – Easy Redirect Manager 100K+ · 3.8★ (162) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 P Page Links To 100K+ · 4.9★ (157) wp.org #24 ↓1 9 too low 16 Redirect 404 to Homepage 60K+ · 4.6★ (24) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Link Juice Keeper 10K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Maintenance & Coming Soon Redirect Animation 3K+ · 5.0★ (34) wp.org #18 ↑1 19 Sky Login Redirect 2K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 WP Post Redirect 3K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Entryway – WP Login & Logout Redirect 6K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #21 22 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #22 23 VK Link Target Controller 30K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 9 too high 24 DevDome Redirect Manager: Link Rotator, Geo Redirect & 302 Redirect 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 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.