wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “location tracking”

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 “location tracking”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Simple Location shows at wp.org #8 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) places #7 on merit, 4.7★ from 5231 reviews, but shows at wp.org #11. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Advanced Shipment Tracking for WooCommerce 70K+ · 4.5★ (355) wp.org #1 2

Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing 40K+ · 4.9★ (399) wp.org #3 1 too low 3

Tracking Code Manager 90K+ · 4.1★ (58) wp.org #2 1 too high 4

CWILL (Formerly ParcelPanel) – Shipment Tracking, Tracking & Order Tracking for WooCommerce 7K+ · 4.9★ (538) wp.org #5 1 too low 5

Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #4 1 too high 6

AfterShip Tracking – All-In-One WooCommerce Order Tracking (Free plan available) 7K+ · 4.8★ (633) wp.org #9 3 too low 7

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #11 4 too low 8

Order Tracking – WordPress Status Tracking Plugin 3K+ · 4.6★ (73) wp.org #6 2 too high 9

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #13 4 too low 10

Trakoo – Orders Tracking for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.5★ (58) wp.org #7 3 too high 11

ATUM WooCommerce Inventory Management and Stock Tracking 10K+ · 4.7★ (128) wp.org #12 1 too low 12

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #16 ↑3 4 too low 13

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #23 10 too low 14

Analytify – Google Analytics 4 Tracking and Reporting in WordPress 20K+ · 4.7★ (488) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #24 9 too low 16

Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17

Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18

Newsletter – Send awesome emails from WordPress 200K+ · 4.6★ (1205) wp.org #22 ↓1 4 too low 19

WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20

Simple Location 300+ · 4.6★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #8 12 too high 21

User Activity Tracking and Log 2K+ · 3.5★ (34) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too high 22

Tracking Script Manager 2K+ · 4.1★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #10 12 too high 23

Multi Location Product & Inventory Management for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #20 3 too high 24

Stape Conversion Tracking 10K+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #18 ↓1 6 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.