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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “london”

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

User Supersearch shows at wp.org #8 but places #13 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software places #2 on merit, 4.9★ from 594 reviews, but shows at wp.org #6. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Mollie Payments for WooCommerce 100K+ · 3.6★ (69) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software 20K+ · 4.9★ (594) wp.org #6 4 too low 3 WPCasa – Real Estate for WordPress 1K+ · 4.2★ (36) wp.org #3 4 Location Pack for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #4 5 Bulk Page Duplicator 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 4 too high 6 Stock Ticker 2K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 Shift8 CDN 500+ · 4.4★ (40) wp.org #7 8 Recruitly 50+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 HuxxConnect – REST API Connector for WordPress 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 WP Engine GeoTarget 400+ · 3.6★ (15) wp.org #22 ↓1 12 too low 11 SwiftERM — · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #18 ↓2 7 too low 12 Visual Crossing Weather Forecast – Real-Time Weather & Forecast Widget 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 User Supersearch 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 Precious Metals Charts and Widgets for WordPress 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 3 too high 15 Time.now Clock Widget 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 Auglio Try-on Mirror 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 Elementor Breadcrumbs 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 Deny All Firewall 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↑1 2 too high 19 Verify Trusted Reviews 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too high 20 Quiver Delivery 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too high 21 Travel Booking Toolkit 2K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Workshop Booking 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓1 1 too high 23 WeTravel Widgets 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 24 Autify Digital Lloyds® Gateway for WooCommerce 100+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.