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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “manual pingbacks”

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 “manual pingbacks”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 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

Add Pingbacks shows at wp.org #1 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 10+ 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

Advanced Database Cleaner – Optimize & Clean Database to Speed Up Site Performance places #4 on merit, 4.9★ from 1962 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 wp.org
1 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #6 ↓1 5 too low 2 Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning 30K+ · 4.8★ (1039) wp.org #7 5 too low 3 Disable Comments 1M+ · 4.7★ (281) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Advanced Database Cleaner – Optimize & Clean Database to Speed Up Site Performance 100K+ · 4.9★ (1962) wp.org #11 ↓3 7 too low 5 WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) wp.org #5 ↑1 6 WebberZone Top 10 — Popular Posts 10K+ · 4.6★ (102) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too low 8 Contextual Related Posts 50K+ · 4.8★ (201) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too low 9 Titan Anti-spam & Security – Brute Force Protection, 2FA & Spam Filter 50K+ · 4.5★ (370) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too low 10 Vigilant – 100% Free Security Suite: Firewall, 2FA, Login, Headers, Scanner… 3K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too high 11 Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 Notification – Custom Notifications and Alerts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too low 13 Auto-Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 11 too high 14 Add Pingbacks 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #1 13 too high 15 SiteGuard WP Plugin 600K+ · 4.3★ (15) wp.org #3 ↑1 12 too high 16 Better Search – Relevant search results for WordPress 5K+ · 4.4★ (61) wp.org #20 ↓1 4 too low 17 Simple Disable XML-RPC 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↑11 8 too high 18 WebberZone Snippetz – Header, Body and Footer manager 2K+ · 4.8★ (10) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too high 19 BotBlocker Security – Complete security platform 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 ↓3 5 too low 20 FlyWP Helper – Page Cache, Page Optimization, Emails for FlyWP Server Control Panel 4K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 Disabler 900+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #19 ↓2 2 too high 22 Disable Comments by click5 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↑1 1 too low 23 Zamok – Security and Site Tools 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 WZ Followed Posts – Display what visitors are reading 300+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓3 3 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.