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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “max adsense”

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 “max adsense”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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

PDF Flipbook, WPBakery Addon – Unreal FlipBook shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ 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

XML Sitemap Generator for Google places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2233 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Insert Headers And Footers 200K+ · 5.0★ (135) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 WP Coder – Insert & Manage Code Snippets 10K+ · 4.9★ (32) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Seraphinite Accelerator 50K+ · 4.8★ (476) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 AdFlow – Ad Inserter & Ad Manager: AdSense, Banner Ads & ads.txt 3K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 3D FlipBook – PDF Embedder, PDF Flipbook Viewer, Flipbook Image Gallery 70K+ · 4.8★ (182) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Ad Commander – Ad Manager for Banners, AdSense, Ad Networks 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 WP AdCenter – Ad Manager & Adsense Ads 900+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 Fixed Widget and Sticky Elements for WordPress 70K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 AMP WP – Google AMP For WordPress 600+ · 4.5★ (55) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Rencontre – Dating Site 200+ · 3.8★ (49) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Plover Kit – Blocks, Patterns, Responsive Layout and Gutenberg Editor Enhancements 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #6 8 too high 15 CM Ad Changer – A simple tool to control and optimize your site’s banners 100+ · 3.1★ (15) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 Ad Commander Tools 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 17 1 1Platform Content AI – AI Blog Writer, SEO & Internal Linking for WordPress 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too low 18 Sekhlo Schema Code 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 IntentDeep Virtual Files – AI-Ready: Robots.txt, Security.txt, Ads.txt, LLMS.txt 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 SmartSpot Ad Manager — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 21 AWO — Automatic Website Optimizer — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 22 Monetize Me — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 PDF Flipbook, WPBakery Addon – Unreal FlipBook 1K+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #13 10 too high 24 AntiAdBlockCore – AdBlock Recovery — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 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.