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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “medium xml”

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 “medium xml”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Display Medium Stories shows at wp.org #5 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Kraken.io Image Optimizer – Compress, Convert to WebP & AVIF, Resize & Bulk Optimize places #8 on merit, 4.5★ from 119 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Two Factor 100K+ · 4.7★ (209) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 P Page Links To 100K+ · 4.9★ (157) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 SimpLy Gallery 40K+ · 4.8★ (118) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Jetpack Protect 100K+ · 4.6★ (123) wp.org #8 ↓2 2 too low 7 Featured Images in RSS for Mailchimp & More 20K+ · 4.3★ (113) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 Kraken.io Image Optimizer – Compress, Convert to WebP & AVIF, Resize & Bulk Optimize 10K+ · 4.5★ (119) wp.org #18 ↓2 10 too low 9 Linguise – AI Automatic Multilingual Translation 1K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #10 1 too low 10 BerqWP – All-In-One Optimization for Core Web Vitals, Cache, CDN, Images, CSS & JavaScript 4K+ · 4.3★ (54) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Display Post Feed from Medium 100+ · 2.3★ (3) wp.org #1 10 too high 12 Atlant Security 700+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 WordLift – AI powered SEO – Schema 300+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #24 ↓1 11 too low 14 Post Export Import with Media 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #14 15 DiagnoSEO – Fast and Automated On-page SEO 100+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too low 16 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #21 ↓2 5 too low 17 Display Medium Stories 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 12 too high 18 BeyondSEO – AI SEO to Improve Rankings, Listings & Online Visibility 20K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑3 3 too high 19 Cleverhog Malware Scanner 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 10 too high 20 DB-Views: Dashboards, Data Tables and Webforms 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓1 2 too low 21 Blog Porter – Blog Migration Importer 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 All in One Content Protector & Security 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Siteskyline Content Importer for Medium — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓2 6 too high 24 Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool 300+ · 0.0★ (0) 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.