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← Rankings

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

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 “microdata”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Local Business Schema Widget shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 20+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ 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 #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 594 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 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #1 2 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 W WP Customer Reviews 20K+ · 4.3★ (528) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 WP YouTube Lyte 20K+ · 4.8★ (206) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 WPSSO Strip Schema Microdata 200+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #2 4 too high 7 Recipe Cards For Your Food Blog from Zip Recipes 1K+ · 4.8★ (95) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Lightweight Accordion 10K+ · 5.0★ (60) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Cooked – Recipe Management 3K+ · 3.9★ (90) wp.org #10 ↓1 1 too low 10 WP Travel Engine – Tour Booking Plugin – Tour Operator Software 20K+ · 4.9★ (594) wp.org #18 ↑2 8 too low 11 Flexy Breadcrumb 10K+ · 4.7★ (20) wp.org #9 ↑2 2 too high 12 Five Star Business Profile and Schema 7K+ · 4.8★ (52) wp.org #11 ↑2 1 too high 13 Structured Content (JSON-LD) #wpsc 30K+ · 4.6★ (25) wp.org #15 ↑1 2 too low 14 Premmerce 400+ · 4.7★ (32) wp.org #16 ↑3 2 too low 15 DELUCKS SEO 300+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #14 1 too high 16 Protect schema.org markup in HTML editor 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #8 ↓1 8 too high 17 Schema Package – Structured Data & Rich Snippets Tool for SEO 200+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #23 6 too low 18 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Ultimate Reviews 400+ · 4.1★ (60) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Superb Social Media Share Buttons and Follow Buttons 6K+ · 4.4★ (11) wp.org #20 ↑2 21 Superb Table (SEO Optimized Tables With Schema) 2K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Local Business Schema Widget 20+ · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↑4 9 too high 23 Edu 1493 Microdata — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↑1 6 too high 24 Feedaty Rating for WooCommerce 300+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↑2 5 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.