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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “news aggregator”

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 “news aggregator”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 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

DaazSync – RSS News Aggregator shows at wp.org #4 but places #17 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 90+ 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

Import Social Events places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 115 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP RSS Aggregator – RSS Import, Feed to Post, Autoblogging, AI Content 40K+ · 4.5★ (563) wp.org #1 2 RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #2 3 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2455) wp.org #3 4 WP Event Aggregator: Import Eventbrite events, Meetup events, social events and any iCal Events into Event Calendar 1K+ · 4.6★ (54) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1841) wp.org #11 ↓4 5 too low 7 Event Tickets and Registration 90K+ · 3.5★ (234) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 Content Pilot – Autoblogging & Affiliate Marketing Suite 800+ · 3.6★ (36) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Import Social Events 3K+ · 4.8★ (115) wp.org #17 8 too low 10 Import Eventbrite Events 3K+ · 4.5★ (52) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Import Meetup Events – Meetup Sync & Event Aggregator for WordPress 300+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too high 12 Tagembed: Social Media Feeds and Customer Reviews Widget 9K+ · 3.8★ (61) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 F FeedWordPress 9K+ · 4.2★ (61) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 FOX – Currency Switcher Professional for WooCommerce 50K+ · 4.4★ (250) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Juicer.io: Effortlessly embed, curate, and aggregate social media feeds into your website 8K+ · 4.2★ (29) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Event SEO: Event Schema / Structured Data: Google Rich Snippet Schema for Event 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 DaazSync – RSS News Aggregator 90+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 13 too high 18 Advanced Post Manager 4K+ · 3.5★ (11) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 FETCHUB – AI RSS Feed Aggregator & Translator 20+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Auto Robot – WP Autoblogging and RSS Feed News Aggregator 40+ · 1.8★ (10) wp.org #8 ↑1 12 too high 21 Nokko RSS Aggregator — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 Webyapp: RSS News Grid 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 23 TheReader.AI – Automated News Feeds, AI Content & SEO Booster — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 RSS Chimp – Add Featured Images to WP RSS Feeds (Mailchimp, Google News, Feedly) 400+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #20 4 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.