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

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 “noindex”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20.

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

noindex Past Events for The Events Calendar shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 50+ 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

Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress places #9 on merit, 3.9★ from 72 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 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #4 ↑4 2 too low 3 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #9 ↓1 6 too low 4 noindex SEO 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 3 too high 5 Bulk NoIndex & NoFollow Toolkit 2K+ · 4.3★ (9) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #14 ↑1 8 too low 7 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #8 ↓4 1 too low 8 SEO SIMPLE PACK 100K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #12 ↓2 4 too low 9 Simple Sitemap – Responsive HTML Sitemap for WordPress 60K+ · 3.9★ (72) wp.org #18 9 too low 10 WP Search with Algolia 7K+ · 4.5★ (24) wp.org #15 ↑4 5 too low 11 Dynamic XML Sitemaps Generator for Google 20K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #23 ↓1 12 too low 12 IndexNow Plugin 100K+ · 3.2★ (47) wp.org #13 ↓1 1 too low 13 Visibility – Lightweight SEO, AEO and GEO for Search and AI 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #10 ↑4 3 too high 14 ActivityPub 6K+ · 4.9★ (40) wp.org #20 ↓3 6 too low 15 Simple SEO Noindex Toggle 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 10 too high 16 FV Simpler SEO 2K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #19 ↑2 3 too low 17 LLMs.txt and LLMs-Full.txt Generator 4K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #21 ↓1 4 too low 18 LLM Markdown – Markdown Endpoints for AI Agents 700+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 WPGraphQL Yoast SEO Addon 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 noindex Past Events for The Events Calendar 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 Noindex Parameters 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 14 too high 22 PRyC WP: Add noindex tag 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 11 too high 23 Simple SEO 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #24 1 too low 24 Noindex Links 80+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓2 8 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.