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

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 “nosniff”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 18 of the top 20. 4 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

SolverGuard Spam Shield — Anti-Spam, Bot & Login Protection shows at wp.org #5 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 30+ 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

Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF places #1 on merit, 4.9★ from 1099 reviews, but shows at wp.org #8. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Converter for Media – Optimize images | Convert WebP & AVIF 500K+ · 4.9★ (1099) wp.org #8 ↓1 7 too low 2 Security Hardener 200+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 1K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #17 ↓2 14 too low 4 BaseCloud Security Manager 20+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Zen Site Security 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 WP Document Revisions 2K+ · 3.7★ (23) wp.org #16 ↓2 10 too low 7 Umay AI Markdown 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 One-V LLM Serve 20+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #20 ↓3 12 too low 9 LLMs.txt Curator 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #18 ↓2 9 too low 10 Vortix Web Security — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 CodePros SVG Secure Support — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too high 12 SolverGuard Spam Shield — Anti-Spam, Bot & Login Protection 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 7 too high 13 WCP Blockchain Authenticity Certificates — · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #24 ↓2 11 too low 14 FPX Security Guard — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too high 15 C Cisilino Site Defense Network — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too high 16 SeguridadEnMiPC Detector de Anuncios y Malware — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too high 17 Nubivio Security Headers, security.txt & NIS2 Compliance for Healthcare — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 5 too high 18 Accelvia – Content Protection — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 5 too high 19 Koloshare — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↓2 3 too low 20 Nivoli Edge — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 PB4Host Security — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 6 too high 22 SEO & AI Readiness Check 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 3 too high 23 WT Hardening 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24 AutoTweaks 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓2 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.