wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “open graph protocol”

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 “open graph protocol”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 of the top 20. 2 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

YAHMAN Add-ons shows at wp.org #6 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1387 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Open Graph Protocol Framework 3K+ · 4.3★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #1 2

The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) not PHP-current wp.org #3 ↑5 1 too low 3

WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #5 ↓2 2 too low 4

WPO365 | MICROSOFT 365 GRAPH MAILER 10K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #4 5

Open Graph 10K+ · 4.3★ (13) thin reviews wp.org #2 3 too high 6

OG — Better Share on Social Media 20K+ · 4.8★ (216) wp.org #10 ↑1 4 too low 7

BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) not PHP-current wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8

Formidable Forms – Contact Form, Survey, Quiz, Payment, Calculator Form & Custom Form Builder 300K+ · 4.8★ (1387) wp.org #16 8 too low 9

WPO365 | SEAMLESS WORDPRESS + MICROSOFT INTEGRATION (WPO365 | LOGIN) 10K+ · 4.9★ (154) wp.org #13 4 too low 10

Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11

CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) not PHP-current wp.org #11 ↑3 12

Enable Abilities for MCP 5K+ · 5.0★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #9 3 too high 13

Element Pack Addons for Elementor – MCP & AI-Ready Elementor Widgets, Elementor Templates, Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.7★ (284) wp.org #24 11 too low 14

Image SEO – AI-Driven Image SEO Optimizer 900+ · 3.4★ (57) wp.org #12 2 too high 15

miniOrange Embed Files for SharePoint/OneDrive 700+ · 5.0★ (41) wp.org #22 ↑1 7 too low 16

Connect Matomo – Analytics Dashboard for WordPress 60K+ · 4.5★ (95) throws errorsnot PHP-current wp.org #19 3 too low 17

Secure MCP Server for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other AI Agents 8K+ · 5.0★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↑10 3 too high 18

Documentation – Build a Knowledge Base, Help Center or Wiki 100+ · 4.7★ (12) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19

YAHMAN Add-ons 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #6 ↓1 13 too high 20

Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) thin reviews wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too low 21

Catch Web Tools 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #15 6 too high 22

Search Atlas SEO – OTTO AI SEO Automation for WordPress 7K+ · 3.3★ (24) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #23 ↓3 1 too low 23

Open Graph Protocol Tools 60+ · 5.0★ (1) closure risk thin reviews wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too high 24

SMTP for Contact Form 7 1K+ · 4.0★ (2) throws errorsnot PHP-current thin reviews wp.org #18 6 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.