wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “page link”
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 “page link”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 5 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.
Ranked above its merit
Page Visits Counter – Lite shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322)
wp.org #1 ↑2 2 
PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322)
wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 
Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605)
wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too high 4 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (518)
wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 P Page Links To 100K+ · 4.9★ (157)
wp.org #4 1 too high 6 
Duplicate Page 3M+ · 4.8★ (467)
wp.org #6 ↓1 7 
Under Construction 600K+ · 4.8★ (1285)
wp.org #9 ↓3 2 too low 8 
Link Library 10K+ · 4.7★ (97)
wp.org #7 1 too high 9 
Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333)
wp.org #8 ↑9 1 too high 10 
Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225)
wp.org #11 1 too low 11 P Page-list 30K+ · 4.7★ (89)
wp.org #10 1 too high 12 
WP Sitemap Page 200K+ · 4.8★ (205)
wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 
Page Builder by SiteOrigin 400K+ · 4.8★ (1005)
wp.org #23 ↑1 10 too low 14 
PPWP – Password Protect Pages 30K+ · 4.7★ (271)
wp.org #19 ↑2 5 too low 15 
Simple Page Ordering 100K+ · 4.7★ (131)
wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too low 16 
Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87)
wp.org #12 ↓1 4 too high 17 
Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (151)
wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 
Greenshift – animation and page builder blocks 70K+ · 4.8★ (107)
wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 
Visual Link Preview 10K+ · 4.5★ (36)
wp.org #16 3 too high 20 
Internal Links Manager 10K+ · 4.8★ (33)
wp.org #20 21 
Link Juice Keeper 10K+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews
wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Page Visits Counter – Lite 5K+ · 4.0★ (7) thin reviews
wp.org #13 ↓1 9 too high 23 
WP Post Page Clone 70K+ · 4.5★ (8) thin reviews
wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 
VK Link Target Controller 30K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews
wp.org #15 9 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.