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← Rankings

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

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 “pagerank”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Filtrex — SEO Product Filters for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #8 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its — 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

Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons places #5 on merit, 4.8★ from 5333 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #1 2 Datafeedr WooCommerce Importer 4K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Anti-Spam, Spam FireWall by CleanTalk 200K+ · 4.8★ (3221) wp.org #14 11 too low 4 Social Share Icons & Social Share Buttons 10K+ · 4.9★ (1911) wp.org #18 ↑1 14 too low 5 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #20 ↓2 15 too low 6 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #17 11 too low 7 LinkMesh: Semantic AI Internal Links for SEO 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 B bodi0`s Bots visits counter 90+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #10 ↓1 2 too low 9 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #24 15 too low 10 BKoding – Orphan Page Finder 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 JS Links – SEO Link Obfuscation 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 ↓1 5 too high 12 Linkbraid – Internal Linking, Link Map & Broken Link Checker — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 ↑1 7 too high 13 Mevabi – Related Posts Inline 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Leaving Notice Popup For External Links – nofollow, noopener & New Tab 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 7 too low 15 SEOMedic — SEO Booster & Link Auditor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 ↑1 6 too high 16 Filtrex — SEO Product Filters for WooCommerce — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 8 too high 17 WDS MCP Content Manager 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 ↑2 6 too high 18 Crea3 Internal Linking Pro — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↓1 6 too high 19 O ODC Internal Link Integrity Scanner — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 ↓1 6 too high 20 Ariham SEOAgent — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 IntelliLink Craft – Smart Internal Linking & Auto-Linker — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 Pointwise Summary – AI-Powered TLDR, AI Summarize & Social Sharing — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↑1 3 too high 23 Page Rank Stats for Alexa Google 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #23 24 Redirect 404 Error Page to Homepage 6K+ · 2.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.