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

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 “perplexity”, we agree with wp.org 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

AI Provider for Perplexity shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 40+ 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

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #1 2 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1268) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Social Media Feather 10K+ · 4.6★ (506) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too low 4 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #10 ↑9 6 too low 5 Simple Share Buttons Adder 40K+ · 4.3★ (627) wp.org #9 4 too low 6 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #11 ↓3 5 too low 7 RankReady – AI SEO, Schema, llms.txt, AEO and GEO for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 500+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #3 ↑1 5 too high 9 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #4 ↓1 5 too high 10 Share Buttons & AI-powered Summaries 1K+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 GetGenie – AI SEO Assistant & Content Writer with Keyword Research, AEO & GEO 70K+ · 4.8★ (119) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too low 12 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #23 11 too low 13 SEO WRITING – AI Writer for SEO & AI Search 20K+ · 4.9★ (120) wp.org #18 5 too low 14 BEW – Elementor Addons, Templates & AI Builder 20K+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #21 ↓1 7 too low 15 AI Bud – AI Content Generator, AI Chatbot, ChatGPT, Gemini, GPT-4o 2K+ · 4.5★ (23) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too low 16 ShareThis Share Buttons 10K+ · 3.5★ (26) wp.org #14 ↑1 2 too high 17 OGEEAT 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #15 ↓5 2 too high 18 Block AI Crawlers 2K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too high 19 Cowboy MCP – Free MCP Server with Undo for Claude & ChatGPT 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #16 3 too high 20 LovedByAI – GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) & AI SEO Plugin: AEO, llms.txt 1K+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #20 21 AI Provider for Perplexity 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 ↑3 13 too high 22 AI Content Signals 800+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 Grandranker 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too high 24 Rankal LLMs.txt – Get Cited by ChatGPT, Claude & Perplexity 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓1 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.