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

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 “pocket”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 of the top 20. 5 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

Pz-LinkCard shows at wp.org #6 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 20K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme places #10 on merit, 4.5★ from 391 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Social Media Share Buttons & Social Sharing Icons 100K+ · 4.8★ (5333) wp.org #5 4 too low 2 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #4 ↑2 2 too low 3 Shariff Wrapper 30K+ · 4.9★ (101) wp.org #3 4 Social Sharing Block 7K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Smartsupp – live chat, AI shopping assistant and chatbots 20K+ · 4.7★ (131) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages 70K+ · 4.4★ (1319) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 WP Pocket URLs 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #1 6 too high 8 Element Pack Addons for Elementor – MCP & AI-Ready Elementor Widgets, Elementor Templates, Elementor Addons 100K+ · 4.7★ (284) wp.org #16 ↑3 8 too low 9 Social Share Buttons 1K+ · 4.8★ (28) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #19 ↑2 9 too low 11 Nobs • Share Buttons 3K+ · 4.7★ (93) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 Sliding Cart for WooCommerce by FunnelKit – Skip Cart & Reach WooCommerce Checkout Faster 30K+ · 5.0★ (111) wp.org #11 1 too high 13 Social Login, Social Sharing by miniOrange 10K+ · 4.6★ (356) wp.org #13 14 OAuth Single Sign On – SSO (OAuth Client) 6K+ · 4.9★ (327) wp.org #22 ↓2 8 too low 15 Pz-LinkCard 20K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #6 ↓2 9 too high 16 Revolut Gateway for WooCommerce 7K+ · 3.2★ (45) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 Social Rocket – Social Sharing Plugin 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 GR Widget – Google Reviews Widget 900+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 Socicon 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑1 4 too high 20 ShareMe Social Share Plugin Blog & WooCommerce Products 30+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 1 too low 21 Candy Social Widget 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 ↓1 3 too high 22 ECard – Digital Visiting Card 300+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑1 5 too high 23 All Social Share – Sticky & Floating Share Buttons for WordPress 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #20 ↑2 3 too high 24 Social Linkz – Lightweight and fast social media sharing plugin 90+ · 3.5★ (2) wp.org #23 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.