wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “post suggestions”

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 “post suggestions”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

Exclude Attachment Link Suggestions shows at wp.org #7 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 80+ 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

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 1268 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Yoast Duplicate Post 3M+ · 4.7★ (538) wp.org #1 2

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #2 3

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #3 4

Better Find and Replace – AI-Powered Suggestions 40K+ · 4.6★ (171) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5

Post Slider and Post Carousel with Post Vertical Scrolling Widget – A Responsive Post Slider 10K+ · 4.7★ (31) wp.org #4 2 too high 7

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #10 3 too low 8

Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #13 ↑5 5 too low 9

W4 Post List 3K+ · 4.7★ (94) wp.org #9 ↓2 1 too high 11

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1268) wp.org #18 7 too low 12

Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #15 ↓1 3 too low 13

List category posts 70K+ · 4.7★ (254) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too low 14

WPVibe – MCP Server for WordPress, works with Claude, ChatGPT & other AI MCP agents 100K+ · 5.0★ (199) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #22 7 too low 16

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #21 5 too low 17

Blog Designer Pack – Blog, Post Grid, Post Slider, Post Carousel, Category Post, News 30K+ · 4.7★ (79) wp.org #17 ↓1 18

RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #24 6 too low 19

Simple CAPTCHA with Cloudflare Turnstile 200K+ · 4.7★ (262) wp.org #23 ↓2 4 too low 20

Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21

Menu In Post 2K+ · 5.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #11 10 too high 22

Exclude Attachment Link Suggestions 80+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #7 ↑1 15 too high 23

Duplicate Page or Post 9K+ · 4.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too high 24

Post Layouts 900+ · 4.5★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #12 12 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.