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← Rankings

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

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 “rankmath”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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 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

Convert Rank Math FAQ to Accordion shows at wp.org #8 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Link Whisper Free places #12 on merit, 4.2★ from 150 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 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #1 2 WP Activity Log 300K+ · 4.7★ (490) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #4 5 Product Feed PRO for WooCommerce by AdTribes – Product Feeds for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.7★ (1071) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #2 ↑1 4 too high 7 Presto Player 100K+ · 4.8★ (346) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too low 9 WP 404 Auto Redirect to Similar Post 30K+ · 4.9★ (113) wp.org #16 ↓1 7 too low 10 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 WPMR Google Feed Manager for WooCommerce – Sell on Google Merchant Center & Shopping 10K+ · 4.5★ (127) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (150) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 Instant Indexing for Google 200K+ · 3.6★ (36) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Dynamic Month & Year into Posts 8K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #14 15 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Live Composer – Free WordPress Website Builder 10K+ · 4.4★ (212) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 MightyShare – Auto-Generated Social Media Images 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑2 2 too high 18 Convert Rank Math FAQ to Accordion 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 10 too high 19 WP All Import – Import SEO Settings for Rank Math SEO 6K+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #10 ↓1 9 too high 20 Super Preloader for Cloudflare 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 1 too high 21 GoPublish: Publish from Google Docs to Any Site 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 22 RankBotAI – AI SEO Optimizer for RankMath & Yoast 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 IATO MCP 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 CodingBunny LLMs.txt Generator 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.