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

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 “rdf”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 16 of the top 20. 4 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

Device Detector shows at wp.org #7 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 500+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 514 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (422) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 WebSub (FKA. PubSubHubbub) 100K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Disable Feeds WP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Comet Cache 20K+ · 4.4★ (108) wp.org #10 6 too low 5 WPMasterToolKit (WPMTK) – All in one plugin 5K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) wp.org #9 ↓1 3 too low 7 WPeMatico RSS Feed Fetcher 10K+ · 4.8★ (514) wp.org #24 17 too low 8 Simple Statistics for Feeds 800+ · 4.8★ (58) wp.org #23 15 too low 9 Disabler 900+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 WP Content Copy Protection 10K+ · 3.5★ (163) wp.org #20 10 too low 11 Nginx Helper 200K+ · 4.4★ (31) wp.org #22 11 too low 12 Disable RSS, RDF, and Atom Feeds 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 8 too high 13 SAR One Click Security 200+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 JSM Adobe XMP / IPTC for WordPress 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 9 too high 15 W wp-linked-data 10+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #18 3 too low 16 Category- and Tag-Feeds 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↑3 2 too high 17 ImageSnippets Gallery Block 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Tweakr – Advanced options toolkit 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Disable RSS Feeds – Lite & Clean 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 wp-sacloud-webaccel 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 5 too high 21 Zamok – Security and Site Tools 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 Cubecolour Caboodle — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 3 too high 23 Device Detector 500+ · 4.0★ (2) wp.org #7 16 too high 24 CapDataOpera — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 3 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.