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← Rankings

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

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 “recrawl”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 3 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 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

Coywolf SEO shows at wp.org #18 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its — installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Read More Without Refresh 20K+ · 4.2★ (55) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 LLMagnet – AI Visibility & AI SEO for Claude, ChatGPT & More 600+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Simple SEO Noindex Toggle 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Static Porter 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Rapid URL Indexer for WP – Index Websites in Google 700+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 AddSearch 100+ · 3.7★ (3) wp.org #6 7 Stedica SEO 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 8 llemmy – AI Visibility, GEO & AI Traffic Analytics — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 RelaunchRadar — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #9 10 Ubersuggest SEO Tools 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓1 13 too low 11 Ghost Update — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 Instinctor – Bookings, Store, Live Chat and SEO 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Spokora SEO Toolkit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 2 too high 14 Biel.ai Search – Instant AI Site Search That Answers From Your Website — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Pigeon SEO — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 ↓3 1 too high 16 Inqyra — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 1 too high 17 FLEX SMM & SEO — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 DadsFam SEO 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑1 1 too high 19 RankVN SEO — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓2 20 Flexa SEO – AEO | AI SEO & Answer Engine Optimization — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 21 Orbitstem SEO — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 22 Digispot AI – AI SEO Tools, Audit & MCP AI Agent — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Coywolf SEO — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓3 5 too high 24 Content Performance Analyzer – GA4 & Search Console Content Audit — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.