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← Rankings

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

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 “related”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

WPC Custom Related Products for WooCommerce shows at wp.org #13 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 1K+ 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.

Buried gem

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 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 Contextual Related Posts 50K+ · 4.8★ (201) wp.org #1 2 Inline Related Posts 100K+ · 4.3★ (77) wp.org #2 3 Related Posts Thumbnails 20K+ · 4.9★ (234) wp.org #3 4 Related Posts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (325) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Related Posts by Taxonomy 10K+ · 4.8★ (77) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Related Posts By PickPlugins 3K+ · 4.6★ (39) wp.org #6 7 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too low 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #11 ↑3 3 too low 9 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #19 ↓1 10 too low 10 Related Products – Create Upsells, Cross-sells, and Product Recommendations for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.6★ (82) wp.org #7 ↑2 3 too high 11 Manual Related Posts 1K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too high 12 Custom Related Posts 3K+ · 4.9★ (46) wp.org #8 ↓1 4 too high 13 NS Remove Related Products for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.6★ (64) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #22 ↓2 8 too low 15 UpsellWP – Upsell and Related Products Offers for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.9★ (149) wp.org #18 ↑1 3 too low 16 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 C Custom Related Products for WooCommerce 4K+ · 4.8★ (33) wp.org #23 ↓1 6 too low 18 Related Products Slider for WooCommerce – Boost Sales with Smart Product Recommendations 1K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #15 3 too high 19 Related Products Manager for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #20 ↑1 1 too low 20 Internal Linking of Related Contents 3K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #12 ↓1 8 too high 21 CP Related Posts 100+ · 3.4★ (10) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Advanced Related Posts 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 WPC Custom Related Products for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓1 10 too high 24 Smart Related Products – AI-Inspired Recommendations for WooCommerce 900+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 8 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.