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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “remove generated”

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 “remove generated”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags shows at wp.org #4 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 18 places. Its 100+ 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

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 27820 reviews, but shows at wp.org #13. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Smart Archive Page Remove 6K+ · 4.9★ (59) wp.org #1 2 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Smart Attachment Page Remove 900+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #2 3 too high 6 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #13 7 too low 7 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #8 1 too high 10 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Enable Media Replace 600K+ · 4.4★ (302) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #15 ↑1 3 too low 13 CookieYes – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (Easy to setup GDPR/CCPA Compliant Cookie Notice) 1M+ · 4.8★ (3236) wp.org #21 ↑1 8 too low 14 Stop User Enumeration 60K+ · 4.9★ (132) wp.org #17 ↑1 3 too low 15 Flexible Checkout Fields for WooCommerce – WooCommerce Checkout Manager 80K+ · 4.7★ (296) wp.org #22 ↓7 7 too low 16 Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too low 17 CompressX — AVIF & WebP Converter, Media Replacement 40K+ · 5.0★ (197) wp.org #24 ↓1 7 too low 18 Type Attribute Warnings Removal 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #7 11 too high 19 Premmerce Permalink Manager for WooCommerce 40K+ · 3.9★ (53) wp.org #19 20 Disable Media Sizes 10K+ · 5.0★ (23) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 Hostinger Reach – AI-Powered Email Marketing for WordPress 1M+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 18 too high 23 Remove Empty Shortcodes 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 ↑1 7 too high 24 DevDome Media Cleaner: Remove Unused Images & Media Library Cleanup 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↑4 4 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.