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← Rankings

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

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 sidebar”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 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

Admin Columns places #6 on merit, 4.9★ from 1652 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #3 2 too low 2 Remove "Powered by WordPress" 20K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Advanced Sidebar Menu 10K+ · 4.5★ (37) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin 30K+ · 4.9★ (724) wp.org #5 ↑3 1 too low 5 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #10 ↑1 5 too low 6 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 Fullwidth Templates for Any Theme & Page Builder 20K+ · 4.7★ (42) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Genesis Simple Sidebars 10K+ · 4.4★ (27) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too high 9 Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too low 10 Comment Link Remove and Other Comment Tools 8K+ · 4.1★ (15) wp.org #4 6 too high 11 SimpLy Gallery 40K+ · 4.8★ (118) wp.org #17 6 too low 12 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #13 ↑2 1 too low 13 WP Super Cache 1M+ · 4.3★ (1346) wp.org #20 7 too low 14 Login Widget With Shortcode 5K+ · 3.8★ (29) wp.org #8 ↓1 6 too high 15 Options for Twenty Seventeen 8K+ · 4.8★ (57) wp.org #16 ↑1 1 too low 16 Options for Twenty Twenty-One 6K+ · 4.9★ (64) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Easy Social Like Box – Popup – Sidebar Widget 6K+ · 4.4★ (18) wp.org #9 8 too high 18 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 All-in-One Sticky Anything – Click to Call, Fixed Widget, Sticky Header, Menu & Sidebar 1K+ · 4.9★ (15) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 White Label – WordPress Custom Admin, Custom Login Page, and Custom Dashboard 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #22 1 too low 22 CartSuite – Cart All In One For WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.5★ (51) wp.org #24 ↓1 2 too low 23 Easy Search Replace – Find & Replace Text/HTML/URLs, Remove Footer Credit 700+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓2 2 too high 24 Remove layout destroying HTML-Tags 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↓1 13 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.