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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “replace 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 “replace sidebar”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Easy Search Replace – Find & Replace Text/HTML/URLs, Remove Footer Credit shows at wp.org #5 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 15 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.5★ average from 4 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 1463 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Better Search Replace 1M+ · 4.3★ (546) wp.org #1 2 Custom Sidebars – Dynamic Sidebar Classic Widget Area Manager 100K+ · 4.7★ (1028) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Real-Time Find and Replace 70K+ · 4.5★ (82) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #7 ↑2 3 too low 5 Content Aware Sidebars – Fastest Widget Area Plugin 30K+ · 4.9★ (724) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Disable Gutenberg 500K+ · 5.0★ (735) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Relevanssi – A Better Search 100K+ · 4.8★ (406) wp.org #11 ↓3 4 too low 8 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 Infinity23 (Formerly Tag Manager) – One Plugin That Replaces All The Rest 20K+ · 4.7★ (53) wp.org #8 ↓2 1 too high 10 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too low 11 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #16 ↑3 5 too low 12 BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard & Analytics, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Order Export, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (55) wp.org #9 ↑2 3 too high 13 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too low 14 Simple Shopping Cart 10K+ · 4.6★ (215) wp.org #24 ↓3 10 too low 15 Simple Page Sidebars 20K+ · 4.9★ (54) wp.org #18 ↓2 3 too low 16 SMK Sidebar Generator 10K+ · 4.4★ (5) wp.org #4 12 too high 17 Simple Membership 40K+ · 4.6★ (475) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 White Label – WordPress Custom Admin, Custom Login Page, and Custom Dashboard 10K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 Remove "Powered by WordPress" 20K+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #17 ↓2 2 too high 20 Easy Search Replace – Find & Replace Text/HTML/URLs, Remove Footer Credit 600+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #5 15 too high 21 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #23 ↓6 2 too low 22 Custom Sidebars by ProteusThemes 1K+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Replace External Images 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 3 too high 24 Consortia Quick Find & Replace 10+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.