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← Rankings

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

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 “reviews”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 2 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

Embedder for Google Reviews shows at wp.org #11 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yotpo Product Reviews places #12 on merit, 4.5★ from 192 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #1 2 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Rich Showcase for Google Reviews 100K+ · 4.9★ (1623) wp.org #3 ↑2 4 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #4 ↓2 5 W WP Customer Reviews 20K+ · 4.3★ (528) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too low 6 Reviews and Rating – Google Reviews 20K+ · 4.9★ (184) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too high 7 WP Social Ninja – Embed Social Feeds, User Reviews & Chat Widgets 30K+ · 4.8★ (71) wp.org #7 8 Reviews Feed – Add Testimonials and Customer Reviews From Google Reviews, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and More 100K+ · 4.3★ (36) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Reviews Widgets for Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp & Recommendations 10K+ · 4.9★ (326) wp.org #9 ↑1 10 Revopic – Photo Reviews for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (77) wp.org #10 ↓2 11 WP Review Slider 6K+ · 4.8★ (181) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Yotpo Product Reviews 2K+ · 4.5★ (192) wp.org #20 8 too low 13 Widgets for Reviews & Recommendations 8K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Faview – Virtual Reviews for WooCommerce 6K+ · 4.6★ (54) wp.org #13 1 too high 15 Customer Reviews Collector for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.7★ (24) wp.org #15 ↑1 16 Widgets for Airbnb Reviews 6K+ · 4.6★ (60) wp.org #21 5 too low 17 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Embedder for Google Reviews 6K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Absolute Reviews 6K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #12 7 too high 20 Widgets for Google Reviews and Ratings 3K+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 Reviews Plus 1K+ · 4.4★ (15) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too low 22 Disable WooCommerce Reviews 2K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #19 ↑3 3 too high 23 Widgets for Yelp Reviews 3K+ · 3.8★ (10) wp.org #23 24 HivePress Reviews 7K+ · 3.0★ (4) wp.org #18 6 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.