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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “rich text format”

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 “rich text format”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 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

Rich Text Formats shows at wp.org #2 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 16 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Admin Columns places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 1652 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Schema – All In One Schema Rich Snippets 30K+ · 4.0★ (162) wp.org #3 4 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #9 ↑1 4 too low 6 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #14 ↑1 7 too low 8 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #10 ↓2 2 too low 9 Admin Columns 100K+ · 4.9★ (1652) wp.org #18 ↓1 9 too low 10 Advanced Ads – Ad Manager & AdSense 90K+ · 4.9★ (1463) wp.org #15 5 too low 11 Alt Text AI – Automatically generate image alt text for SEO and accessibility 20K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12 LiveChat – Live Chat Plugin for WP Websites 10K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #12 13 Fluent Forms – Customizable Contact Forms, Survey, Quiz, & Conversational Form Builder 800K+ · 4.8★ (807) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too low 14 AI Engine – MCP Server & AI Chatbot for WordPress, with Claude, ChatGPT & Gemini 90K+ · 4.9★ (874) wp.org #22 8 too low 15 Ninja Forms – Contact Form Builder with Calculators, Quizzes, Signatures & AI Form Builder 500K+ · 4.4★ (1397) wp.org #20 ↓1 5 too low 16 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1915) wp.org #23 ↓1 7 too low 17 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #6 11 too high 18 Rich Text Formats 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #2 16 too high 19 Widget Content Blocks 10K+ · 4.8★ (60) wp.org #19 ↓1 20 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Schema & Structured Data for WP & AMP 100K+ · 4.5★ (252) wp.org #21 22 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too high 23 Rich Text Formats Block 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #7 16 too high 24 Term Description: Rich Text Editor (Powered by TinyMCE) for WooCommerce 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 11 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.