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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “rotating ads”

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

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

Sell Ads – Sell your ad space. Without middleman. shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 10+ 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

Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner places #3 on merit, 4.7★ from 1667 reviews, but shows at wp.org #7. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Pixel Manager for WooCommerce – Conversion Tracking, Google Ads, GA4, TikTok, Dynamic Remarketing 40K+ · 4.9★ (399) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #7 ↑2 4 too low 4 AdPlugg WordPress Ad Plugin 400+ · 4.4★ (36) wp.org #5 ↑1 1 too low 5 Ad Commander – Ad Manager for Banners, AdSense, Ad Networks 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #3 ↑1 2 too high 6 Ads.txt File Manager By Magicbid 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 ↑1 2 too high 7 WP AdCenter – Ad Manager & Adsense Ads 900+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 Food Menu – Restaurant Menu & Online Ordering for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (24) wp.org #21 13 too low 9 Meks Easy Ads Widget 10K+ · 4.1★ (14) wp.org #11 ↑1 2 too low 10 No Cache AJAX Widgets 200+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 Meow Mailer – Free SMTP, Everything Included 900+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #24 13 too low 12 CM Ad Changer – A simple tool to control and optimize your site’s banners 100+ · 3.1★ (15) wp.org #9 ↑1 3 too high 13 Popup builder with Gamification, Multi-Step Popups, Page-Level Targeting, and WooCommerce Triggers 70K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #15 ↑2 2 too low 14 Post Grid, Slider & Carousel Ultimate – with Shortcode, Gutenberg Block & Elementor Widget 1K+ · 4.5★ (8) wp.org #18 ↑2 4 too low 15 Content Randomizer – Rotate Any Block 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↑1 2 too high 16 FrontBlocks Site Tools 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↑1 7 too low 17 CAPI Suite: Meta Pixel, Pinterest & TikTok for WooCommerce 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↑2 18 Ad Unblock 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #12 ↑1 6 too high 19 Sell Ads – Sell your ad space. Without middleman. 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↑1 9 too high 20 YooBar – Notification Bar & Announcement Bar 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 FeedAgentX – ChatGPT Ads Product Feed & Pixel for WooCommerce 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 PubExa – Ad Manager, Ad Inserter & Website Monetization 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↑3 2 too high 23 MaxBoxy: Make WordPress Floating Content, Popup, Alert Bar 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 Awesome FAQ – answer questions before customers ask 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.