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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “scroll back to top”

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 “scroll back to top”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

Scroll To Top shows at wp.org #10 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 333 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Smooth Back To Top Button 40K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 To Top 60K+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #3 4 Back To The Top Button 4K+ · 5.0★ (28) wp.org #5 ↓1 1 too low 5 Page scroll to id 100K+ · 4.9★ (225) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #17 11 too low 7 jQuery Smooth Scroll 10K+ · 4.5★ (47) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #19 11 too low 9 Simple Scroll To Top WP 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too high 10 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #24 14 too low 11 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #21 10 too low 12 Smooth Page Scroll Up/Down Buttons 2K+ · 5.0★ (21) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 MakeITeasy Back To Top 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 ↑1 9 too high 14 X-Scroll To Top – Responsive 200+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Beam me up Scotty – Back to Top Button 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #9 ↑1 6 too high 16 NS Smooth Scroll Back to Top 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #7 ↑1 9 too high 17 MM Back To Top — Scroll Up Button 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 ↑1 6 too high 18 Scroll Back To Top Button 3K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 Simple Back To Top 3K+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #23 ↑1 4 too low 20 Scroll To Top 300+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #10 ↑1 10 too high 21 Scroll to Top – Smooth Scroll Up, Back to Top & Reading Progress Bar 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑1 6 too high 22 Top-Down Scroll – Customizable Scroll to Top Button 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too high 23 Sticky Elementor – Sticky Header, Menu Color After Sticky, Logo Swap & Back to Top Button 600+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Click to top 2K+ · 2.0★ (2) wp.org #14 10 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.