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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “scroll color”

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 color”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 3 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

Horizontal Slider with Scroll shows at wp.org #10 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 300+ 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

WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 153 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 WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #1 2 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #5 3 too low 3 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #3 4 Catch Infinite Scroll 10K+ · 4.3★ (21) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #8 ↑3 3 too low 6 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #9 ↓2 3 too low 7 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #12 ↑5 4 too low 9 WP Sticky Sidebar – Floating Sidebar On Scroll for Any Theme 10K+ · 4.9★ (153) wp.org #20 ↓1 11 too low 10 Click to Chat – HoliThemes 600K+ · 4.8★ (131) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too low 11 Simple Scroll To Top WP 1K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #7 ↑1 4 too high 12 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #17 ↓1 5 too low 13 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #23 ↓1 10 too low 14 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #19 ↑4 5 too low 15 Scroll Down Arrow 900+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 11 too high 16 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #24 8 too low 17 Scrollsequence – Cinematic Scroll Image Animation Plugin 3K+ · 4.6★ (19) wp.org #15 ↓1 2 too high 18 Catch Scroll Progress Bar 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #6 12 too high 19 X-Scroll To Top – Responsive 200+ · 4.1★ (8) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 Scroll Top | HR Scroll Top 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too high 21 WP Masonry & Infinite Scroll 200+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #21 ↓3 22 Slider Text Scroll 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #11 ↓2 11 too high 23 Horizontal Slider with Scroll 300+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 13 too high 24 Top-Down Scroll – Customizable Scroll to Top Button 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↓2 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.