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

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 effects”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

SmartParallax – Parallax Scroll Effects & Scroll Animations shows at wp.org #13 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 100+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Unlimited Elements for Elementor places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 525 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Sticky Header Effects for Elementor 300K+ · 4.5★ (69) wp.org #1 2 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 WPFront Scroll Top 200K+ · 4.9★ (142) wp.org #3 4 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #5 6 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too high 8 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #11 ↓2 3 too low 9 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 MouseWheel Smooth Scroll 90K+ · 4.5★ (44) wp.org #7 ↓1 3 too high 11 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #21 ↑3 9 too low 13 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #20 ↓3 7 too low 14 Blocks Animation: CSS Animations for Gutenberg Blocks 90K+ · 4.8★ (73) wp.org #17 ↓2 3 too low 15 Advanced WordPress Backgrounds 30K+ · 4.8★ (44) wp.org #16 ↑3 1 too low 16 jQuery Smooth Scroll 10K+ · 4.5★ (47) wp.org #15 ↓2 1 too high 17 S Surbma | Smooth Scroll 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #12 ↓2 5 too high 18 Hash Link Scroll Offset 1K+ · 5.0★ (14) wp.org #18 ↓2 19 Confetti – Celebration Effects for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (49) wp.org #22 ↓2 3 too low 20 Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #23 ↓2 3 too low 21 Parallax Section Block – Add Parallax Scrolling Effects to Sections 3K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 SmartParallax – Parallax Scroll Effects & Scroll Animations 100+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #13 ↓1 9 too high 23 Animatikon – Scroll Animations & Motion Effects 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 ↓1 4 too high 24 Arts Horizontal Scroll for Elementor 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.