wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “section index”

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 “section index”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Section Collection – Add Ready-made Sections to Design Modern Websites shows at wp.org #2 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 19 places. Its 400+ 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

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #8 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 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 signals wp.org

Index WP MySQL For Speed 50K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #1 2

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #4 2 too low 3

Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too low 4

WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470) wp.org #10 6 too low 5

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #9 4 too low 6

Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker – WCAG, ADA, EAA and Section 508 compliance 10K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #6 ↓1 7

GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #7 8

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #18 ↓1 10 too low 9

Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #15 6 too low 10

Kadence Blocks — Page Builder Toolkit for Gutenberg Editor 600K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #12 ↑2 2 too low 11

BlockArt Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder Blocks ,WordPress Block Plugin, Sections & Template Library 10K+ · 4.9★ (16) thin reviews wp.org #8 3 too high 12

Popups for Divi 100K+ · 4.8★ (442) wp.org #21 9 too low 13

XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #16 ↑2 3 too low 14

Echo Knowledge Base – Documentation, FAQs, Chat & Smart Search 10K+ · 4.9★ (124) wp.org #22 ↓1 8 too low 15

Superb Addons: Blocks, Patterns, Pre-built Pages, Sliders, Popups, Free Forms, Animations & More 80K+ · 4.9★ (23) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓1 1 too high 16

Dynamic XML Sitemaps Generator for Google 20K+ · 4.7★ (47) wp.org #20 4 too low 17

Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (10) thin reviews wp.org #11 6 too high 18

Joli Table Of Contents – Table of Contents with Gutenberg Block & Shortcode 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #24 ↓1 6 too low 19

Fast Index for Google Indexing API 300+ · 3.3★ (3) thin reviewslow rating, top placement wp.org #3 16 too high 20

Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21

Section Collection – Add Ready-made Sections to Design Modern Websites 400+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #2 19 too high 22

Section Blocks – Landing Page Sections for the Block Editor 10+ · 5.0★ (4) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓1 9 too high 23

AlphaListing 600+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↓3 4 too high 24

Sticky Content – Make Any Section Sticky on Scroll 500+ · 3.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #17 ↑2 7 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.