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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “select text”

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 “select text”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 4 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

Text Replace – Find and Replace WordPress Strings shows at wp.org #11 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 7 places. Its 300+ 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

Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder places #6 on merit, 4.5★ from 7323 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #1 2 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 RY City Select for WooCommerce 2K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Auto Alt Text 4K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #15 9 too low 7 Alt Text AI – Automatically generate image alt text for SEO and accessibility 20K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater (Add Alt Text, Image Title For Image SEO) 100K+ · 4.8★ (93) wp.org #17 9 too low 9 Alt Text Tools 800+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #19 9 too low 11 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #6 5 too high 12 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #8 4 too high 13 Bulk Auto Image Alt Text (Alt tag, Alt attribute) optimizer (image SEO) 10K+ · 4.2★ (111) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 Text to Speech – TTSWP 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #9 5 too high 15 Quran multilanguage Text & Audio 400+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 ELEX WooCommerce Product Price Custom Text (Before & After Text) and Discount 2K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 W WC City Select 2K+ · 4.9★ (14) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 Text Replace – Find and Replace WordPress Strings 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Add to Cart Button Custom Text 9K+ · 4.6★ (12) wp.org #20 1 too low 20 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 AI Image Alt Text Generator – Imagerr AI 100+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #21 22 Text Case Converter 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #16 6 too high 23 Awesome Guten Text – 8 Powerful Blocks for Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 ElemCopy – Text Copy Button for Elementor 400+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #18 6 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.