Plugin Pulse
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “seo”

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 “seo”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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

SiteSEO – SEO Simplified shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 500K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 9 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Widgets for Google Reviews places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 2627 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 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7495) wp.org #1 2 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27818) wp.org #2 3 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1246) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5200) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (679) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Slim SEO – AI SEO Plugin, Lightweight, Fast & Automated 70K+ · 4.7★ (136) wp.org #5 1 too high 7 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2764) wp.org #7 ↓1 8 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4949) wp.org #9 ↑5 1 too low 9 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 20K+ · 4.8★ (170) wp.org #12 ↓4 3 too low 10 Widgets for Google Reviews 900K+ · 4.9★ (2627) wp.org #21 ↓6 11 too low 11 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #8 ↑1 3 too high 12 GetGenie – AI SEO Assistant & Content Writer with Keyword Research, AEO & GEO 80K+ · 4.8★ (118) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (45) wp.org #13 ↓2 14 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 400K+ · 4.8★ (41) wp.org #15 ↓3 1 too low 15 SEO SIMPLE PACK 100K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #10 5 too high 16 Simple SEO 10K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too low 17 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4819) wp.org #20 ↑1 3 too low 18 ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO 100K+ · 4.1★ (35) wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too low 19 Easy MCP AI – Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & SEO Data 8K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 ThinkRank AI SEO – AI SEO Plugin for WordPress: Schema, XML Sitemaps, Meta Tags, Search Console & Local SEO 8K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 500K+ · 4.0★ (9) wp.org #11 ↑5 10 too high 22 WPGraphQL Yoast SEO Addon 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 1 too low 23 noindex SEO 3K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 BoldGrid Easy SEO – Simple and Effective SEO 40K+ · 3.0★ (3) wp.org #22 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.