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

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 analyzer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot shows at wp.org #4 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 2K+ 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

External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window places #12 on merit, 4.3★ from 247 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. 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★ (7519) 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 #2 3 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #3 4 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #5 6 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #8 2 too low 7 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 Headline Analyzer 900+ · 4.3★ (14) wp.org #7 1 too high 9 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #13 4 too low 10 DietPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #22 ↓3 12 too low 11 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too low 12 External Links – nofollow, noopener & new window 90K+ · 4.3★ (247) wp.org #23 ↓1 11 too low 13 DiagnoSEO – Fast and Automated On-page SEO 100+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too low 14 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #19 ↑1 5 too low 15 SEO Pyramid 40+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 6 too high 16 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 12 too high 17 Rank Bix SEO – Lightweight SEO Toolkit with Multi-AI 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 2 too high 18 OrphanPages – Internal Link Audit, Orphaned Pages, Broken Links & SEO Content Structure Analyzer 70+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 ↓2 2 too low 19 OmniGEO Ai SEO 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Sky SEO – SEO Bulk Editor & Automation, GEO, AI internal Linking, LLM.txt, Schema & More 40+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 SEO Information Viewer & Analyzer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 11 too high 22 Neurax Site Health Analyzer 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 4 too high 23 SEO Audit & Analyzer — · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 CitedSEO 10+ · 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.