wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “seo boost”
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 boost”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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 #12 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 400K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.
Buried gem
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 1539 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) not PHP-currentheavy footprint
wp.org #1 2 
Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612)
wp.org #2 3 
WP-Optimize – Cache, Compress images, Minify & Clean database to boost page speed & performance 1M+ · 4.8★ (2617)
wp.org #3 ↑1 4 
SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267)
wp.org #4 ↑1 5 
Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667)
wp.org #6 ↓3 1 too low 6 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 
Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408)
wp.org #5 ↑2 2 too high 8 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625)
wp.org #10 2 too low 9 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #13 4 too low 10 
SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171)
wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539)
wp.org #17 6 too low 12 
Super Page Cache – Cloudflare Cache, Page Speed & Core Web Vitals 70K+ · 4.8★ (517)
wp.org #16 ↑3 4 too low 13 
Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537)
wp.org #18 5 too low 14 
Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #7 ↓1 7 too high 15 
SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48)
wp.org #11 ↑1 4 too high 16 
Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528)
wp.org #22 6 too low 17 
Translate and boost SEO – Automatic AI translation – wpLingua 2K+ · 4.9★ (33)
wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too high 18 
Speed Optimizer – The All-In-One Performance-Boosting Plugin 1M+ · 4.2★ (641)
wp.org #23 5 too low 19 
SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51)
wp.org #21 2 too low 20 
Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) not PHP-current
wp.org #19 ↓3 1 too high 21 
Social Boost: Giveaways, Instant win and Contests. Grow followers, shares, subscribers, traffic, referrals, sales and more 100+ · 5.0★ (25)
wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 
Image Optimization For SEO 3K+ · 3.7★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #15 ↓1 7 too high 23 
DiveWP – Boost Site Performance with Clear, Actionable Steps 200+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews
wp.org #20 3 too high 24 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) host-installed base thin reviews
wp.org #12 ↓1 12 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.