wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “seo friendly”
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 friendly”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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 #24 on merit, a gap of 13 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
WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups places #11 on merit, 4.8★ from 2470 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.
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519)
wp.org #1 2 
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821)
wp.org #2 3 
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 #3 4 
TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625)
wp.org #6 ↑3 2 too low 5 
LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778)
wp.org #5 ↓1 6 
Slim SEO – AI SEO Plugin, Lightweight, Fast & Automated 70K+ · 4.7★ (136)
wp.org #4 ↑2 2 too high 7 
WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387)
wp.org #7 ↓2 8 
SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267)
wp.org #8 9 
GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683)
wp.org #9 ↓2 10 
Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962)
wp.org #15 5 too low 11 WP STAGING – Backups & Restore, Migration & Clone Plugin – Cloud Backups, Scheduled Backups 100K+ · 4.8★ (2470)
wp.org #21 ↓1 10 too low 12 
SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171)
wp.org #14 ↓1 2 too low 13 
Media File Renamer: Rename Images & Files for SEO (AI-Powered) 40K+ · 4.6★ (447)
wp.org #17 4 too low 14 
ShortPixel Image Optimizer – Optimize Images, Convert WebP & AVIF 300K+ · 4.5★ (830)
wp.org #18 4 too low 15 
SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48)
wp.org #12 ↑5 3 too high 16 
TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667)
wp.org #24 ↓8 8 too low 17 
Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #10 7 too high 18 
Photo Gallery by 10Web – Mobile-Friendly Image Gallery 100K+ · 4.5★ (1581) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #19 ↑4 1 too low 19 
Spotlight Social Photo Feed 60K+ · 4.7★ (171)
wp.org #23 ↓5 4 too low 20 
Make Column Clickable for Elementor 100K+ · 4.9★ (53)
wp.org #22 2 too low 21 
SEO Optimized Images 10K+ · 4.0★ (27)
wp.org #13 ↓2 8 too high 22 
ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) throws errorsnot PHP-current
wp.org #20 2 too high 23 
Image Optimization For SEO 3K+ · 3.7★ (12) thin reviews
wp.org #16 ↓2 7 too high 24 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) host-installed base thin reviews
wp.org #11 ↑1 13 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.