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

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 hide”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

BoldGrid Easy SEO – Simple and Effective SEO shows at wp.org #13 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 40K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 14387 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 signals wp.org

All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #1 2

WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2111) wp.org #2 3

Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall 100K+ · 4.5★ (373) wp.org #3 ↑2 4

WP Hide & Security Enhancer 50K+ · 4.3★ (275) wp.org #4 ↓1 5

The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #6 ↑10 1 too low 6

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1268) wp.org #7 1 too low 7

Slim SEO – AI SEO Plugin, Lightweight, Fast & Automated 70K+ · 4.7★ (136) wp.org #5 ↑1 2 too high 8

GEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO 30K+ · 4.6★ (683) wp.org #8 ↓4 9

SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #11 ↓2 2 too low 10

WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14387) wp.org #23 ↓3 13 too low 11

Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #21 ↓8 10 too low 12

SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #12 13

Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #22 ↑2 9 too low 14

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #15 1 too low 15

Hide Posts 20K+ · 4.7★ (22) thin reviews wp.org #9 ↓2 6 too high 16

Hide Page And Post Title 40K+ · 3.6★ (54) wp.org #10 ↓2 6 too high 17

SEO Booster 800+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18

Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #17 ↓2 1 too high 19

SOOZ – AI for SEO – Bulk Generate Focus Keyphrases, Metadata, Alt Text (SEO Autopilot) 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #16 ↓2 3 too high 20

Hide from Search 3K+ · 4.4★ (17) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓2 21

WP Hide Post — Hide Posts, Pages, Custom Post Types, and Control Products Visibility for WooCommerce 3K+ · 5.0★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #14 ↓3 7 too high 22

Hide Price and Add to Cart for WooCommerce 800+ · 5.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #19 3 too high 23

Simple SEO 400+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓3 1 too low 24

BoldGrid Easy SEO – Simple and Effective SEO 40K+ · 3.0★ (3) thin reviews wp.org #13 ↓3 11 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.