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

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 scan”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

SEO Magic – Free AI SEO Assistant shows at wp.org #16 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 100+ 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

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 4229 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin signals wp.org

Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) 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

SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1268) wp.org #4 1 too low 4

Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #3 1 too high 5

SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #6 1 too low 6

Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #5 1 too high 7

LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #8 ↑1 1 too low 8

SEO Engine – Smart SEO with AI, Schema & Redirection for WordPress 1K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #7 1 too high 9

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8709) wp.org #15 6 too low 10

Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #9 ↑1 1 too high 11

WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4229) wp.org #18 ↑3 7 too low 12

SEO Booster 800+ · 4.8★ (54) wp.org #11 1 too high 13

FooGallery Photo Gallery : Image, Video & Masonry Galleries 100K+ · 4.8★ (995) wp.org #23 ↓4 10 too low 14

Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #10 ↓2 4 too high 15

SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #17 2 too low 16

MainWP Child – Securely Connects to the MainWP Dashboard to Manage Multiple Sites 700K+ · 5.0★ (71) wp.org #21 ↑1 5 too low 17

SOOZ – AI for SEO – Bulk Generate Focus Keyphrases, Metadata, Alt Text (SEO Autopilot) 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) thin reviews wp.org #13 4 too high 18

SEO Repair Kit – Spam Monitor, Meta Manager, Schema Manager, Internal Linking, SEO Content Monitoring, GSC Integration 2K+ · 5.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #12 6 too high 19

RankReady – AI SEO, Schema, llms.txt, AEO and GEO for ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity 500+ · 4.8★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #20 ↓2 1 too low 20

LovedByAI – GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) & AI SEO Plugin: AEO, llms.txt 1K+ · 4.4★ (5) thin reviews wp.org #19 ↑1 1 too high 21

Auto Focus Keyword for SEO 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) thin reviews wp.org #14 7 too high 22

Check for Broken Links – Broken Link Checker & SEO Suite 2K+ · 4.0★ (6) thin reviews wp.org #22 ↑2 23

Automatic Internal Links for SEO by Pagup 900+ · 3.0★ (8) thin reviews wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24

SEO Magic – Free AI SEO Assistant 100+ · 5.0★ (1) thin reviews wp.org #16 8 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.