Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “seos”

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 “seos”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20. 5 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 #14 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 10 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

TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy places #12 on merit, 5.0★ from 4625 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #1 2 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #2 3 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #5 6 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #7 ↑1 1 too low 7 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #9 ↓1 2 too low 8 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #8 9 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #12 ↑1 2 too low 11 Widgets for Google Reviews 1M+ · 4.9★ (2667) wp.org #11 12 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #19 ↑2 7 too low 13 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #10 3 too high 14 Slim SEO – AI SEO Plugin, Lightweight, Fast & Automated 70K+ · 4.7★ (136) wp.org #15 1 too low 15 Internal Link Juicer: SEO Auto Linker for WordPress 100K+ · 4.7★ (537) wp.org #21 ↓1 6 too low 16 Spectra Legacy – Gutenberg Blocks 1M+ · 4.7★ (1872) wp.org #18 ↑1 2 too low 17 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #24 ↓2 7 too low 18 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (742) wp.org #22 ↑1 4 too low 19 The Events Calendar 600K+ · 4.2★ (2461) wp.org #23 ↑1 4 too low 20 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (62) wp.org #16 4 too high 21 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 Easy MCP AI – Connect Claude to WordPress: MCP Server for ChatGPT & AI Agents 30K+ · 4.9★ (16) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 SEO SIMPLE PACK 100K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #20 ↓2 3 too high 24 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified 400K+ · 4.0★ (8) wp.org #14 10 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.