Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “sharing tags”

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 “sharing tags”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 7 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

Sharing Image shows at wp.org #4 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 600+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.7★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings places #6 on merit, 4.8★ from 7519 reviews, but shows at wp.org #10. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Ocean Social Sharing 60K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Social Sharing (by Danny) 2K+ · 5.0★ (68) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #5 ↑3 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #10 4 too low 7 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #8 ↓3 1 too low 8 Hubbub Lite – Fast, free social sharing and follow buttons 30K+ · 4.7★ (173) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Simple Social Media Share Buttons – Social Sharing for Everyone 20K+ · 4.8★ (194) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 WP Statistics – Simple, privacy-friendly Google Analytics alternative 500K+ · 4.1★ (758) wp.org #11 ↑4 1 too low 11 Robo Gallery – Photo & Image Slider 40K+ · 4.3★ (406) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #12 1 too high 14 AddToAny Share Buttons 300K+ · 4.7★ (1114) wp.org #15 ↑1 1 too low 15 Social Sharing Plugin – Sassy Social Share 100K+ · 4.8★ (523) wp.org #23 8 too low 16 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #18 ↑3 2 too low 17 Firelight Lightbox 200K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #21 ↓3 3 too low 19 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #22 ↓3 3 too low 20 Code Snippets 1M+ · 4.7★ (510) wp.org #16 ↓5 4 too high 21 Sharing Image 600+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #4 17 too high 22 Highlight and Share – Unobtrusive and Lightweight Content Sharing 700+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #19 ↑3 3 too high 23 Social Rocket – Social Sharing Plugin 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #17 6 too high 24 Better Sharing 20+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #20 ↑3 4 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.