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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “site language”

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 “site language”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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

Universally – AI Translation & Multilingual SEO: Translate Your Site into 110+ Languages shows at wp.org #6 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 17 places. Its 30K+ 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

UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 8706 reviews, but shows at wp.org #17. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #1 2 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #2 3 Site Reviews 60K+ · 4.9★ (376) wp.org #3 4 Translate WordPress – Google Language Translator 100K+ · 4.7★ (620) wp.org #4 5 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ · 4.8★ (1267) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Simple Admin Language Change 10K+ · 4.7★ (22) wp.org #5 4 too high 10 UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin 4M+ · 4.8★ (8706) wp.org #17 ↓2 7 too low 11 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #16 ↑3 5 too low 12 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #11 ↑7 1 too high 13 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #20 ↓4 7 too low 14 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too high 15 Simply Static – The Static Site Generator 30K+ · 4.5★ (195) wp.org #18 ↓6 3 too low 16 Team Members – Multi Language Supported Team Plugin 6K+ · 5.0★ (85) wp.org #24 ↓3 8 too low 17 Preferred Languages 3K+ · 5.0★ (18) wp.org #19 ↓2 2 too low 18 Metricool – Social media and site statistics 90K+ · 4.4★ (23) wp.org #21 3 too low 19 Multiple Domain Mapping on Single Site 6K+ · 4.6★ (48) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 Simple Site Map Page 6K+ · 4.3★ (6) wp.org #14 ↓1 6 too high 21 Disable Login Language Selector 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↑11 9 too high 22 Language Switcher for Transposh 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #22 ↓2 23 Universally – AI Translation & Multilingual SEO: Translate Your Site into 110+ Languages 30K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #6 17 too high 24 Language Switcher for Polylang – Elementor, Gutenberg, & Divi 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓1 9 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.