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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “skip lazy loading”

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 “skip lazy loading”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 6 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.

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Ranked above its merit

jQuery Image Lazy Load WP shows at wp.org #11 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 10 places. Its 700+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.1★ average from 14 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

EWWW Image Optimizer places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 1842 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6053) wp.org #1 2 a3 Lazy Load 80K+ · 4.3★ (148) wp.org #2 3 LazyLoad Plugin – Lazy Load Images, Videos, and Iframes 100K+ · 4.2★ (139) wp.org #3 ↑1 4 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Custom Block Builder – Lazy Blocks 20K+ · 4.9★ (80) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #6 ↑3 7 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #8 ↓1 1 too low 8 Embed Plus for YouTube Gallery, Livestream and Lazy Loading with Facades 100K+ · 4.6★ (572) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too high 9 W3 Total Cache 900K+ · 4.4★ (5420) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 Ajaxify Comments – Ajax and Lazy Loading Comments 3K+ · 4.8★ (91) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too high 11 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too low 12 EWWW Image Optimizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1842) wp.org #22 ↓1 10 too low 13 Autoptimize 800K+ · 4.7★ (1428) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 ThumbPress – Compress Images, Manage Thumbnails, Detect Image Issues, WebP/AVIF, Lazy Loading, Hotlinking & More 20K+ · 3.7★ (117) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin 400K+ · 4.0★ (1323) wp.org #18 ↑2 3 too low 16 Sliding Cart for WooCommerce by FunnelKit – Skip Cart & Reach WooCommerce Checkout Faster 30K+ · 5.0★ (111) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Easy Optimizer – PageSpeed, Cache & Core Web Vitals (Unused CSS, Delay JS, Lazy Load) 1K+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #17 ↓1 18 Flying Images: Optimize and Lazy Load Images for Faster Page Speed 2K+ · 4.8★ (26) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Speed Up – Lazy Load 400+ · 4.3★ (12) wp.org #14 5 too high 20 Smart LazyLoad – Lazy Load Images, Videos and Iframes 300+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 J jQuery Image Lazy Load WP 700+ · 3.1★ (14) wp.org #11 ↓1 10 too high 22 SpeedyCache – Cache, Optimization, Performance 500K+ · 4.4★ (30) wp.org #24 2 too low 23 Compress, Resize & Lazy Load Images – WPvivid Image Optimization 10K+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Image Prioritizer 40K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 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.