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

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 “slug”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Slug Search and Admin Columns shows at wp.org #9 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 200+ 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

PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 1322 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 Smart User Slug Hider 2K+ · 4.9★ (55) wp.org #1 2 Admin Slug Column 5K+ · 4.9★ (31) wp.org #2 ↓1 3 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3004) wp.org #7 ↓1 4 too low 4 Edit Author Slug 100K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Ailo – AI Slug Translator 1K+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #3 ↓1 2 too high 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #12 ↓2 6 too low 7 W WP Author Slug 3K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too high 8 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #14 ↓2 6 too low 9 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #17 ↓1 8 too low 10 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #18 ↑1 8 too low 11 Pinyin Slugs 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 too high 12 Loginizer 1M+ · 4.8★ (1033) wp.org #19 ↓1 7 too low 13 Custom Permalinks 100K+ · 4.1★ (116) wp.org #13 ↓2 14 WPS Hide Login 2M+ · 4.8★ (2111) wp.org #23 ↓1 9 too low 15 Cyr-To-Lat 300K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #16 ↓1 1 too low 16 Redirection 2M+ · 4.4★ (703) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Widget Context 30K+ · 4.5★ (98) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #20 ↓3 2 too low 19 Slugs Manager: Delete Old Permalinks from WordPress Database 3K+ · 4.2★ (13) wp.org #11 8 too high 20 Slug Automator 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↑2 12 too high 21 Simple Regenerate Slug 500+ · 4.2★ (10) wp.org #24 ↓2 3 too low 22 Slug Search and Admin Columns 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 ↓1 13 too high 23 R Remove Taxonomy Slug 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #10 ↓4 13 too high 24 Pinyin Slug 60+ · 3.0★ (1) 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.