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

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 “smugmug”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 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

Album of photos from a folder in the Media Library shows at wp.org #5 but places #11 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 10+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Photonic Gallery & Lightbox for Flickr, SmugMug & Others 10K+ · 4.8★ (193) wp.org #1 2 EmbedPress – PDF Embedder, 3D PDF FlipBook, Google Reviews, YouTube Videos, Upload & Embed PDF documents 100K+ · 4.8★ (306) wp.org #3 1 too low 3 Embed Privacy 10K+ · 4.9★ (26) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Socicon 200+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #2 2 too high 5 Popular Brand Icons – Simple Icons 3K+ · 4.7★ (10) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Responsive Flickr Slideshow 200+ · 4.8★ (6) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 MRW Simplified Editor 100+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #8 1 too low 8 SmugMug Embed 100+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #9 1 too low 9 Embed Consent 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 5 too high 10 Client-Side Media Everywhere — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Album of photos from a folder in the Media Library 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #5 6 too high 12 W Widget Pack 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 SmugMug Responsive Slider 50+ · 4.0★ (5) wp.org #15 2 too low 14 Calucon Third-Party Embed Gate — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 Smart Gallery DBGT 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 2 too high 16 SimpleSocial 100+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #12 4 too high 17 S SmugMug Insert 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #19 2 too low 18 W WP-SmugMug 90+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too low 19 M MediaEmbedder 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 B Blip Slideshow 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 W WP-Lifestream2 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 2 too low 22 Vimeo Everywhere 60+ · 3.0★ (2) wp.org #18 4 too high 23 S SmugBuy 10+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 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.