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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “support url”

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 “support url”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 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

HEIC Support shows at wp.org #8 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 4K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 27820 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 SVG Support 1M+ · 4.8★ (356) wp.org #1 2 Fluent Support – Helpdesk & Customer Support Ticket System 10K+ · 4.6★ (69) wp.org #2 ↑1 3 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #4 ↓2 1 too low 4 URL Params 8K+ · 5.0★ (37) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169) wp.org #5 6 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 S SSH SFTP Updater Support 10K+ · 4.8★ (99) wp.org #7 8 Awesome Support – WordPress HelpDesk & Support Plugin 6K+ · 3.5★ (194) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7520) wp.org #14 ↓1 5 too low 10 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27820) wp.org #19 ↓1 9 too low 11 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #15 ↑5 4 too low 12 Product Feed Manager for WooCommerce – CTX Feed – Support 220+ Shopping, AI & Social Channels 90K+ · 4.6★ (838) wp.org #18 ↓4 6 too low 13 Remove Category URL – Remove ‘category’ base from category permalinks 40K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #12 ↑3 2 too high 15 Go Live Update Urls 90K+ · 4.5★ (59) wp.org #23 ↓1 8 too low 16 Featured Image with URL 2K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #13 ↓1 3 too high 17 Support Genix – Helpdesk, AI Chatbot, Knowledge Base & Customer Support Ticketing System 3K+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #10 7 too high 18 WP Custom Author URL 5K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #17 ↓1 1 too high 19 HEIC Support 4K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #8 11 too high 20 Coupons & Add to Cart by URL Links for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Advance Canonical URL 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #16 ↑1 5 too high 22 Bitly URL Shortener 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Remove Taxonomy URL 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #20 ↓1 3 too high 24 WPChat – Live Chat & Messaging Widget for Customer Support 6K+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #21 3 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.