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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “table of contents”

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 “table of contents”, 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 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

Table Of Contents Block shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.3★ average from 7 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields places #10 on merit, 4.8★ from 418 reviews, but shows at wp.org #18. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Easy Table of Contents 600K+ · 4.4★ (219) wp.org #1 2 TablePress – Tables in WordPress made easy 600K+ · 5.0★ (4625) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too low 3 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.4★ (174) wp.org #2 1 too high 4 WP Table Builder – Drag & Drop Table Builder 50K+ · 4.8★ (681) wp.org #6 2 too low 5 Joli Table Of Contents 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too high 6 SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.9★ (77) wp.org #8 ↑1 2 too low 7 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5201) wp.org #10 ↑1 3 too low 8 LuckyWP Table of Contents 100K+ · 4.9★ (885) wp.org #11 ↓3 3 too low 9 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7297) wp.org #13 ↓1 4 too low 10 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #18 ↑4 8 too low 11 wpDataTables – WordPress Data Table, Dynamic Tables & Table Charts Plugin 70K+ · 4.5★ (449) wp.org #17 ↓3 6 too low 12 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4110) wp.org #16 4 too low 13 Ninja Tables – Easy Data Table Builder 70K+ · 4.6★ (471) wp.org #19 ↑1 6 too low 14 Flexible Table Block 40K+ · 4.9★ (33) wp.org #14 ↑3 15 Heroic Table of Contents 5K+ · 4.7★ (9) wp.org #7 ↓2 8 too high 16 Pricing Table by Supsystic 10K+ · 4.1★ (288) wp.org #22 6 too low 17 Product Table for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.8★ (291) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 Table Of Contents Block 10K+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #5 13 too high 19 Table Sorter 6K+ · 4.8★ (29) wp.org #21 2 too low 20 Tiered Pricing Table for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (102) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 Table Of Content Block – Auto-Generate Clickable Table of Contents 3K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 ↓2 12 too high 22 Rich Table of Contents 20K+ · 4.1★ (17) wp.org #24 ↓10 2 too low 23 TableKit – WordPress Table Builder for Data Tables, WooCommerce Product Tables & Post Tables 4K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #12 ↑12 11 too high 24 F70 Simple Table of Contents 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #15 ↓3 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.