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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “tabs content”

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 “tabs content”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 6 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

Easy Tabs Block – Smart, Lightweight & Responsive Tabs for the Block Editor shows at wp.org #6 but places #14 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 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 27821 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 Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce & WordPress Tabs Builder – Smart Tabs 10K+ · 4.9★ (134) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Gutena Tabs 6K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin 200K+ · 4.4★ (1445) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Product Tabs for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.7★ (69) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Content Views – Post Grid & Filter (Shortcode, Blocks, Elementor Widgets) 100K+ · 4.8★ (333) wp.org #8 ↑2 3 too low 6 Custom Product tabs for WooCommerce 10K+ · 4.9★ (48) wp.org #4 2 too high 7 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #13 6 too low 8 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #9 ↑3 1 too low 9 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4833) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 Table of Contents Plus – Automatic Table of Contents for Posts & Pages 200K+ · 4.5★ (187) wp.org #15 ↑5 4 too low 12 Tabs Widget for Page Builder 3K+ · 4.8★ (19) wp.org #10 ↑1 2 too high 13 Shortcodes Ultimate – Content Elements 400K+ · 4.9★ (5925) wp.org #24 ↓15 11 too low 14 Easy Tabs Block – Smart, Lightweight & Responsive Tabs for the Block Editor 1K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #6 ↑2 8 too high 15 Secure Copy Content Protection and Content Locking 20K+ · 4.3★ (62) wp.org #20 ↓2 5 too low 16 Passster – Password Protect Pages and Content 10K+ · 4.2★ (60) wp.org #11 ↓5 5 too high 17 Plethora Tabs + Accordions 2K+ · 4.9★ (8) wp.org #14 ↑1 3 too high 18 E Expand Tabs for WooCommerce 1K+ · 5.0★ (27) wp.org #19 1 too low 19 Responsive Tabs — Horizontal, Vertical & Accordion Tabs for WordPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #12 ↑2 7 too high 20 Advanced Tabs Block 1K+ · 3.3★ (15) wp.org #23 ↓1 3 too low 21 Tab Ultimate 1K+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #17 4 too high 22 Tabs Block 400+ · 3.5★ (4) wp.org #22 ↑1 23 Tabs Block – Responsive Gutenberg Tabs for Block Editor 700+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 AffiliateWP – Affiliate Area Tabs 3K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 8 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.