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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “term meta”

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 “term meta”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 17 of the top 20. 3 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

Kliken: Ads + Pixel for Meta shows at wp.org #11 but places #24 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 30K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Polylang places #12 on merit, 4.7★ from 3003 reviews, but shows at wp.org #24. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #1 2 Meta Tag Manager 70K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #2 3 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #6 ↓2 3 too low 4 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #8 ↑1 4 too low 5 Meta Field Block – Display Custom Fields for ACF, Meta Box and More 10K+ · 5.0★ (57) wp.org #4 ↑1 1 too high 6 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #9 ↓2 3 too low 7 WP Term Order 6K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #3 4 too high 8 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #12 4 too low 9 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #19 ↓3 10 too low 10 WP Fastest Cache – WordPress Cache Plugin 1M+ · 4.9★ (4228) wp.org #20 ↑1 10 too low 11 GenerateBlocks 200K+ · 4.9★ (122) wp.org #16 ↓2 5 too low 12 Polylang 900K+ · 4.7★ (3003) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Advanced Custom Fields (ACF®) 2M+ · 4.5★ (1440) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 WP Bulk Delete 90K+ · 4.6★ (131) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 WP Term Images 2K+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #7 ↑1 8 too high 16 WP-Sweep 100K+ · 4.7★ (138) wp.org #22 ↓1 6 too low 17 Meta for WooCommerce 400K+ · 2.1★ (481) wp.org #5 ↑1 12 too high 18 JSM Show Post Metadata 10K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #21 ↑1 3 too low 19 WP Term Colors 700+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #10 9 too high 20 MDTF – Meta Data and Taxonomies Filter 900+ · 4.5★ (28) wp.org #23 3 too low 21 Meta Keywords for Each Page 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #14 7 too high 22 JSM Show Term Metadata 800+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Reorder Terms 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↑1 8 too high 24 Kliken: Ads + Pixel for Meta 30K+ · 3.0★ (1) wp.org #11 13 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.