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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “text effects”

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 “text effects”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 1 plugin is 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

Marquee Running Text shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 5K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.6★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor places #12 on merit, 4.8★ from 612 reviews, but shows at wp.org #21. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 10K+ · 4.7★ (250) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 Image Hover Effects – Elementor Addon 40K+ · 4.9★ (83) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #1 ↑5 3 too high 5 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #5 ↓1 6 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too low 7 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #6 ↓1 1 too high 8 Unlimited Elements for Elementor 300K+ · 4.8★ (525) wp.org #9 ↓1 1 too low 9 Premium Addons for Elementor – AI-Ready Elementor Addons, Widgets & Templates 600K+ · 4.9★ (1680) wp.org #12 ↑1 3 too low 10 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #18 ↓1 8 too low 11 Flipbox – Awesomes Flip Boxes Image Overlay 9K+ · 4.7★ (149) wp.org #16 5 too low 12 Royal Addons for Elementor – Addons and Templates Kit for Elementor 600K+ · 4.8★ (612) wp.org #21 ↓1 9 too low 13 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #22 9 too low 14 Maintenance 1M+ · 4.4★ (869) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 Gutenberg Essential Blocks – Page Builder for Gutenberg Blocks & Patterns 100K+ · 4.9★ (216) wp.org #24 9 too low 16 AnimateGL – WebGL & CSS Scroll Animations and Hover Effects for Gutenberg and Elementor 2K+ · 5.0★ (22) wp.org #14 2 too high 17 Block Animations, Motion & Scroll Effects – Ghost Kit 6K+ · 4.6★ (46) wp.org #17 ↑4 18 Paste As Plain Text By Default 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #11 7 too high 19 Weather Effect 4K+ · 4.5★ (30) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 JVM Rich Text Icons 3K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #13 ↓1 7 too high 21 Marquee Running Text 5K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #8 ↓1 13 too high 22 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #10 12 too high 23 Advanced Image Hover Effect for Elementor 1K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 ↓2 24 Typing Text 500+ · 2.8★ (4) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 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.