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

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 highlight”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 15 of the top 20. 2 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

Text Case Converter shows at wp.org #10 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 4 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 #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Highlight Search Terms 6K+ · 5.0★ (40) wp.org #1 2 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7323) wp.org #2 3 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #3 4 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #8 ↓1 3 too low 6 Highlight and Share – Unobtrusive and Lightweight Content Sharing 700+ · 4.9★ (29) wp.org #6 7 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #20 13 too low 8 Jetpack – AI Agents & MCP, Security, Backup & Analytics 3M+ · 3.7★ (2408) wp.org #11 3 too low 9 LiveChat – Live Chat Plugin for WP Websites 10K+ · 4.6★ (98) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 String locator 100K+ · 4.6★ (125) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too low 11 Custom Highlight Color 900+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 7 too high 12 GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #22 ↓4 10 too low 13 Animated Text Block – Add Typing and Looping Text Effects 4K+ · 4.8★ (5) wp.org #7 6 too high 14 Accessibility Tools & Alt Text Finder 3K+ · 4.9★ (69) wp.org #24 ↓3 10 too low 15 Change Text Case 1K+ · 4.8★ (21) wp.org #18 ↓3 3 too low 16 Text to Speech – Reinvent WP 40+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #21 ↓1 5 too low 17 Text Typing – grab attention with animated typing headlines 3K+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #9 ↓1 8 too high 18 Special Text Boxes 1K+ · 3.4★ (21) wp.org #14 ↓2 4 too high 19 Text Case Converter 300+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #10 ↓1 9 too high 20 Awesome Guten Text – 8 Powerful Blocks for Gutenberg 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #17 ↓1 3 too high 21 Full-Text Search 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓4 2 too low 22 CC-Syntax-Highlight 60+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓2 9 too high 23 LMSCrafter Gradient Text for Elementor 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #19 ↓2 4 too high 24 Highlight Sitewide Notice, Text, Button Menu 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 ↓2 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.