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

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 selection”, 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 Replace – Find and Replace WordPress Strings shows at wp.org #4 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor places #9 on merit, 4.9★ from 2051 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Image Alt Text 10K+ · 5.0★ (56) wp.org #1 2 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #2 3 WP Content Copy Protection & No Right Click 100K+ · 4.8★ (1138) wp.org #8 ↓1 5 too low 4 Slider, Gallery, and Carousel by MetaSlider – Image Slider, Video Slider 500K+ · 4.6★ (743) wp.org #9 ↓1 5 too low 5 AI Alt Text Generator 2K+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #3 2 too high 6 GSpeech TTS – WordPress Text To Speech Plugin 3K+ · 4.8★ (178) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Ultra Addons for Contact Form 7 60K+ · 4.8★ (107) wp.org #14 ↓1 7 too low 8 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce 300K+ · 4.8★ (926) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 ElementsKit Elementor Addons – Advanced Widgets & Templates Addons for Elementor 1M+ · 4.9★ (2051) wp.org #22 ↑1 13 too low 10 AI Image Alt Text Generator 700+ · 4.9★ (7) wp.org #5 5 too high 11 Disable Right Click RB – Content Copy Protection, Prevent Copy & No Right Click 600+ · 4.2★ (14) wp.org #6 ↑10 5 too high 12 Copy Anything to Clipboard for WordPress – Copy Button, Copy Text & Copy Code 10K+ · 4.5★ (36) wp.org #12 ↓1 13 Quran multilanguage Text & Audio 400+ · 5.0★ (17) wp.org #7 ↓1 6 too high 14 Fourteen Colors 8K+ · 4.8★ (48) wp.org #19 ↓1 5 too low 15 Text Replace – Find and Replace WordPress Strings 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #4 11 too high 16 Variation Swatches for WooCommerce – Color, Image & Size Swatches 200K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #20 4 too low 17 Alt Magic: AI Image Alt Text Generator for WP & Image Rename 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #18 ↓1 1 too low 18 ImgSEO – AI Image Alt Text Generator & Image SEO Tools 400+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #10 ↓1 8 too high 19 SOOZ – AI for SEO – Bulk Generate Focus Keyphrases, Metadata, Alt Text (SEO Autopilot) 2K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #23 ↓1 4 too low 20 Wonder PDF Embed 8K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #24 4 too low 21 Search & Replace Everything by WPCode – Find and Replace Media, Text, Links, and More 20K+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #13 ↓1 8 too high 22 Rich Text Formats 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 1 too high 23 AI Auto Alt Text Generator 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #16 7 too high 24 RobArt Text Collector 40+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 ↓2 7 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.