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

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 tags shortcode”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

eRecht24 Legal Texts shows at wp.org #8 but places #22 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 50K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 1 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Translate WordPress with GTranslate places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 4962 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 GTM4WP – A Google Tag Manager (GTM) plugin for WordPress 700K+ · 4.5★ (155) wp.org #1 2 Social Preview and Open Graph Tags 50K+ · 4.6★ (122) wp.org #2 3 PublishPress Taxonomies – Tag, Category, and Taxonomy Manager – Autotagger Automatically Add Terms 40K+ · 4.6★ (195) wp.org #3 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 DTX – Dynamic Text Extension for Contact Form 7 100K+ · 4.7★ (99) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Text To Speech TTS Accessibility 4K+ · 4.8★ (92) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 LiteSpeed Cache 7M+ · 4.8★ (2778) wp.org #11 4 too low 8 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Shortcode Redirect 10K+ · 4.3★ (31) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #18 8 too low 11 The Events Calendar Shortcode & Block 10K+ · 4.7★ (101) wp.org #13 2 too low 12 Elementor Website Builder – more than just a page builder 10M+ · 4.5★ (7322) wp.org #14 2 too low 13 Shortcoder — Create Shortcodes for Anything 100K+ · 4.9★ (227) wp.org #17 4 too low 14 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery 300K+ · 4.3★ (4342) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #22 7 too low 16 Snippet Shortcodes 3K+ · 4.7★ (25) wp.org #10 6 too high 17 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #20 3 too low 18 ResponsiveVoice Text To Speech 7K+ · 3.9★ (34) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 PublishPress Tag Groups: Stylish Displays For Your Tags and Categories 3K+ · 4.8★ (57) wp.org #24 5 too low 20 Marquee Running Text 5K+ · 4.6★ (5) wp.org #9 11 too high 21 Text to Speech – TTSWP 200+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 eRecht24 Legal Texts 50K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #8 14 too high 23 Shortcode for Font Awesome 700+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 2 too high 24 Affiliate Amazon Shortcode 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 1 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.