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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “theme moz”

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 “theme moz”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 13 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

Superb Table (SEO Optimized Tables With Schema) shows at wp.org #7 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 2K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.6★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Social Sharing Plugin – Sassy Social Share places #9 on merit, 4.8★ from 523 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 The SEO Framework – Fast, Automated, Effortless. 200K+ · 4.9★ (380) wp.org #1 2 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #2 3 RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator 40K+ · 4.6★ (361) wp.org #3 4 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Link Whisper Free 30K+ · 4.2★ (150) wp.org #4 1 too high 6 Custom Login Page Customizer 50K+ · 4.9★ (476) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 FakerPress 10K+ · 4.9★ (205) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Off-Canvas Sidebars & Menus (Slidebars) 1K+ · 4.8★ (38) wp.org #8 9 Social Sharing Plugin – Sassy Social Share 100K+ · 4.8★ (523) wp.org #22 ↓1 13 too low 10 Friends 900+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #6 4 too high 11 Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance 5K+ · 4.5★ (102) wp.org #19 ↓1 8 too low 12 Paytium: Mollie payment forms & donations 2K+ · 4.5★ (64) wp.org #21 ↓1 9 too low 13 Builderius – Landing Page Builder + Dynamic Templates 200+ · 5.0★ (16) wp.org #23 ↓1 10 too low 14 Broken Link Notifier 1K+ · 4.8★ (14) wp.org #20 ↓1 6 too low 15 WP MyLinks 1K+ · 4.0★ (14) wp.org #11 4 too high 16 Superb Table (SEO Optimized Tables With Schema) 2K+ · 3.6★ (5) wp.org #7 9 too high 17 SEO Fury – SEO & GEO: Schema, XML Sitemap, Redirects, 404 Monitor, llms.txt 10+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #12 5 too high 18 Loyal Security – Firewall & Malware Scanner 10+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 LeadConnector 20K+ · 2.3★ (11) wp.org #17 ↓1 2 too high 20 WPCreatix ViewMeter – WordPress Visitor Counter — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 OptiCache 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↓1 6 too high 22 AI Rank Suite — AI Search, llms.txt, Schema & SEO — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 ↓1 6 too high 23 SEOMedic — SEO Booster & Link Auditor — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 PureGuard — Bot Protection & Performance — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1

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.