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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “timed content”

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

Expire Content Block shows at wp.org #11 but places #23 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 20+ 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

Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups places #8 on merit, 4.9★ from 701 reviews, but shows at wp.org #16. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Timed Content 5K+ · 4.6★ (41) wp.org #1 2 Ad Inserter – Ad Manager & AdSense Ads 300K+ · 4.9★ (2433) wp.org #5 ↑1 3 too low 3 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (551) wp.org #3 4 Essential Addons for Elementor – Popular Elementor Templates & Widgets 1M+ · 4.9★ (4132) wp.org #6 ↓1 2 too low 5 Popup Maker – Boost Sales, Conversions, Optins, Subscribers with the Ultimate WP Popup Builder 600K+ · 4.9★ (4514) wp.org #9 ↓2 4 too low 6 CartFlows – Funnel Builder & Checkout Plugin for WooCommerce 200K+ · 4.8★ (517) wp.org #7 ↑6 1 too low 7 FluentPlayer – Video Player With Forms & Lead Capture 2K+ · 4.7★ (14) wp.org #4 3 too high 8 Poptin – Email Marketing Automation, Newsletter & Exit Pop Ups, Email Popups 20K+ · 4.9★ (701) wp.org #16 ↑8 8 too low 9 Boxzilla – WordPress Popup Builder 20K+ · 4.8★ (133) wp.org #12 ↓2 3 too low 10 PowerPack Addons for Elementor: Widgets, Form Styler and Templates 70K+ · 4.8★ (361) wp.org #15 ↑1 5 too low 11 Timed Content For Beaver Builder 900+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #2 9 too high 12 Defender Security – Malware Scanner, Login Security & Firewall 80K+ · 4.8★ (334) wp.org #18 ↑5 6 too low 13 Pie Register – User Registration, Profiles & Content Restriction 1K+ · 4.2★ (222) wp.org #14 1 too low 14 WP REST Cache 10K+ · 4.9★ (42) wp.org #8 ↑4 6 too high 15 WP-UserOnline 10K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #24 ↓3 9 too low 16 Quiz Cat – WordPress Quiz Plugin 4K+ · 4.7★ (35) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Breeze Cache 300K+ · 3.6★ (133) wp.org #22 5 too low 18 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #20 ↓1 2 too low 19 Add to Calendar Button 3K+ · 5.0★ (11) wp.org #17 ↑1 2 too high 20 Timed Visibility Block 40+ · 4.5★ (2) wp.org #10 ↓2 10 too high 21 Leadpages 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #21 22 Easy Search Replace – Find & Replace Text/HTML/URLs, Remove Footer Credit 600+ · 4.5★ (4) wp.org #19 ↑3 3 too high 23 Expire Content Block 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #11 ↑4 12 too high 24 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 ↓4 11 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.