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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “transliteration”

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 “transliteration”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 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

DevBrothers Cyrillic URL shows at wp.org #14 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 6 places. Its 50+ installs carry it up the search order; its 0.0★ average from 0 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Clearfy Cache – WordPress optimization plugin, Minify HTML, CSS & JS, Defer places #6 on merit, 4.7★ from 339 reviews, but shows at wp.org #12. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Cyrlitera – Transliteration of Links and File Names 40K+ · 4.6★ (61) wp.org #1 2 Transliterator – Multilingual and Multi-script Text Conversion 3K+ · 4.8★ (95) wp.org #2 3 Cyr-To-Lat 300K+ · 4.7★ (98) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 Cyr to Lat Reloaded – Transliteration of Links and File Names 30K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Cyr to Lat Enhanced 80K+ · 4.6★ (51) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Clearfy Cache – WordPress optimization plugin, Minify HTML, CSS & JS, Defer 40K+ · 4.7★ (339) wp.org #12 6 too low 7 Joli Table Of Contents 7K+ · 4.9★ (43) wp.org #10 3 too low 8 Greek Multi Tool – Greeklish Slugs, Permalinks & Transliteration 1K+ · 4.6★ (9) wp.org #5 3 too high 9 GPTranslate – Multilingual AI Translation Agent for WordPress: Translate Your Site with AI 500+ · 5.0★ (31) wp.org #11 ↑2 2 too low 10 B Bulglish Permalinks 3K+ · 5.0★ (8) wp.org #7 3 too high 11 Local Google Analytics for WordPress – caches external requests 3K+ · 4.5★ (10) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 SrbTransLatin – Serbian Latinisation 2K+ · 4.6★ (38) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Geo to Lat 500+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 SearchPlus 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #13 ↓2 1 too high 15 AZRULAT 10+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 5 too low 16 S Simula Friendly Slugs for Arabic Sites 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 1 too high 17 Ukrainian Cyrillic to Latin by OSTG 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too high 18 Banglish Slug Converter 20+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 1 too high 19 (ng)Arab 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 DevBrothers Cyrillic URL 50+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 Arabic Clean Permalinks — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↓1 1 too low 22 Clearfy Safe — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 SlugSync — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24 ↓1 1 too low 24 Titula 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.