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

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 “twentythirteen”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20. 9 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.

S

Ranked above its merit

sidebarAutomizer shows at wp.org #13 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 8 places. Its 30+ 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.

merit plugin wp.org
1 WP Mapa Politico España 300+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 xili-language 600+ · 3.9★ (14) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WP Customer Area 10K+ · 4.0★ (89) wp.org #4 1 too low 4 P Post Comments as bbPress Topics 300+ · 4.3★ (18) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 N news ticker benaceur 1K+ · 5.0★ (25) wp.org #5 6 wp-greet 50+ · 4.9★ (10) wp.org #6 7 Multipage 900+ · 4.6★ (22) wp.org #12 5 too low 8 C Conditional Themes 60+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #8 9 S Social Photo Fetcher 1K+ · 3.7★ (12) wp.org #7 2 too high 10 L LowerMedia Sticky.js Menus 100+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #16 6 too low 11 A Advent Calendar 100+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 WP User Stylesheet Switcher 100+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #18 6 too low 13 W WP Whoosh 10+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #21 8 too low 14 S Simple Diary for WordPress 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #10 4 too high 15 WP Excerpt Settings 200+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 2 too low 16 T T&P Navigation Menu 10+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #19 3 too low 17 Back To The Theme 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 T TinyNav 100+ · 4.7★ (3) wp.org #24 6 too low 19 S Styles: TwentyFifteen 100+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 4 too high 20 S Showcase Theme Preview Reloaded — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #14 6 too high 21 S sidebarAutomizer 30+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 8 too high 22 A Awesome Instant Search 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 2 too high 23 Rajce embed 30+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #23 24 T Twenty Thirteen Header Animations 10+ · 1.0★ (1) wp.org #22 2 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.