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← Rankings

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

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 “urls”, 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.

W

Ranked above its merit

WP Force Lowercase URLs shows at wp.org #4 but places #15 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #15. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #1 2 Go Live Update Urls 90K+ · 4.5★ (59) wp.org #2 3 PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links 200K+ · 4.8★ (1322) wp.org #7 4 too low 4 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #6 1 too low 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #9 3 too low 7 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #15 ↑8 8 too low 8 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #10 ↓5 2 too low 9 L List all URLs 4K+ · 4.7★ (19) wp.org #5 ↓1 4 too high 10 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #16 ↓2 6 too low 11 URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169) wp.org #13 ↓1 2 too low 12 WP Mail SMTP by WPForms – SMTP for Reliable Email Delivery with Gmail, Outlook, Amazon SES, Brevo, Other SMTP & More 4M+ · 4.8★ (5209) wp.org #18 ↓2 6 too low 13 Search & Replace Everything – Quick and Easy Way to Find and Replace Text, Links 20K+ · 4.7★ (26) wp.org #8 5 too high 14 URL Params 8K+ · 5.0★ (37) wp.org #11 ↓1 3 too high 15 W WP Force Lowercase URLs 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #4 11 too high 16 Better Search Replace 1M+ · 4.3★ (546) wp.org #23 ↓2 7 too low 17 Remove Category URL – Remove ‘category’ base from category permalinks 40K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #24 ↓2 7 too low 18 Lasso Lite – Affiliate Link Manager, URL Shortener & Link Tracking 4K+ · 3.1★ (47) wp.org #14 ↓1 4 too high 19 Featured Image with URL 2K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #22 ↓3 3 too low 20 Bing URL Submissions Plugin 40K+ · 3.3★ (21) wp.org #20 ↓3 21 B Basic URL ShortCodes 4K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #17 ↓2 4 too high 22 WPC Multiple External Product URLs for WooCommerce 300+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 ↓1 10 too high 23 Simple URLs Legacy 50+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #21 ↓1 2 too high 24 Coupon URLs – Apply a Coupon from a Custom Link – for WooCommerce 100+ · 4.3★ (3) wp.org #19 5 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.