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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “verse reference”

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 “verse reference”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 8 of the top 20.

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

The Word Widget shows at wp.org #7 but places #12 on merit, a gap of 5 places. Its 200+ 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 Logos Reftagger 10K+ · 4.8★ (15) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Visual Bible Verse of the Day Widget 1K+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 BibleLink Multilingual 300+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #5 2 too low 4 Verse of the Day Widget for WP 30+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #3 ↑1 1 too high 5 Link To Bible 100+ · 4.1★ (10) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 ESV CrossReference Tool 500+ · 4.0★ (6) wp.org #6 7 VerseLinker 50+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #4 ↓1 3 too high 8 Mattytap Sermons 60+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #19 ↑1 11 too low 9 Bible SuperSearch 300+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #11 2 too low 10 FrontEdit – Live Frontend Block Editor 2K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #12 2 too low 11 Bible Verse Tooltips – Prodigal Verse — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #8 3 too high 12 The Word Widget 200+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 BibleAsk – Verse Tooltip — · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #9 4 too high 14 PrimeBible Verse Preview 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #14 15 Bible Buddy 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #16 1 too low 16 Literal Word BibleTagger 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 PrayTime.me Bible Verses — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 18 BibleUp 60+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #23 ↓2 5 too low 19 Bible Daily Reading Plan 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #18 1 too high 20 BibleBridge 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #15 5 too high 21 Show and Link Bible Verse 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too high 22 Fale Hafez 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #21 ↑1 1 too high 23 Hidden Word Bible Lessons — · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Bible Verses References 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #24

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.