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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “video permalink”

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 “video permalink”, 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.

Ranked above its merit

Image & Video XML Sitemap shows at wp.org #5 but places #18 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its 300+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder places #11 on merit, 4.9★ from 2528 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Modula Image Gallery – Photo Grid & Video Gallery 100K+ · 4.7★ (616) wp.org #1 2 All-in-One Video Gallery – Video Player & Galleries for YouTube, Vimeo & Self-Hosted Videos 20K+ · 4.8★ (136) wp.org #2 3 Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 100K+ · 4.8★ (418) wp.org #3 4 Smart Slider 3 800K+ · 4.9★ (1125) wp.org #4 5 Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) 200K+ · 5.0★ (423) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Customer Reviews for WooCommerce 80K+ · 4.8★ (1539) wp.org #11 5 too low 7 XML Sitemap Generator for Google 1M+ · 4.8★ (2233) wp.org #15 8 too low 8 Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO – Find & Fix Broken Internal, External & Video Links 200K+ · 3.8★ (87) wp.org #6 2 too high 9 WpStream – Live Streaming, Video on Demand, Pay Per View 3K+ · 4.8★ (78) wp.org #9 10 EmbedPress 100K+ · 4.8★ (307) wp.org #13 3 too low 11 Ultimate Addons for Elementor – Widgets, Templates, WooCommerce & Header Footer Builder 2M+ · 4.9★ (2528) wp.org #20 9 too low 12 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #19 7 too low 13 Dark Mode – Improve Accessibility with AI Powered Dark Theme 20K+ · 4.5★ (391) wp.org #23 10 too low 14 Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Disable plugins on individual WordPress pages 8K+ · 4.8★ (104) wp.org #17 3 too low 15 Virtual Classroom & Video Conferencing – BigBlueButton 400+ · 4.6★ (10) wp.org #7 8 too high 16 Gmedia Photo Gallery 7K+ · 4.3★ (260) wp.org #18 2 too low 17 Real3D Flipbook – 3D Flipbook, PDF Flipbook, PDF Viewer, PDF Embedder 10K+ · 4.5★ (11) wp.org #21 4 too low 18 Image & Video XML Sitemap 300+ · 4.0★ (3) wp.org #5 13 too high 19 Royal MCP – Secure AI Connector for Claude, ChatGPT & any LLM via MCP 10K+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #22 3 too low 20 APG Google Video Sitemap Feed 500+ · 2.8★ (9) wp.org #10 10 too high 21 GreetPlayer – Video Player, Video Bubble, Audio Player & Lead Capture 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #16 5 too high 22 CM Video Lessons Manager – Simplify video lessons management for better education 30+ · 4.0★ (4) wp.org #14 8 too high 23 MAS Videos 1K+ · 3.0★ (7) wp.org #12 11 too high 24 WPZOOM Portfolio Lite – Filterable Portfolio Plugin 20K+ · 5.0★ (2) 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.