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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “visitor location”

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 “visitor location”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 12 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

WPS Visitor Counter shows at wp.org #6 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 10K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.9★ average from 8 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) places #12 on merit, 4.9★ from 8865 reviews, but shows at wp.org #23. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 IP Location Block 10K+ · 4.5★ (35) wp.org #1 ↑1 2 Complianz GDPR/CCPA Cookie Consent Banner 1M+ · 4.7★ (1659) wp.org #4 2 too low 3 Location Weather – WordPress Weather Forecast, Air Quality & Weather Widget 10K+ · 4.5★ (103) wp.org #3 ↓2 4 WP Visitor Statistics (Real Time Traffic) 20K+ · 4.5★ (156) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN 1M+ · 4.8★ (6052) wp.org #10 5 too low 6 Visitor Traffic Real Time Statistics 30K+ · 4.2★ (232) wp.org #7 1 too low 7 User IP and Location 3K+ · 4.2★ (9) wp.org #2 ↑1 5 too high 8 WPForms – AI Form Builder for WordPress – Contact Forms, Payment Forms, Survey Form, Quiz & More 5M+ · 4.8★ (14380) wp.org #15 ↑1 7 too low 9 WooCommerce 7M+ · 4.5★ (4825) wp.org #9 10 WP Store Locator 50K+ · 4.8★ (312) wp.org #17 7 too low 11 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5217) wp.org #14 3 too low 12 Really Simple Security – Simple and Performant Security (formerly Really Simple SSL) 3M+ · 4.9★ (8865) wp.org #23 ↓3 11 too low 13 Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, Appointments and more! 60K+ · 4.2★ (549) wp.org #13 14 My Calendar – Accessible Event Manager 20K+ · 4.7★ (159) wp.org #18 4 too low 15 WP Go Maps – Google Map, OpenStreetMap, Leaflet Map 300K+ · 4.8★ (3047) wp.org #22 ↑2 7 too low 16 Open User Map – Interactive Leaflet Maps 10K+ · 5.0★ (68) wp.org #24 ↓1 8 too low 17 TWIPLA – Website Intelligence 900+ · 4.6★ (18) wp.org #11 6 too high 18 Web-Stat – Live Visitor Analytics 5K+ · 4.4★ (19) wp.org #12 6 too high 19 Trace My IP – Visitor IP Tracker, Stats Analytics & Page Views Counter with Email Alerts 1K+ · 4.5★ (21) wp.org #16 ↓1 3 too high 20 WPS Visitor Counter 10K+ · 3.9★ (8) wp.org #6 14 too high 21 S Show Visitor IP 300+ · 3.8★ (6) wp.org #8 13 too high 22 Termageddon: Cookie Consent & Privacy Compliance 8K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #20 ↑1 2 too high 23 Hitsteps Web Analytics 800+ · 3.9★ (7) wp.org #21 ↑1 2 too high 24 Payment Gateways by Customer Location for WooCommerce 200+ · 5.0★ (1) 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.