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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “webmaster tools”

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 “webmaster tools”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 14 of the top 20. 5 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 Site Verification tool shows at wp.org #11 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 9 places. Its 1K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 3.7★ average from 6 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages places #9 on merit, 4.4★ from 1317 reviews, but shows at wp.org #19. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5209) wp.org #4 3 too low 2 SMNTCS Google Webmaster Tools 6K+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 Insert Headers And Footers 300K+ · 5.0★ (135) wp.org #6 3 too low 4 Meta Tag Manager 70K+ · 4.8★ (84) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 XML Sitemap & Google News 100K+ · 4.4★ (85) wp.org #8 3 too low 6 Bing URL Submissions Plugin 40K+ · 3.3★ (21) wp.org #3 3 too high 7 Catch Web Tools 10K+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #2 5 too high 8 Simple SEO 10K+ · 4.7★ (33) wp.org #10 2 too low 9 AMP for WP – Accelerated Mobile Pages 70K+ · 4.4★ (1317) wp.org #19 10 too low 10 Sitemap by BestWebSoft – WordPress XML Site Map Page Generator Plugin 20K+ · 4.3★ (115) wp.org #14 4 too low 11 Catch IDs 20K+ · 4.8★ (20) wp.org #9 2 too high 12 Simple Client Dashboard 2K+ · 4.5★ (26) wp.org #7 5 too high 13 Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin 1M+ · 4.5★ (157) wp.org #17 ↓1 4 too low 14 CrawlWP SEO – Complete WordPress SEO Plugin with AI, Indexing & Search Performance 30K+ · 4.7★ (60) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 IndexNow Plugin 100K+ · 3.2★ (47) wp.org #12 3 too high 16 SEO SIMPLE PACK 100K+ · 4.6★ (14) wp.org #13 3 too high 17 AdRotate Banner Manager 20K+ · 4.3★ (655) wp.org #24 7 too low 18 DELUCKS SEO 300+ · 4.9★ (17) wp.org #22 4 too low 19 Link Juice Keeper 10K+ · 4.7★ (15) wp.org #23 4 too low 20 W WP Site Verification tool 1K+ · 3.7★ (6) wp.org #11 9 too high 21 WP Consent API 200K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #20 1 too high 22 Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool 300+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #15 ↑3 7 too high 23 SiteStats Analytics – Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster & Search Console 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 ↓1 5 too high 24 PowerUp – Admin Tools (Login/Logout Redirects, Scripts & Comments Control) 100+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #21 3 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.