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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “website analyzer”

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 “website analyzer”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 11 of the top 20. 2 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

AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot shows at wp.org #5 but places #19 on merit, a gap of 14 places. Its 2K+ 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.

Buried gem

LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 393 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 MonsterInsights – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Made Easy) 2M+ · 4.5★ (3157) wp.org #1 2 All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ · 4.7★ (5231) wp.org #2 3 SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ · 4.8★ (171) wp.org #3 4 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #9 5 too low 5 SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ · 4.8★ (51) wp.org #7 2 too low 6 Security Plugin, Firewall & Malware Scanner with Auto Removal 40K+ · 4.8★ (397) wp.org #14 8 too low 7 LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes 10K+ · 4.8★ (393) wp.org #20 13 too low 8 Broken Link Checker 500K+ · 3.8★ (605) wp.org #8 9 ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Stats Plugin) 200K+ · 2.5★ (1546) wp.org #6 3 too high 10 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #11 1 too low 11 ImageKit – URL based image manipulation and optimization 1K+ · 4.7★ (13) wp.org #10 1 too high 12 DietPress 2K+ · 5.0★ (38) wp.org #21 9 too low 13 Check & Log Email – Easy Email Testing & Mail logging 90K+ · 4.8★ (292) wp.org #24 11 too low 14 VigIA – AI Visibility, Analytics & Control 2K+ · 5.0★ (19) wp.org #19 5 too low 15 Disk Usage Insights 1K+ · 5.0★ (12) wp.org #15 16 Sucuri Security – Auditing, Malware Scanner and Security Hardening 600K+ · 4.2★ (386) wp.org #23 7 too low 17 Speed Analyzer – Speed Test & Performance Audit 100+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #4 13 too high 18 Beehive Analytics – Google Analytics Dashboard 20K+ · 4.5★ (13) wp.org #16 2 too high 19 AI Marketing Expert — AI Email Marketing, AI Content Generator, SEO Analyzer, AI Workflow Automation, Social Media & Ai Chatbot 2K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #5 14 too high 20 Shortcodes Analyzer 70+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #13 7 too high 21 Disk Usage Details 70+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 9 too high 22 Neurax Site Health Analyzer 20+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #17 5 too high 23 SEO Audit & Analyzer — · 4.0★ (1) wp.org #22 1 too high 24 SEO Information Viewer & Analyzer 10+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #18 6 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.