Plugin Pulse Beta
← Rankings

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

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 url”, we and wp.org disagree 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

Remove Website URL Field From Comment Form shows at wp.org #5 but places #16 on merit, a gap of 11 places. Its 200+ installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 3 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI places #7 on merit, 4.8★ from 27821 reviews, but shows at wp.org #14. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Featured Image from URL (FIFU) 60K+ · 4.6★ (264) wp.org #2 ↓1 1 too low 2 Website LLMs.txt 50K+ · 4.7★ (12) wp.org #1 ↑1 1 too high 3 URL Shortify – Simple and Easy URL Shortener 10K+ · 4.7★ (169) wp.org #3 4 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5039) wp.org #4 5 Starter Templates: AI-Powered Website Templates for Elementor & Gutenberg 1M+ · 4.9★ (4755) wp.org #6 ↑1 1 too low 6 Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ · 4.8★ (7519) wp.org #11 ↓1 5 too low 7 Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ · 4.8★ (27821) wp.org #14 ↑10 7 too low 8 Translate WordPress with GTranslate 900K+ · 4.9★ (4962) wp.org #15 ↓2 7 too low 9 Remove Category URL – Remove ‘category’ base from category permalinks 40K+ · 4.3★ (61) wp.org #7 ↑1 2 too high 10 Jetpack Boost – Website Speed, Performance and Critical CSS 200K+ · 4.7★ (612) wp.org #13 ↑3 3 too low 11 Export All URLs 50K+ · 4.6★ (94) wp.org #10 ↑2 1 too high 12 TranslatePress – Translate Multilingual sites with AI Translation 400K+ · 4.7★ (1667) wp.org #18 ↓4 6 too low 13 Spectra Blocks – AI Website Builder for the Block Editor 60K+ · 4.6★ (53) wp.org #8 ↓2 5 too high 14 Meta Box – A Framework for Dynamic Websites 500K+ · 4.8★ (165) wp.org #16 ↓1 2 too low 15 Kirki – Freeform Page Builder, Website Builder & Customizer 400K+ · 4.5★ (81) wp.org #12 ↓1 3 too high 16 Remove Website URL Field From Comment Form 200+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #5 11 too high 17 Export Media URLs 7K+ · 5.0★ (29) wp.org #24 ↓3 7 too low 18 Admin login URL Change 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #9 9 too high 19 Coupons & Add to Cart by URL Links for WooCommerce 2K+ · 5.0★ (10) wp.org #20 ↓1 1 too low 20 Bitly URL Shortener 500+ · 5.0★ (5) wp.org #17 3 too high 21 Show Pages URL List 1K+ · 4.4★ (8) wp.org #21 ↓1 22 CopyProof Website 300+ · 4.4★ (7) wp.org #23 ↓1 1 too low 23 URL Image Importer – Import External Images to the Media Library from URL, CSV & XML 1K+ · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #22 ↑1 1 too high 24 Website Open/Closed Toggle 500+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #19 ↓1 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.