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← Rankings

wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “writing tracker”

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 “writing tracker”, we and wp.org disagree on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 10 of the top 20.

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 the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Word Count Goal Tracker shows at wp.org #8 but places #21 on merit, a gap of 13 places. Its — installs carry it up the search order; its 5.0★ average from 2 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer places #7 on merit, 4.6★ from 405 reviews, but shows at wp.org #22. 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★ (5231) wp.org #2 1 too low 2 Email Tracker 800+ · 4.4★ (21) wp.org #1 1 too high 3 WPCode – Insert Headers and Footers + Custom Code Snippets – WordPress Code Manager 3M+ · 4.9★ (1917) wp.org #4 ↑2 1 too low 4 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #3 1 too high 5 Xagio SEO & AEO – AI SEO for Google Rankings & AI Visibility 10K+ · 4.9★ (51) wp.org #5 6 Headers Security Advanced & HSTS WP 90K+ · 4.9★ (79) wp.org #11 ↑2 5 too low 7 10Web Booster – Website speed optimization, Cache & Page Speed optimizer 60K+ · 4.6★ (405) wp.org #22 ↑2 15 too low 8 Admin Options Pages 500+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #7 ↑2 1 too high 9 Yandex Metrica 20K+ · 3.8★ (33) wp.org #10 ↑1 1 too low 10 Remote Website Management by Watchful 3K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #6 ↑1 4 too high 11 WordLift – AI powered SEO – Schema 300+ · 4.4★ (65) wp.org #16 ↑2 5 too low 12 ThinkRank SEO – AI SEO Plugin for SEO & Google Search Console 20K+ · 4.9★ (36) wp.org #24 12 too low 13 Wincher Rank Tracker 3K+ · 4.0★ (56) wp.org #19 ↑2 6 too low 14 aBlocks – Gutenberg Blocks, User Dashboard Builder, Popup Builder, Form Builder & Animation Builder 2K+ · 5.0★ (26) wp.org #23 9 too low 15 AI Copilot – ChatGPT Chatbot & AI Engine for Post Automation 1K+ · 4.2★ (6) wp.org #9 ↑3 6 too high 16 Textmetrics 400+ · 4.3★ (7) wp.org #14 ↑2 2 too high 17 WP Sessions Time Monitoring Full Automatic 400+ · 5.0★ (7) wp.org #18 ↑1 1 too low 18 SaveTo Wishlist Lite – WooCommerce Wishlist 500+ · 4.2★ (11) wp.org #20 ↑2 2 too low 19 AEO God Mode – AI Search Visibility 300+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 ↑2 6 too high 20 Opti-Behavior – Self-Hosted Heatmaps, Funnels, A/B Testing & Smart Insights 1K+ · 5.0★ (6) wp.org #21 ↑2 1 too low 21 Word Count Goal Tracker — · 5.0★ (2) wp.org #8 ↑2 13 too high 22 CookieRay – Cookie Banner for Cookie Consent (GDPR/CCPA Compliant) 1K+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #12 ↑2 10 too high 23 Bitlence Dev Code Tracker 10+ · 0.0★ (0) wp.org #17 ↑3 6 too high 24 Arvow AI SEO Writer 1K+ · 2.0★ (4) wp.org #15 ↑2 9 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.