Essential plugins in your WordPress blog will not only boost your website traffic, but also security and piece of mind. In this article you will find those must have WordPress plugins that are used by me and the experts of WordPress.
So, let’s get started with one of the most popular and the used WordPress plugin.
WordPress SEO by Yoast
Its one of the most popular plugin in WordPress. Why? Because it helps you in Search engine optimization (SEO). Another notable plugin that I have used in past is All in One SEO plugin, which is again a pretty great plugin.
W3 Total Cache
Using a shared or VPS web hosting environment can make your website slow due to other websites on your server getting high traffic, so you need to have a caching plugin that allow your html files to be compressed and delivered quickly.
Caching plugin that I have used in past also include – WP Super Cache, still a good option, and much easier to setup.
Google XML Sitemap
A sitemap will tell Google about a new post published and those you have modified on your blog.
Although SEO plugin from above comes with a XML sitemap, but I prefer to use a separate plugin for Sitemap, as Google XML Sitemap is more organized and way better according to me.
Contact Form 7
If you want your site visitors to contact you via contact form, then this plugin is a must. I use it on every single blog I have.
Jetpack by WordPress.com
Jetpack is another super duper plugin that I use for almost all blogs, it has several plugins inside it and its bundle of joy for bloggers. I can’t live without the Stats plugin that it has, I check my blog traffic, referrers, outgoing links, popular posts, search engine traffic all from within my WordPress dashboard.
For checking statistics, I also use Google Analytics, as it provides many more insights about your traffic.
Shareholic or Addthis
You will find social share buttons in the left hand side of this blog and many others. Floating Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, StumbleUpon etc can be seen on almost every big or even small websites. People that want to share your article can use these buttons and they bring social traffic to you. Another important plugin for social media growth.
Akismet Anti-Spam
Spam is universally disliked, but unfortunately, it’s an inevitable part of our digital existence.
The moment your WordPress website becomes active, prepare for the influx of spam comments.
What’s more distressing is the fact that a good number of these spam comments often seem authentic.
However, these unwanted comments clutter your site and ruin the experience for your audience.
Moreover, improper handling of spam may lead to losing your audience and potentially tarnish your brand.
On the bright side, an efficient and reliable plugin is available to handle this issue for you.
Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, developed Akismet, the official anti-spam plugin.
This plugin has been downloaded more than 37 million times, making it the most downloaded plugin ever.
Its popularity is not without reason, and if you haven’t started using it yet, it’s about time you should.
Once you’ve installed it, you’ll need to obtain an API key to activate the service.
To do this, simply select “Get your API key” and adhere to the given instructions.
Elementor Page Builder
The default WordPress page editor is quite rudimentary.
If you’re not adept at coding or willing to invest additional time in it, you’ll need a page builder to swiftly create the designs you desire.
So, what is a page builder?
It’s a plugin enabling you to construct your pages using sections, modules, and widgets.
Even though hundreds of page builders exist, many are either expensive or deficient in the necessary features.
You’ll also find two kinds of page builders: back-end and front-end.
The back-end editor operates within the WordPress editor. To see any change you make, you need to hit “Preview” and refresh the live page – a rather tedious process.
On the other hand, front-end editors allow you to make edits directly on the page, letting you see your changes in real-time.
Here’s where Elementor steps in.
Elementor is a user-friendly front-end editor loaded with features.
This plugin allows precise control over every component of your page. And the icing on the cake — it’s free.
Building a page from scratch could drain your precious time, but Elementor provides an array of ready-to-use templates.
Alternatively, you can preserve your custom-created layouts for future use on other pages.
These WordPress plugins are essential and I recommend them strongly. I know these plugins are very few, but you don’t have install some plugins for the sake of it. More plugins will make your site load time longer. So, use plugins that you actually need and don’t overdo.