Plugins are one of my favorite WordPress features and I think many would agree. Plugins are pieces of software that can be added to your WordPress site to add functionality or new features.
Currently, there are almost 50,000 plugins to choose from, so it can be easy to get overwhelmed. I’ve been working with WordPress for over five years and have a handful of go-to plugins. Even better, most of these plugins are free and offer a paid version with even more features.
My Go-To WordPress Plugins
Jetpack – This plugin is created by the makers of WordPress, you know it has to be good. I use JetPack for quick stats (Google Analytics is more accurate), comment management, sidebar widgets and more. There are free and paid features, but I find the free features enough for me.
Akismet – Hate spam comments? Me too! I use this plugin via Jetpack to monitor and catch spam.
Wordfence – Unfortunately, every website is susceptible to hacking. The free version of Wordfence will alert you if website files have been hacked. The paid version offers real-time threat defense.
Yoast SEO – This easy to use plugin makes SEO a breeze. It walks you through the setup process so you can easily create an XML sitemap and more. When putting pages and posts together, it analyzes them in real time and makes suggestions to improve your SEO.
Redirection – When a website page is deleted or the URL is changed, if you do not redirect the link, site visitors will encounter a 404 error. This plugin helps you fix any 404 errors so you don’t get penalized on Google.
Broken Link Checker – This handy plugin will let you know if any links on your website are broken. When it does find problem links, it’s easy to update or unlink the links.
Insert Headers and Footers – This makes it easy to install tracking codes, like the Facebook pixel code. Even better, if you change themes, you won’t need to worry about updating tracking codes.
EWWW Image Optimizer – One of the biggest issues I see with websites is large, uncompressed images. This plugin makes it easy to optimize your images once uploaded to your site without affecting quality.
Easy Google Fonts – Google has a web font library with over 800 options. This plugin makes it easy to use any of the fonts with no knowledge of coding.
Revive Old Posts – If you have a large library of blog posts and aren’t sharing them, you need this plugin. You can set the plugin in to share old posts every few hours. That means that your best content won’t be forgotten.
Better Click to Tweet – Encourage your audience to share your blog post with this plugin. Enter the text you want your audience to share and Better Click to Tweet will make it a call to action inside your post.
Instagram Feed – Show off your Instagram feed and gain followers with this plugin. You can easily customize the amount of photos shown, add a follow button and more.
Having reliable plugins on your website is a must. The right plugins can make your site easier to manage, increase user experience and website engagement. What issues have you encountered with plugins? What are your favorite plugins?
Great information Katie. I wish I was as proficient in WordPress.
I love Yoast sooooo much. I also really really love Hustle, do you use it or something else?
I haven’t used Hustle. I’ll have to check it out for sure. I don’t use anything at the moment.