The only problem with WordPress plugins,
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 5:52 am
The only problem with WordPress plugins, is that there are literally thousands of different plugins and blogging tools to choose from out there. To help you cut through all the noise though… these are the must-have WordPress plugins to install when you start blogging today:
Yoast SEO: The more people that can find your content, the better your blog will do. The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress helps you to optimize your blog post titles, meta titles, meta descriptions, content length and other elements across your entire blog so that you can be found easier by search engines. This is by far the most established, best SEO plugin on the market, and worth installing on your blog first. Be sure to use my free meta title generator & meta description generator tools, too.
WPForms: You’ll want your readers to be able to get in touch with you easily, which I highly recommend—as it’ll encourage other bloggers who want to collaborate with you an easy opportunity to reach out. WPForms is an easy-to-use plugin that allow you to drag & drop contact forms onto any page of your blog.
Site Kit by Google (Analytics Dashboard for WordPress): This is a 100% free thailand business mailing list plugin made by Google that allows you to see all of your relevant Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Google AdSense and Google PageSpeed optimization data directly inside your WordPress dashboard. Connect the plugin to your Google Analytics 4 & Search Console accounts (you can sign up for a free Google Analytics account right here and you’ll automatically set up a GA4 account) to find out who’s coming to your site, how long they’re sticking around, and what your most popular blog posts are.
UpdraftPlus: Again, sometimes things will go wrong on your blog (and it won’t always be totally in your control). It’s always smart to have a backup plugin that’ll save all your hard work on a regular basis, and this free one stands high above the rest.
WP Rocket: Faster websites rank higher on Google and give your readers a better experience. WP Rocket is a plugin that caches your blog pages, reduces your file sizes, and does much more to ensure that your blog loads faster for everyone.
Bunny CDN: Speaking of speed, Bunny.net makes a fantastic WordPress plugin-based CDN that’ll make images and other static elements of your blog load at lightning speed, earning this plugin top marks to consider as a complement to also using WP Rocket.
Insert Headers and Footers: Sometimes to edit your blog theme, you’ll have to add code snippets to your header or footer (it’s not as scary as it sounds). However, doing it in the code of your theme can cause issues. This plugin lets you add small snippets of code easily to select locations around your blog.
Lightweight Accordion: If you like the way I create the collapsible (accordion-style) content boxes here throughout this guide and in the FAQ section near the bottom of this post, then I recommend installing the free plugin I use to make those content widgets come to life: Lightweight Accordion. In just a few clicks with this plugin, you can quickly add collapsible FAQ box functionality to your WordPress blog.
MightyShare: Automatically generate social share images in WordPress for free. Rather than having whichever boring social share image your blog uses by default, this free plugin automatically generates beautiful social images using multiple templates, fonts, color choices and robust customization. It includes support for all post types, multiple templates and new templates added monthly.
Antispam Bee: Antispam Bee is one the best free anti-spam WordPress plugin around, with a sophisticated toolset for effective day to day comment and trackback spam-fighting. Built with data protection and privacy in mind, you’ll be able to stop spam comments on your blog (for free) with this plugin.
Yoast SEO: The more people that can find your content, the better your blog will do. The Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress helps you to optimize your blog post titles, meta titles, meta descriptions, content length and other elements across your entire blog so that you can be found easier by search engines. This is by far the most established, best SEO plugin on the market, and worth installing on your blog first. Be sure to use my free meta title generator & meta description generator tools, too.
WPForms: You’ll want your readers to be able to get in touch with you easily, which I highly recommend—as it’ll encourage other bloggers who want to collaborate with you an easy opportunity to reach out. WPForms is an easy-to-use plugin that allow you to drag & drop contact forms onto any page of your blog.
Site Kit by Google (Analytics Dashboard for WordPress): This is a 100% free thailand business mailing list plugin made by Google that allows you to see all of your relevant Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Google AdSense and Google PageSpeed optimization data directly inside your WordPress dashboard. Connect the plugin to your Google Analytics 4 & Search Console accounts (you can sign up for a free Google Analytics account right here and you’ll automatically set up a GA4 account) to find out who’s coming to your site, how long they’re sticking around, and what your most popular blog posts are.
UpdraftPlus: Again, sometimes things will go wrong on your blog (and it won’t always be totally in your control). It’s always smart to have a backup plugin that’ll save all your hard work on a regular basis, and this free one stands high above the rest.
WP Rocket: Faster websites rank higher on Google and give your readers a better experience. WP Rocket is a plugin that caches your blog pages, reduces your file sizes, and does much more to ensure that your blog loads faster for everyone.
Bunny CDN: Speaking of speed, Bunny.net makes a fantastic WordPress plugin-based CDN that’ll make images and other static elements of your blog load at lightning speed, earning this plugin top marks to consider as a complement to also using WP Rocket.
Insert Headers and Footers: Sometimes to edit your blog theme, you’ll have to add code snippets to your header or footer (it’s not as scary as it sounds). However, doing it in the code of your theme can cause issues. This plugin lets you add small snippets of code easily to select locations around your blog.
Lightweight Accordion: If you like the way I create the collapsible (accordion-style) content boxes here throughout this guide and in the FAQ section near the bottom of this post, then I recommend installing the free plugin I use to make those content widgets come to life: Lightweight Accordion. In just a few clicks with this plugin, you can quickly add collapsible FAQ box functionality to your WordPress blog.
MightyShare: Automatically generate social share images in WordPress for free. Rather than having whichever boring social share image your blog uses by default, this free plugin automatically generates beautiful social images using multiple templates, fonts, color choices and robust customization. It includes support for all post types, multiple templates and new templates added monthly.
Antispam Bee: Antispam Bee is one the best free anti-spam WordPress plugin around, with a sophisticated toolset for effective day to day comment and trackback spam-fighting. Built with data protection and privacy in mind, you’ll be able to stop spam comments on your blog (for free) with this plugin.