In this article, I will share with you the most useful and necessary WordPress plugins that you can use to add more features to your website.
A plugin is a great way to add new features like building the custom page, Speedup WordPress site, Handle Search engine optimization (SEO), Improving caching, Image optimization, and lots more.
So, here we will cover the best plugin in WordPress in each of the categories. Most beginner bloggers add a lot of plugins to their site and eventually, the site speed is reduced and creates new problems instead of solving them.
So, Always consider the best plugin which will provide you the best features that you need without hampering the speed of your website. Using multiple plugins for the same type of work is not Good.
7 Best WordPress Plugins
so, we will cover WordPress plugins in the below category.
1. SEO plugin
Search engine optimization is the highest priority for a blog and using a good SEO plugin will help you rank better and saves tons of time. The two biggest names in this category are Rankmath SEO & Yoast SEO plugin.
In the Free version of Yoast SEO, we will not get all the features that we need as a beginner, and paying for those features which are already free in rankmath is not smart.
You can basically get almost everything in Free in Rankmath SEO plugin. Here are the key features of Rankmath.
You can see the complete list of features on the Rankmath Official website.
In my Opinion, Rankmath Free version is way better than the Pro version of the Yoast SEO plugin.
2. Page Builders
In WordPress, if you want to design a custom homepage, header, and footer you need a page builder plugin. You can either use the traditional old-school page builders like Elementor, Divi or use the new Gutenberg-based page builders like Kadence Blocks, Blocksy, etc.
I personally use the kadence Blocks page builders as it allows us to build any webpage design using Gutenberg only which is the official post editor of WordPress. You can also get better speed on this compared to Elementor.
In fact, you don’t even need a caching plugin for speed optimization, you can get inbuild performance features like CSS preload, local font, and more.
Here are the features of the Kadence Blocks plugin
You can check the details features on the official website.
3. Image Optimization
Image optimization is very necessary as images take the maximum page size of a webpage. If the images are not optimized, the website will take a longer time to load and it is not good for SEO.
We can’t pass the core web vitals on the website without optimizing the images on the webpage. So, we can use an image optimization plugin like Shortpixel to compress the image automatically after the upload.
Here are the features of the Shortpixel plugin:
So, in this way, we can save time on manually compressing each image before upload to our website.
You can check the below video on how to set up the short pixel plugin. (step-by-step)
In my opinion, this is the best image optimization plugin for WordPress and i personally use this plugin in all of my websites.
In the Free version, you will get 100 images per month Free, and if you signup through the link below, you will get 200 images per month Free.
4. Social Media Plugin
Social media is a great way to promote your blog post. So, you can use a Social media plugin on your WordPress website.
With the help of this plugin, you can add social media buttons like the floating or inline share button to your site. You can also add click to tweet buttons to encourage readers to share your content on Twitter.
Here are some of the best social media plugins in WordPress.
- social snap
- social warfare
- sassy social share
- AddtoAny
- Novashare
- Monarch
But, i prefer social snap for social share as it is an easy-to-use plugin and you can add all types of social media share and social follow buttons on your website. It also lets you add a click to tweet button in WordPress.
You can also use the Novashare plugin which is a performance-focused social share plugin.
Some more awesome features in Novashare include:
5. Caching plugin
Caching is very important for speed optimization and you should use a caching plugin in your WordPress website. Caching is a technique that stores a copy of a given resource and serves it back
when requested.
Here are the best caching and performance plugins in WordPress
If you want to invest in a premium plugin then I recommend you to use either WP-Rocket or Nitro pack. If you are using a LiteSpeed-based server then Litespeed cache is the best option for you.
Which caching plugin do you like the most, let us know in the comment section.
6. Security Plugin
Security is a biggest threat for self hosting wordpress site and you can easily improve your website security by using a plugin. You can easily block malicious ips, detect malware and vaulnerability in themes & plugins, hide login URL, enable two factor authentication etc.
For website security, I personally use the wordfence security plugin as it protect our website from malware and fix valunerabilities in website. I like the two factor authentication feature of wordfence as it greatly improve the security.
Other popular security plugins
So, it is a must have plugin in wordpress especially for beginners Bloggers.
7. Backup Plugins
Taking regular backup in website helps us fix any critical problems within minutes. We just need to simple restore the most recent version of the backup file.
That’s why I take daily backup of my wordpress website and the best part is it is automatic and store in your cloud storage device like Google drive, onedrive etc.
For this, I use the Updraft Plus backup plugin and we can take the automatic backup for free. You just need to authorize your cloud storage to this plugin and it will work in the backend automatically.
You can check the below video how this backup plugin works and how you can setup this in your wordpress website.
Here are some other backup plugins you can consider
- BackupBuddy
- BlogVault
- Jetpack
- UpdraftPlus
- Duplicator
- WP Time Capsule
Conclusion
These are the must have wordpress plugin that you should use in your wordpress website. It will save you both money and time and make your life easier.
Which among the wordpress plugin are you going to try first, do let me know in the comment section.
Read More: 11 Must-have Chrome Extensions for Bloggers
