My Top 10 WordPress Plugins I Use on My Blog

While I say my top 10 plugins, these are actually the ONLY plugins I am currently using on my blog. While I do expect that to change, I tend to go light on the plugins as much as possible. I’m comfortable editing HTML, CSS, and a tad of PHP, so I don’t need massive amounts of plugins.

When I first started my blog, I knew that the core plugins I used to use may or may not still be viable. It had been almost 5 years since I’d lived in the WordPress world, so I wanted to get some advice. I did searches for “best wordpress plugins” and found many different recommendations. I personally like this post by Nicole Floss.

So what plugins did I settle on? Here’s the list!

*Note: While many of these plugins have a premium upgrade, I’ve just used the free versions so far!

Anti-Spam: This plugin filters for spam comments and blocks them from ever appearing in your comment queue. You’ll have a small banner above your comment review page that shows how many they’ve blocked.

Better Click to Tweet: I love this plugin as I can include quotes from my post that my readers can click on to automatically tweet to their followers. This increases engagement and helps highlight key elements of your post. See how it works?

Comment Reply Notification: This plugin gives folks the option to receive an email when they receive a reply to a comment they left. Although it hasn’t been updated in years, it seems to be working just fine!

Google Analytics Dashboard for WP: I really enjoy having a snapshot of Google Analytics in my blog. I can keep an eye on stats that way, and pop into the full GA if I need to. It can be set to pull stats from different views, so that’s helpful as I’m still fine-tuning my reporting.

Jetpack: I’m using a few elements from this right now, but will likely replace them with coding or other options in the future. It’s pretty simple to setup, but the stats are different from Google Analytics, so can be confusing at times.

Sumo: Share: While Sumo has many different app options, I’m only using Share right now. It’s those buttons you see on the left of the screen (on the computer) or at the bottom of the screen (on mobile). Try it out by sharing this post now! 😉

UpdraftPlus: You definitely need a backup of your blog. That’s basic and not optional. What I like about UpdraftPlus is that I can send my backup files to alternate locations (I use Google Drive right now) and it works in the background. I check it every once in a while to ensure it’s still working, but it’s all done automagically!

Wordfence: A security plugin is also a no-brainer. This plugin comes highly recommended and I’ve not yet had any issues. They’ll email me when there are updates needed for themes, plugins, etc. They also have a dashboard widget to display blocked access attempts.

WP-Optimize: This is a great plugin that helps keep your site from getting bloated and slowing down. For example, I write my posts over several days, so I have LOTS of post revisions saved. Once my post is published, however, I really don’t need those revisions stored. I can delete them all with one click in WP-Optimize. I just checked the plugin right now and I can decrease the size of my blog by just over 20% by running all the tools. Sweet!

Yoast SEO: I really love this plugin. It’s a powerhouse and helps keep me on the right track. With real-time SEO information and readability reports, you can increase your SEO on the fly as you write! NOTE: by enabling the Social sections of Yoast SEO, you can easily verify your site for Pinterest’s Rich Pins. 🙂

If you have a plugin you can’t live without, share in the comments below! I love to hear what others use!

~R