WordPress, which is today the world’s most used CMS, is the most popular, probably due to the thousands of plugins that improve, secure and optimize the website. Here we list the 5 most popular WordPress plugins among the 55,000+ plugins currently available.
- Yoast SEO
The plugin that gets the most love from people is undoubtedly Yoast SEO. This plugin is used by (almost) everyone who has a blog or site in WordPress. In fact, it can be difficult to find websites that do NOT have Yoast SEO installed. So, if you are one of those who do not use this plugin… It is probably time to think again, as this will help you improve the overall SEO results of your articles and pages. With Yoast installed, you can set your main keyword, meta description, slug, SEO title and alt attributes for your images. In addition to that, you will also get recommendations on the best practices for good readability. What many people like about the plugin is that it offers statistics and practical advice on how to improve your work, and when everything is done according to the book, you have the green light to go live with your SEO-optimized website.
- Jetpack
Another popular plugin built by Automattic is Jetpack, a versatile tool that is good at (almost) everything. It helps you with marketing, design, and security. Among its various features, you can find website analytics, automated social media posting, multiple WordPress themes, spam filtering, downtime monitoring, malware scanning, login security, lazy image loading, CDN, and more.Jetpack comes in a free version and three paid plans, so not all features are included in the free version. The plugin is suitable for personal blogs as well as for both startups and larger businesses. It fits all basic needs and all budgets.
- Akismet
In the top list of most downloaded plugins, we find Akismet Anti-Spam. Akismet is a tool developed by Automattic, designed to automatically block spam comments. Every day we are spammed by either promotional links, irrelevant comments, malicious content or simply by mistake. It is very difficult to filter everything yourself, especially if you own a business that receives hundreds of comments every day. The plugin is not only good for automation but also good for security purposes because it does not allow malicious or problematic content to be published on your website. Akismet also checks all your submitted contact forms against their global spam database, so you are sure that only reliable information reaches you. This plugin would be mandatory for websites or blogs that receive at least ten comments daily.
- Wordfence Security
Many of the most popular WordPress plugins are different and come with a wide range of features. Now, Wordfence is a plugin that focuses solely on security; it was created to keep your website safe and nothing else. Wordfence puts a firewall on your website to keep it away from malicious traffic. Apart from this, it also scans for malware that blocks suspected intrusions on your website and provides a secure login system. One of the advantages of this plugin is that it provides alerts every time something strange happens on your website. By strange, we mean anything that should not happen when it comes to security. For example, when a plugin you use is shut down, abandoned, or when a security issue occurs. According to most WordPress developers, having Wordfence installed on your WordPress site is mandatory if you don’t want to face unnecessary problems or at least if you want to reduce potential security threats.
- Contact Form 7
In fifth place among popular plugins, we find Contact Form 7, which is a smart and effective contact form feature for your website. Considering that everyone needs an easy way to connect with people, it’s no surprise to see this plugin so high on the list. Developed by Takayuki Miyoshi, the plugin can handle multiple contact forms on the same page; it also integrates Akismet spam filtering and allows you to customize the design and fields that you want to use in the form. The plugin also provides CAPTCHA and Ajax submission to minimize bots and unnecessary contact requests. Again, this is a plugin that can be used by absolutely anyone, whether you have a personal blog or a larger website. Why? Because it is free, easy to configure and effective.
