I’ve been known to be a plugaholic. I love WordPress plugins. At one time, I had almost 70 installed.
Even though I have deleted many, I still have over 40 WordPress plugins active.
In one of my recent posts…
Are You A Plugaholic, where I recommend having as few plugins as possible, John Soares from Freelance Writing commented and got me thinking about sharing the plugins I use in my next blog expert series.
I shall create a 3-part series.
This blog post will share with you the plugins that I feel are mandatory for any WordPress set-up. I know we are going to have different definitions of ‘mandatory’ but for me…it means they are “must haves”.
In the second blog post, I shall list the ‘definitely worth having’ ones and then in the last post, the ‘nice to have ones’.
16 Mandatory Plugins
All in One SEO Pack
There are numerous SEO plugins around and I have used this one from day one. I know many of you like the Platinum SEO or Yoast’s new SEO plugin.
It doesn’t really matter which one you use…as long as you have one in place and set-up correctly.
BackupBuddy
I’ve mentioned this one many times. I use this plugin to backup my ENTIRE blog…not just the databases.
If you want to see my backup functionality comparison post click here:
How Can I Convince You To Do A Daily Blog Backup?
Google Video Sitemap
I’ve added this one under the mandatory list as I do add video type blog posts. If you don’t there is no need for it.
If you do add your own videos (not YouTube ones) then this Google video sitemap plugin is mandatory. It creates a Google video sitemap for you to tell Google you have videos on your blog. That way your videos will be added to the search engines. Without it they are not!
Google XML Sitemaps
It generates a XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google to index your blog posts. (Not video ones – see the above plugin).
Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin
Simple. Easy. Stops 99.9% of spam. Period.
Insights
I’ve added this one under mandatory because internal linking your blog posts is great for SEO purposes. And this plugin makes it easy.
Login LockDown
Adds some extra security to your WordPress set-up.
MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer
Only pings the ping sites when you publish a post and not when you edit a post. Without it you could be classed as a ping spammer!
Pro Blog Stats
This is my (along with Joel Williams) plugin. Provides a single location to monitor the performance and statistics for your blog. It’s still in beta mode but we will be announcing something very soon!
Robots Meta
This plugin allows you to add all the appropriate robots Meta tags to your pages and feeds, disable unused archives and nofollow unnecessary links.
Secure WordPress
Helps improve the security of your WordPress installation.
SEO Friendly Images
Automatically adds alt and title attributes to all your images – this helps with SEO.
W3 Total Cache
Speeds up the loading site of your blog. You may wish to review my ‘speeding up your blog’ series:
Speeding Up Your Blog: The Only Guide You Need
Widget Logic
I like this one because it allows me to add certain widgets on certain pages.
WP-DBManager
I don’t use this plugin for backing-up. I use it to automatically optimize the database files. See the Backup Buddy plugin (above) I use for backups.
WP Smush.it
Reduces the file size of your images and therefore improves the loading speed of your blog.
Which plugins would you add / remove?
Please share your views in the comments below.
This is an interesting and informative list of plugins. 70 plugins at one stage?! Hokey smokes, how long did the site take to load?
Perhaps its just my server, but all my blog admin areas seem to load veeeery slowly…I have had support check everything out and they say that everything loads normally at their end. Next option I suppose is my computer…a new one would be nice 🙂
Jan,
When I had 70+ plugins installed, it didn’t feel it took too long to load but it must have.
You may have seen my blog expert series on speeding up your blog…after that I now feel it loads much faster.
Perhaps it is your internet connection rather than your pc.
Andrew
Andrew, thanks to your blog speed series I’ve been going through all my old posts and moving the images into the media gallery so I can us SmushIt from now on. I discovered that my blog is SLOW! Terrible!!! I’m actually taking several optimization steps at once with each post and while I’m in there I’m adding the alt tags to the pics. So here’s the question: do I need SEO friendly images if I’m sure I’ve alt tagged all the images? I’ve been deactivating plugins and testing new ones in hopes of finding faster performances, and SEO friendly images was one that I tossed. Do I need it back?
Amy
If you manually add alt tags and titles then there is no need for the SEO friendly images plugin.
I found adding a CDN to my blog via a caching plugin was the best way to improve loading speed. It costs me just $2 a month extra…well worth it.
Andrew
Great post Andrew. You didn’t specify a plugin for comment though. Thanks for sharing
Fisayo
I don’t use a specific plugin for commenting.
What do you use?
Andrew
Great post. It appears you are using the CommentLuv plugin but you said you aren’t using one for comments so I’m confused. 😮
Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting
Glennette
Why do I need one for comments?
What do you use?
Thanks.
Andrew
You don’t really “need” one for comments and it’s certainly not a must have but comment plugins can add functionality
The one you are using which is the same one I use is CommentLuv. Their webpage is at http://comluv.com/.
It allows you to show the last post someone made at their blog. Great for relationship building and increasing traffic to a website as people who read your comment can see what you blog about. 😮
You are also using KeywordLuv which is what allows someone to use their keywords in the name field to help with seo.
Glennette Goodbread, Owner
Premium Web Design and Hosting
A little surprised that you went with Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin instead of Akismet. I thought Akismet was the standard anti-spam plugin that everyone ran?
Lebron
Unfortunately, Akismet lets far too much spam through.
Andrew
Good resources but Still i want to add other plugins in your current list, and the are
Digg Digg
Wp-Stats
and Register Plus
By the Today i will Try WP Smush.it
Badal,
I understand why you mention those plugins but I wouldn’t class them as mandatory…especially the stats one as I have my own…Pro Blog Stats!
Andrew
LOL
That’s why I’m here!
Andrew
Very informative list.I got some new plugins here.Sutely I’ll add them to my blog.
Great – I hope they make a difference.
Andrew
Better you then me for this post. I do so much research before downloading, followed by massive testing after installing, all plugins for me are ether must have or gone. lol
Dennis
I will await your response when I share my plugins in the next 2 categories!
See if you class any of them ‘must-haves’.
Andrew
If I install them here, they are. lol
very nice list of plugins, but i think seo smart links is also a great plugin, especially for SEO, that you should include here… otherwise, a great post
Joe,
Is seo smart links an alternative to Insights?
Andrew
Great post. I’m going to try out a few of these plug-ins that I haven’t or don’t use.
To be honest I have a blog setup for that purpose.
Growmap and smush.it i’m going to try right away.
Great, John. I hope they make it all worthwhile.
Andrew
@Glennette
I understand where you are coming from now. I thought you meant using a specific comment plugin / function like Disqus.
I don’t class CommentLuv or KeywordLuv as ‘mandatory’.
Andrew
Your list is really awesome. However, why you do not link the plugin homepage or download page. So the readers will get more benefits from. It appears that you have forgot some premium and affiliate-relating plugins. BTW, what CDN you are using friend?
Vuong,
I didn’t want to link as I thought the visitor could easily search.
Re: premium and affiliate-relating plugins. Forgot? Really…like what? Perhaps I don’t use or I don’t class the ones I do use as ‘mandatory’.
I use RackSpace for my CDN.
Andrew
All are great but for those who are using framework like Thesis or Genesis like me, we no need All in one seo pack plugin anymore
Tinh,
Yeah – I understand but isn’t there a big debate whether or not you should use an SEO pack type plugin and turn off the theme seo functions?
Andrew
Hello Andrew,
Great list I can see that those researches in how to improve your blogs speed have really awaken a new sense of what is strictly necessary for your blog while also maintain the low loading speed.
Oh, I would also recommend the plugin for trackback spam (I think it was called Simple trackback validation), it’s not 100% proof but it works for most spammy trackbacks.
Thanks, Alex for the plugin tip. I shall take a look.
Andrew
Great! list…i am using only 3-4 plugins which you have added in your list now i am going to add few more from your list like Backup Buddy…as i want always looking for this kinda plugin to backup not just the database but my entire blog…thanks a lot 🙂
Pradeep
Glad the list was of help. Backup Buddy is a must.
Andrew
I almost use all these plugins on my blog besides BackupBuddy. Is it take whole backup including post and pages? Suggest me Andrew
Rakesh
Backup Buddy backs up your entire blog. You may want to see my review as mentioned in the post above.
Andrew
70 plugins???? wow. even 40 sounds like a load to me. I’ve got 25 or so plugins, and I thought that was too many.. good list. going to check out a couple. Let us know when yours is available.
Michelle
I shall let you know when ours is ready. We have just uncovered a major bug in the Aweber API which is causing our plugin not to work properly.
We get very close to launching and then…something happens that stops us.
Andfrew
Hi Andrew,
Useful list of plugins, I must say! I use most of the plugins you’ve stated here, but I will check out Insights. I’m kinda curious about your plugin, the Pro Blog Stats, looking forward for its release!
Thanks for sharing!
Johanna
Insights is a great plugin – worth trying.
We are also looking forward to our plugin release – it has almost been a year in the making!
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
why are you using Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin, rather than AKISMET?
Kai
Because Akismet puts too much genuine comments into their spam.
Andrew
Another quick question: Insights plugin has only been tested up to wordpress 3.05. I am running 3.1. Do you happen to know if it will work for that?
Thanks for the useful list!
Kai
Kai,
It does.
Andrew
Hi Andrew
I would class myself as a plugaholic, I love plugins and use most of the plugins you mentioned but will check out the ones I don’t know.
Neil
Neil,
Nice to meet another plugaholic!
Andrew
Great selection of WordPress plugins. With some of them i am extremely familiar but there are a couple of them that are new for me. (WP Smush.it, WP-DBManager and Pro Blog Stats)
Vlad
Well…Pro Blog Stats is my own and will be launched soon.
I hope you check out the others – they can help with the loading spped of your blog.
Andrew
Great list Andrew! I’ve been using almost 50% of the plugin that you listed here, I found them very useful especially W3 Total Cache and All in One SEO Pack. I’m using WP-Optimize as well, it’s a great plugin that used to optimize your database and clean up some useless files stored in your database, that would reduce your blog’s loading speed.
Regards,
Lee Ka Hoong
Lee,
I’ve put WP-Optimize in my ‘Definitely Worth Adding To Your Blog’ list.
Andrew
Clearly plug-ins are so essential, both in terms of functionality AND SEO, so it was good to read a nice list of WordPress plug-ins, some of which are excellent.
I would rather use Yoast SEO instead of All in One SEO
Ayush
What makes you say that?
Have you compared the 2 and had different results?
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi Andrew
I was hacked the other day, all my sites. My host server sorted it. After that I downloaded the wordpress firewall 2 security plug in. They said to make sure I had everything up to date, WordPress, and plugins. I’m glad I did as I got an email from WordPress Firewall today, well 106 emails actually! To say they had blocked a potential attacker! Should I use any other security plug ins? Apparently the attacker was trying to target Tim Thumb.I’ve got the Secure WordPress plug in too.
Louise
Louise
Old versions of “Tim Thumb” are targetted by hackers. Best to upgrade it if you haven’t already.
I would also install the login lockdown plugin and change the username from ‘admin’ to something that cannot be guessed.
Might be worth looking at the Website Defender plugin as well.
Andrew
Hello Andrew! How are you? That’s a great list of plugins here but I would like to ask you about the total cache plugin. I tried to install it once but made my website very slow! What do you suggest?
Thanks,
John
John,
I am well and hope you are as well.
It very much depends upon what settings you used.
Try unchecking some and see what happens.
Andrew
Where is nrelate or any other good related post plugin/s? Can you give some suggestion for backup but free plugin?
Michael
I don’t class nrelate or any related post plugin as mandatory.
WP-DBManager is a backup plugin but it only backs up your databases NOT your whole site.
You need Backup Buddy for that.
Andrew
Mandatory? So I will be hones with you but half of your plugins included arent mandatory. Also i asked for free full backup plugin. I really know only one but isn’t working for me. If you or anyone else knows Full Backup Woredpress FREE plugin.
Thanks
Michael
We are all different aren’t we – so what you think and what I think are mandatory will be different.
Which half do you think are not mandatory?
I’m not aware of any free plugin that will backup your whole site.
Andrew
Hi Andi. I agree with you mandatory depends from the person but mostly from the type of site or blog. I did little research and found the plugin i was talking about. Its called “WP Complete Backup” and seemed as great one, but for me didn’t want to work, it was stopping in middle of backup. I contacted the author and we couldn’t find what is wrong.
If anyone have tested this plugin or had similar problem pls reply.
Hello Andrew. Great post. I would add “Redirection” to the list.
This is just a simple plugin that cloaks your affiliate links and tracks clicks on them as well. This is a good thing to do to prevent from a lot of naked affiliate links being out there on your site. It will clean them up and it will look to Google a little bit less suspect. And, at the same time, it’s going to allow you to create a lot of different affiliate links for different posts on your site, different positions on different posts, so that you know always which link is being clicked, which product is being bought and which piece of content and which link of yours is actually doing the selling.(This I learned from another Andrew, Andrew Hansen)
I forgot to add… this WordPress plugin is mandatory only if you’re doing affiliate marketing 😉