Ways Your Website Can Stay Ahead with WordPress plugins

In this list I show you the 50 best WordPress plugins according to my criteria as a web development professional and I leave you free download link in most cases, so that you can use them in your own project. This list of WordPress plugins is the result of having used them in a multitude of real projects. In addition, I explain its features, advantages, instructions for use and approximate time of configuration.

There are countless compilations on WordPress plugins in the network, but it is noted that many of them do not respond to the personal experience of those who recommend them, but repeat what has already been said in other compilations without providing the real experience of having implemented them in real projects. Therefore, I am going to try to make this guide really help you improve your website:

1. Yoast SEO.

Undoubtedly, the best wordpress seo plugin I’ve tried to manage and optimize SEO positioning. Deep and very complete, it covers almost any issue related to SEO positioning for WordPress, and allows you to integrate in a single application a whole series of functionalities that you would otherwise have to implement by installing several plugins separately, which unnecessarily increases the time of Upload your site Yoast is the jewel in the crown of the Dutch developer Joost De Valk, and allows, among other things, automatically generate Sitemap files in XML and robots.txt, which will improve our SEO, edit the titles and descriptions of all your pages and entries , clean duplicate content, de-index pages, set permalinks or permanent links, bread crumb menus, RSS feed, clean the contents of your Head tag to speed up site loading, etc.

Apart from this, without a doubt the best thing is your system for optimizing entries and pages. Through a red, amber or green signal, the program gives you suggestions to optimize and polish the published content little by little so that it conforms to the standard of the best SEO. Choice of keywords for entries, descriptions, preview of the Snippet that will appear in Google when a user finds your page, recommendations on the slug, density of keywords, external links, alt attributes of the images, metarobots, and even the possibility of editing Open Graph attributes (description and default image) for your shared content on Facebook and Google +. As I said, a whole jewel.

Approximate time of configuration: 30 minutes

2. Google Analytics for WordPress.

The best google analytics plugin for wordpress, or at least the simplest, way to have the excellent Google Analytics tool integrated into your website, without the need to touch code. You install the plugin, you enter your Analytics ID in the required field and you already have it working. More simple, impossible. If you are one of those who are not afraid to touch the code editor, this plugin probably only comes to unnecessarily load the weight of your site, but beware, we must keep in mind that not everyone has code knowledge or security to edit it

Approximate time of configuration: 2 minutes

3. Jetpack.

I had not used it until very recently, but I have to say that the result surprised me pleasantly. Its functionalities are very extensive, so to speak it is a plugin with many plugins inside, it does everything and almost everything does it well. I use it essentially to improve social sharing options. It allows to include buttons for a good number of Social Networks, print the page, send the post by email to another user, etc.

Apart from all the above, wordpress plugins offers us the possibility of receiving notices of the activity in the entries and comments, subscriptions, like buttons, spell checker, statistics query, a very useful search engine called Omnisearch that tracks the content of our pages and installed files , forms, personalized CSS, conversion to mobile devices, image galleries, shortcodes, authentication of your site with WordPress.com, publication from email, etc. In summary, another essential.

Approximate time of configuration: 20 minutes

4. W3 Total Cache.

One of the most popular wordpress clear cache plugin that exist for WordPress. This plugin caches the information of your site hosted in your database and allows to offer a faster load with a better and more fluid response from the server. Apart from the database, you can cache your HTML, CSS and Javascript files. In this way, optimizes the performance of your site and therefore improves the user experience and, very importantly, the assessment of Google in the face of positioning. Its effectiveness can reach up to 60% in some cases. As in the case of Yoast, this plugin requires an adequate configuration, for which it is recommended to follow an online tutorial where they help us to maximize their advantages.

Approximate configuration time: 10 minutes

5. Smush.it.

Smush it is a very useful wordpress images plugin to reduce the weight of all the images on our website. It is very simple to use, and that is one of its great advantages. Once installed and activated, it automatically processes all images and leaves them optimized for use on your site. In some cases, it achieves a weight reduction of up to 50%, especially in large images.

We all know that loading speed is a key element that Google takes to score your site for SEO, but in practice the truth is that we do not usually perform the optimization process as we should, that is, by editing the images in Photoshop or any other program and removing the weight and resolution that we have left to publish on the web, either due to haste or not knowing how to use any editing software correctly. With this plugin you can do it automatically and not worry about this aspect. The result is very good, it does not affect the dimensions of the image nor its quality. Another must.

Approximate configuration time: 1 minute

6. SEO Friendly Images

Like Smush.it, SEO Friendly Images focuses on the optimization of images on our site. If the previous one was in charge of reducing the unnecessary weight, this will serve us for something that we often do not consider and that is key for the SEO: the alt attribute or alternative text of the images of the HTML tag. Through this attribute, we will exponentially increase the possibility of capturing traffic to our site through Google image search. Usually, in order to improve our SEO, we focus almost exclusively on debugging and optimizing the texts of our site, obviating that the images are also semantic elements that we must take care of so that our positioning strategy is effective.

This plugin will automatically complete all the alt and title fields of the images of the site taking the texts of the title of the post. Although it is advisable to spend time editing them one by one to develop our SEO strategy in an intelligent way, this plugin is very practical in the case of sites with a huge amount of images.

Approximate time of configuration: 2 minutes

7. Visual Composer.

Visual Composer is without a doubt one of my favorite wordpress editor plugin. The jewel in the crown of Codecanyon, it is one of those plugins that really mark decisively the way the user works and manage to revolutionize key aspects of the use of the WordPress tool. Visual Composer is a plugin of visual layout for WordPress with which you can design and layout your content quickly and very attractive, without the need to know code and with a really surprising ease and speed, mainly due to the quality of the plugin and the fact to have behind it a whole team of developers that optimize and continuously improve its operation. In fact, one of the criteria that I follow when choosing premium themes to design my websites is that they include Visual Composer within the package of template files.

There are other alternatives to Visual Composer as Page Builder, but I clearly prefer Visual Composer because it is really designed to facilitate the user experience, which is what makes the difference in what plugins are. With Visual Composer you can add all kinds of elements through an intuitive visual editor that allows you to insert in a single click text boxes, images, sliders, social buttons, icons, headers, drop-down, navigation labels, images carousel, portfolios, testimonies , advanced buttons, graphics, forms, skill bars, calls to action, price tables, parallax images, separators, counters, blank spaces, etc.

Another advantage is also the large number of extensions that are available on the Codecanyon website and the fact that they are really affordable. With these extensions you can add all kinds of new elements to do really incredible things with your pages, copy and paste content, undo, etc. In short, the tool ends up becoming the closest thing to an editing software to use despite being an application to work online, and it is noted that its priority philosophy is to solve the user’s life.

Approximate configuration time: 5 minutes

8. Rotating Tweets.

With this wordpress twitter plugin you can link your Twitter account with your WordPress site to dynamically display your latest tweets, in a very visual and attractive way, so that you will be able to give your web a more social dimension and an appearance of being very updated and alive, In addition to serving as a channel to generate user traffic to your Twitter account. To configure this tool, it is necessary to go to our Twitter account and create an application within the configuration panel, and then write down the IDs, called Consumer Key and Access Token, that we must enter in the corresponding fields of the plugin. You can also edit the rotation speed and the number of tweets you want to show. Actually the result is very good if we want our website to breathe 2.0.

Approximate configuration time: 5 minutes

9. P3 Performance Profiler

Rescued from the previous article where we highlighted it as a useful wordpress performance plugin for the Community Manager, this application reviews all the plugins installed on your WordPress site and gives you information about its performance, that is, it warns you which ones are slowing down excessively the load of your web and that, consequently, it would be convenient to uninstall, which is vital for the optimization of face to the user experience and the SEO.

Often and in posts like this we launch to tell the undoubted benefits offered by many of the plugins that are available for WordPress, but we do not warn about something essential: if we overload the server we can get the opposite effect and be penalized by Google , in addition to making our site a less fluid place for the visitor. Therefore, a key recommendation: whenever you can and can know how to do it, it is best to include directly in code what a plugin could do. And, if there is no other solution, try to use plugins that integrate as many functionalities as possible so that with one we do many of the things that we would do separately.

Approximate configuration time: 1 minute

10. WPML.

The best plugin I’ve tried to translate WordPress web pages to almost any language and with an infinite number of configuration options that make it a very powerful tool, since it also allows you to translate pages, menus, templates, etc. It has a very intuitive operation. Once installed, you will see that in all your content there is an option to add a version of said content in the language you have configured, and it also allows you to duplicate the content and then translate it over the replicated structure of it. In addition, it allows you to configure it to display the page automatically in the browser language.

As if all this were not enough, the WPML plugin includes an extension called String Translation that is very useful for translating specific words of a template, that is, all those terms that in the WordPress themes come in English, such as “Comments”, “Posted by “,” By “, etc. To do so, you simply look for these words through a powerful search engine and then write how each of these words should be translated. A marvel. The only downside, its high cost, although in my opinion it is worth paying for its ease of use, power and excellent online technical support to solve questions and incidents.

Approximate time of configuration: 30 minutes

11. LayerSlider.

One of the best slider plugin for wordpress to create and design sliders with WordPress in a professional way. Quite similar to Revolution Slider in terms of quality, the LayerSlider plugin is perhaps a bit less intuitive in terms of use but certainly very powerful in terms of its almost endless possibilities, configuration and customization options, transition styles, etc. Although a few years ago I used Revolution Slider, I switched to LayerSlider because it gives you more freedom to create and design your sliders and it is also much safer than the previous one, since Revolution Slider shows some security deficiencies in the code.

LayerSlider is a paid plugin but it is definitely worth paying if you want to design sliders with WordPress and do it in an advanced way and without limitations in terms of creativity. It offers the possibility of making responsive sliders that adapt to all devices, as well as including all kinds of content such as images, texts, audios, videos, even posts from your blog.

Approximate configuration time: 25 minutes

12. Contact Form 7

The wordpress contact forms plugin par excellence for the creation and design of contact forms in WordPress, also free. The Contact Form 7 plugin, developed by the Japanese engineer Takayuki Miyoshi, is one of the most famous and widespread among the WordPress user community due to its ease of use and at the same time its almost infinite possibilities, especially for all those who know HTML and CSS code, because it offers a very simple interface in which you can include almost any type of form field and also add classes and CSS identifiers to customize them according to the needs of your web project. In addition, it gives you the option of designing and completely personalizing the email message that you receive when a user sends the form from the website, making those messages much friendlier, closer and more usable.

Among the fields that you can insert include the fields for Captcha, upload of attachments (with the possibility of restricting weight and types of file formats), date, boxes, drop-down, etc. With Contact Form 7 you can also create many different forms and place them anywhere on your WordPress website through a shortcode or through tools such as Visual Composer. A plugin almost essential.

Approximate configuration time: 15 minutes

13. Thank Me Later.

This free plugin helps you create predefined and fully personalized thank-you messages that are automatically sent when a user types a comment on any of your blog posts. Its configuration is very simple, you can leave directly the message that comes by default or customize it by means of a very simple editor in which you can include images, headers and even HTML code. In addition, you can define a specific message of gratitude for each of the entries in your blog separately, which makes it an excellent option to retain users and invite them to read other content on your site or suggest products, services, etc.

Approximate configuration time: 5 minutes

14. FV Antispam.

This is a wordpress plugins to avoid spam in your web page or WordPress blog that automatically filters all messages that are considered suspicious. Very similar to Akismet, the main advantage of FV Antispam is that it allows you to directly eliminate all spam messages without having to manually filter them, which will save you a lot of time, especially if you have a lot of daily comments on your WordPress blog. Its operation is perfect, detect and eliminate spam without having to worry about anything else than to keep the plugin updated. In addition, it is a very well optimized and lightweight plugin that consumes very few resources.

Approximate configuration time: 1 minute

15. Mailchimp for WordPress.

With Mailchimp for WordPress you can develop all types of email marketing strategies, from designing forms to managing subscriber lists, which you can link to your Mailchimp account to build loyalty to your followers’ community, through the possibility of designing newsletters and automate your shipment. An essential best mailchimp plugin for wordpress for your website.

Approximate configuration time: 15 minutes

16. Sumo Me

Sumo Me is a plugin similar to Mailchimp, focused on the creation, management and development of strategies for attracting subscribers, Email Marketing, etc. With this plugin you will be able to design pop up type subscription forms that will appear on your website after a time that you can define with the tool, as well as the times that the pop up, design, texts, etc. will be shown. . A plugin that is growing more every day.

Approximate configuration time: 15 minutes

17. Magic Action Box.

With the Magic Action Box wordpress plugins you can design and customize in an advanced manner all types of forms to achieve subscribers and also allows you to create lists and link them with the forms, so you can have subscription boxes for certain lists and thus segment your subscribers according to thematic and interests. In the free version you have some limitations in the design of the boxes but if you buy the premium version the possibilities are enormous. In addition, you can link it with other plugins such as Mailchimp or Mailpoet to send subscribers to certain lists, send them personalized newsletters, etc. Ideal to retain your readers.

Approximate configuration time: 15 minutes

18. Mail Poet.

Wysija Mail Poet is one of the favorite plugins for WordPress site developers. Among other things, its simple and powerful editor surprised to design and customize newsletters whose sending you can configure so that your followers receive the newsletters in certain days and times of the week, send different newsletters to the users of each of your lists, etc.

It is a Drag and Drop editor that will allow you to quickly design very attractive newsletters with texts, style sheets, images, posts from your blog, etc. It also allows you to load predesigned bulletins. It also offers the possibility of creating custom subscription forms, although you can also connect it with other plugins to use different forms such as Magic Action Box.

Approximate time of configuration: 20 minutes

19. Click To Tweet.

With Click to Tweet you can highlight phrases in your posts and place them as an appointment in large format and inside a box so that users can retweet that phrase with a single click. Ideal to increase the interactions of your articles, to reinforce and highlight ideas of the post and make them have visibility on Twitter and to improve the appearance of your articles. One of the most used and most successful plugins among bloggers. In some of the posts of this blog you can see the operation of this wordpress plugins.

Approximate configuration time: 5 minutes

20. Cookie Law Info.

Cookie Law Info is a wordpress plugins that will allow you to add a bar on your website to inform the user about the cookie policy of the site and also includes a button to accept this policy. Easy to configure and with many customization options in terms of styles, colors, position on the page, etc. In addition, it allows you to link to a page that you have created in which you include all the specific information about the cookies policy of your site. Without a doubt a very good option to adapt your website to the current legislation in just a few minutes.

Approximate configuration time: 10 minutes

21. Digg Digg.

Digg Digg is one of the most famous WordPress  plugins to include on your website share buttons in social networks, for its ease of use and at the same time its extensive configuration possibilities. Among others, it allows you to add icons of social sharing at the top of a post, also at the bottom and even place them on a lateral floating bar in the left part of the post that you can do fixed to increase in this way the interactions with your Article. This bar can be fixed until the end of the post, define the distance of the bar from the content, etc. In this article you can see it placed just on the left side. In addition, you can not only enable the share buttons in your posts, but also in pages, portfolio items, products, etc. The amount of social networks that you can add is enormous and you will also configure it in a few minutes. A great plugin to increase engagement.

Approximate configuration time: 10 minutes

22. Enhanced Media Library.

It has not happened to you that you have uploaded a lot of images and icons to the multimedia library of your WordPress website and when you go to look for them to insert them you find it almost impossible to find them because of the enormous amount that there is? Unfortunately, this can cause you to delay quite a bit and also frustrates a bit because sometimes you have so many images that there is no way to work fast. With Enhanced Media Library you will no longer have this problem, because it allows you to classify the images that you upload to your multimedia library in different categories, so that when you insert them you go directly to the folder of the specific category that you need. For example, if you are working on a post and you need to have all the icons at hand, you are going to add an object and in the multimedia library you only display the icons category. A simple and wonderful plugin.

Approximate configuration time: 1 minute

23. UberMenu.

UberMenu is a very powerful wordpress plugins menu to create advanced menus or Mega Menus. With this plugin you will be able to create drop-down menus that include sub-menus, icons, background images, maps, forms, videos, products, categories, etc. The possibilities are almost endless and the advantages are very remarkable because this type of menu is very useful to show all the main sections of your website at the beginning and be able to navigate directly to them, as well as providing great visual appeal.

Approximate configuration time: 45 minutes

24. Q2W3 Fixed Widget.

With the Q2W3 Fixed Widget WordPress  plugin you can quickly configure your widgets to be fixed by automatically implementing the HTML fixed property. This means that with a single click inside the widget box you can make the widget stay fixed on the page and not disappear at the top when the user scrolls vertically. Ideal for highlighting widgets that include essential content and that should always remain visible such as subscription forms, banners, valuable content, etc. Very easy to configure and very useful to increase interactions and conversions.

Approximate configuration time: 1 minute

Do you have any suggestion? Is there a WordPress plugin that I have not included and that you think should be on the list? Do you have any doubts about a plugin? Leave your opinion and let’s make this post a place of debate for WordPress lovers and their great plugins. I will be happy to answer your comments and doubts.