8 WordPress Plugins All Beginner Bloggers Should Have

When you’re new to blogging and to WordPress, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the free stuff WordPress has in its plugins repository. While taking your liberty to get all the plugins that catch your eye is by no means a bad practice, it does have its downsides. One example is crippling your website’s speed for starters. That’s why it’s important to determine which WordPress plugins all beginner bloggers should have.

Not only does it save your websites from potential slowdowns due to having too many plugins, but you also get to save more space for the plugins you actually need. Now, if you have a fresh website, having the necessary plugins can also give you an optimal start as a blogger.

These WordPress plugins all beginner bloggers should have can certainly assist you in plenty of tasks that you shouldn’t be doing manually. Now, we have compiled a list of plugins that most of the blogging beginners need. Most of them come in both free and premium versions.

Yoast SEO

If your blog is all about written content, then having the Yoast SEO plugin to familiarize yourself with the common SEO practices is a great way to start. Think of it as training wheels for writers who aren’t too knowledgeable in SEO. Yoast has made their SEO plugin the ultimate go-to for people who want their content to rank.

The plugin can be summed up in two aspects, namely SEO and Readability. The SEO part of the plugin polices the writers and informs them what they’re doing to their content that does not fit in with modern SEO standards and practices. Meanwhile, Readability does the same but for the writing style instead. Both are key elements in making your written content at least decent enough in Google’s eyes.

UpdraftPlus

Backups are always a must regardless of whether you’re a WordPress beginner or veteran. In case something bad happens to your website that somehow erases important things, backups are usually the only thing that can save you from a severe headache. Among the best website backup plugins for WordPress is UpdraftPlus or its premium counterpart.

Both are backup plugins that will periodically make server-side backups of your website. This will not only help site owners in preserving their content but also when dealing with security issues or upgrading their website. There are alternatives to Updraft, of course; simply search for the word “backup” in WordPress’ plugin repository or use this article as a reference for choosing which backup plugins are the best.

Akismet

While your website or content is new enough for you not to worry about toxic users, comments will soon flood in as your audience gradually grows. Sadly, there’s no way to avoid some toxic commenters that usually blurt out spam. For that, a dedicated comment plugin might just help you out; Akismet usually comes to mind as the typical choice among many bloggers.

Akismet deals with spam, shady comments, and even blatant link commenters so you don’t have to. Once you install this comment section plugin, Akismet will automatically filter out anything that appears to be spam or self-promotion in your comment section. This way, you can focus on replying to the legitimate comments instead of cleaning the whole comment section.

Jetpack

Jetpack is just one plugin but it’s actually a huge package full of different functionalities. Think of it as a 36-in-1 bundle where it includes dozens of so-called “mini-plugins” that all have different purposes and ways that can help you. These mini-plugins range from aesthetic improvements to technical trackers to help you get started.

Now, because of this, Jetpack is also quite notorious in the blogging community; it might have dozens of mini-plugins but there’s a big chance you don’t exactly need all of them. Again, think of Jetpack as a stepping stone into better plugin opportunities. Once you’ve gotten used to which functions you actually need, you can then get rid of the plugin and get something more dedicated to certain tasks.

RELATED: Protect Your Website From Cyber Attacks With These WordPress Plugins

Wordfence Security

Of course, let’s not forget one of the most crucial aspects of running a website: security. Like any software, a website is vulnerable to viruses and all manners of cyber-attacks, which means you need some form of anti-virus or cyber-security for your blog. Wordfence is one of the longest-running and most reliable security plugins for WordPress websites.

Wordfence can protect your blog from hacks, fake users, malware, and even cyber-theft attempts. It also has a free version, in case you don’t have that much of a budget to spare since you’re a beginner. There are also other options for security plugins and whichever you pick, we recommend sticking only to one as security plugins can slow down your website.

Google XML Sitemaps

Indexing is the act of search engines downloading your data and storing it into their own database. It’s important to be aware of this for any blog since getting a site index by Google’s bots can be a huge boost in SEO. It sounds complicated to do but it’s as simple as downloading one of our WordPress plugins beginner bloggers should have and letting it do all the work, specifically Google XML Sitemaps.

It’s a dedicated indexing plugin that automatically shares your website’s inner workings with Google’s bots, basically handing over the necessary information for your website to be indexed. The plugin also guarantees comprehensive indexing, meaning users won’t miss any of your content in their search results, provided it ranks high enough.

Google Analytics

Checking how well your website or your content performs is always a must for any blogger. There are many tools out there but you needn’t look far since Google has its own dedicated tool for statistics and many other technical SEO metrics called Google Analytics. There’s actually a plugin version of the tool made by MonsterInsights.

What this plugin does is bring Google Analytics’ heaven-sent dashboard into your WordPress dashboard. This way, you can easily track any content’s performance or how users behave on your website. Any serious blogger ought to be using this tool.

WP-Optimize

No matter how organized you are, your blog will always tend to have junk just lying around. It can come in the form of unnecessary comments, dormant user accounts, content revisions, and blank drafts. When this junk piles in too high, your website speed can take a hit. Clearing it up can be too much work, which is why leaving the cleaning to WP-Optimize is how you should do it.

This plugin looks for any unnecessary clutter on your website and gets rid of them, practically speeding up your website. It’s a go-to plugin for website spring cleaning. Download and install all these WordPress plugins beginner bloggers should have and you’ll be seeing your blog grow in no time.