When we set-up a WordPress blog or site then we need to install and configure some basic WordPress Plugins which are really important for every blog and website. Most of the basic WP plugins are free to use, so that we can easily install and active them to increase our blog features, security, charm and make it user friendly. But most of the newbie doesn’t know which plugins are basic and he/she must use in their blog, so that they install a lot of plugins which may harm their blog by reducing blog loading time and there is also risk of hack if you use unknown or unwanted plugin.
Some days ago I wrote a list of Top 6 Must Have Plugins for WordPress Blog and now I’m going to share a List of Basic and Free WordPress Plugins which you should consider installing your WordPress Blog or website from the day one.
List of Basic and Free WordPress Plugins to a WordPress Blog/Site:
Akismet
Akismet is one of the most important and free WordPress Plugins used by millions of blog owner to protect their blog from spam comments. When you used WordPress CMS to run and manage your blog and website then your blog get huge spam comments from the day one. So you need to protect your blog from those spam comments using Akismet plugin. Installed this plugin in your WP blog by default, you just need to activate it with Akismet API Key which you can get free.
Suggest to Read: How to Configure Akismet WordPress Plugin and Get Free Akismet API Key?
Spam comments are something like this “It’s the perfect time to make some plans for the long run and it is time to be happy. Or I just love your blog and bookmarked it etc.” and Akismet is an official WP Plugin which automatically prevents spam comments to protect your blog. You will get the free Akismet Plugin and API key from here.
WordPress SEO by Yoast
WordPress SEO by Yoast is another popular plugin used by millions of blog owner and webmaster to improve their blog and site SEO score. There are a lot of SEO features which you can use freely using this plugin. You just need to install and configure this plugin to your blog. Some exclusive on-page SEO features of this plugins are Insert meta tag to every page and post of your blog, RSS footer features, XML sitemap and much more.
You can easily create and edit Robots.txt file and .htacess file of your blog which are really important to get better results in SEO. Get this plugin from here free.
Jetpack by WordPress.com
Jetpack is another fantastic official WordPress plugin which you must you to decorate and make your blog user friendly. There are several features of this plugins which you can use freely, just install and configure this properly. You need to create a WordPress ID to active and configure this plugin. Some functions of this plugins are
- WordPress.com Stats
- Notifications bar
- Reader Subscriptions features
- Likes
- Post by Email
- Sharing options
- Spelling and Grammar checking
- Gravatar Hovercards
- Omnisearch
- WP.me Shortlinks
- Widget Visibility
- ShortCode Embeds
- Custom CSS
- Extra Sidebar Widgets
- And much more
Download this plugin from here.
W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache is a popular WP Cache plugin which you must use to make your WordPress blog more user friendly. This plugin improves your blog loading time so that your blog reader easily and quickly visit your blog. This plugin caches a lot and truly allows your site to take to the air. Just install and configure this plugin to your WP blog. Remember that, you need to configure this plugin properly, otherwise it may hamper your site visibility. Download Link.
Contact Form 7
The contact page is one of the most important pages for a blog or website. You must add a contact page to your blog so that your visitor easily contact with you when they want. You need to install a form plugin to your WordPress site to add a contact page. You will find a lot of contact form plugins, but you need to use a proper contact form which is reliable and easy to use for both site admin to user. Contact Form 7 is a popular, reliable and easy to use Form Plugin which you can easily integrate into your blog/site. Link
Sharebar
Now-a-days, Social Sharing has become a key factor to get good result in SEO as well as Search Engine Result Page. There is a chance to get huge traffic from social sites. So you need to install a social sharing plugin to your blog so that people can easily share your blog page and post to their social profile. Sharebar is a popular social sharing plugin which you must install and active in your WordPress blog. (Sharebar Download Link). You can also use other social sharing plugin like Genesis Optimized Social Share, Simple Social Bar or AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget.
Limit Login Attempts
As a webmaster and blog owner, you need to ensure your WordPress blog security. You need to protect your blog from hacking attempts. Limit Login Attempts is one of the popular security plugins you must use in your WordPress blog and website. This is recommended by thousands of bloggers and webmasters. Download from here.
WP-DB-Backup
The WordPress Database Backup plugin is another basic and essential plugin for a WordPress blog. When you build a blog with WordPress CMS and make it popular by hard work, then some haughty people or hacker may want to destroy your blog by hacking attempts. So you need to keep backup file of your blog Php and Mysql database. This plugin helps to keep your database backup according to your configuration. It will send your database file daily or weekly according to your command. Just install and configure it properly. Download Link
WPtouch Mobile Plugin
We know that, now-a-days most of the people like to use small devices like tablet, smart phone, etc. browse internet and they also visit your blog from those devices. So you need ensure that your blog small device friendly. We also know that, most of the webmasters use Responsive Design Theme for their blog, but still now some blog owner like to use the traditional theme for their blog. WPtouch Mobile Plugin is an ideal and popular WordPress Plugin that makes your blog mobile friendly. Download from here.
Google Analytics
Webmasters and blog owner need to tracking their blog visitor, visitor source, reference, etc. to improve their blog SEO score. Google Analytics is one of the most popular tools that you can use to track and analyze your site easily and quickly. You need to insert Analytics Code to your blog and Google Analytics for WordPress is a simple plugin that you can use. Download from here.
You will find a lot of free plugins in the WordPress plugin directory but, the first time you need to install only Basic WordPress Plugins to your blog. If you install tons of plugins to your blog, then it will hamper your blog loading time as well as it also decreases user experience. When you use plugins that are not reliable and contain bugs, then it will also responsible for hacking attempts.
Have I missed to include any plugin that is basic for a WordPress Blog? Please Let me know by commenting below.
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Hi Manik,
Thanks for the great list of Basic WordPress Plugins. I Think WP Smush.it also one of the important basic plugin which helps to reduce image size.
Tushar recently posted…How to Create an image on White Background Using Clipping Path in Photoshop
Hi Tushar,
Thanks for your reply and glad to see you here. Actually you are right, WP Smush.it also a basic WP plugin.
Great list of must of have plugins. I have already installed all the above listed plugins except “Limit Login Attempts ” . Thanks for the post.
Sasikumar Krishnan recently posted…Social Media Icon For Web Designing
Hi Krishnan,
Glad to see you here and thanks for reading the post. Hope, you will continue with BloggingShout.com
Hi,,
I have to agree with you. Mention plugins are really boost your site’s speed and search engine optimization. You provide such a nice information. Thanks for sharing this. 🙂
I think, you should mention some security plugins. Because, these days security is the main point.
Hi Usman,
Glad to see you here. You are right, Security is one of the major fact for WordPress site and as a basic WordPress plugins I already Limit Login Attempts mentioned here. You can also use Loging Lock Down and Buletproof Security plugins to protect your WordPress site.
You mentioned only one plugin for security , Is it enough to stop hack ? Can Limit Login Attempts stop hacking ? If it can’t – Which is the best security plugin for wordpress ?
Hi Roman,
Glad to see you here. These are basic WordPress plugins for a WordPress blog. You can find more here (https://www.bloggingshout.com/secure-wordpress-blog/) to prevent your blog from hacking attempts.