If you’re new to WordPress, it’s important to leave with a good base so you don’t do anything from the start. So I offer you my list of 10 WordPress extensions to get started/ There are a few for each use, SEO plugins, cache plugins, image optimization plugin, etc. So I’ll let you discover my selection in the hope that it can be useful to you!
Table of Contents
Performance optimization
WP-Rocket, the best cache plugin!
WP-Rocket is a paid module, developed by French and clearly the best cache module available to date! It offers a plethora of useful features: lazyload, CDN, cache preloading, minification, concatenation and a whole host of other useful tips 😉
The extension offers multiple levels of pricing (Singl, Plus and Infinite) where the only differences are the number of sites allowed and access to updates. You have access to all the features from the smallest plane!
WP Super Cache, the free alternative to WP-Rocket
For those who do not want to pay $50 for a cache plugin or who wants to start /test with a free plugin before leaving on the strongest, I can only advise you WP Super Cache. For me, this is the best free alternative to WP-Rocket. It doesn’t have all the options that its competitor offers, it simply manages the cache, but it is of a simplicity that puts it far ahead of other free cache plugins.
Autoptimize
Plugin indispensable (otherwise it wouldn’t be from this list, right?) if you use WP Super Cache because it will allow you to design and minify your CSS and JS files in one. This saves HTTP calls and helps speed up your site in its own way.
NB: The functionality of this plugin is included in WP-Rocket.
EWWW Image Optimizer
Images represent a significant part of the web and I have no doubt that you use a lot of them, whether on your e-commerce site, institutional site or your blog. The more you put on your pages, the longer they will take to load.
Even if you can’t do a miracle, you can alleviate this concern by optimizing your images. So I recommend this plugin that will allow you to optimize and compress your images when you add them to your articles and/or products.
SEO optimization
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is certainly one of the most well-known and reputable plugins on WordPress. With this plugin, you will have the opportunity to optimize your SEO for free. It will help you, by a few guidelines when writing your articles / pages, to structure your content, put the keywords where it is needed.
PB SEO Friendly Images
Images are too often left abandoned while they can be an important traffic vector and an undeniable asset for your SEO.
This plugin automatically completes the alt and title tags of your images. That doesn’t stop you from filling them out yourself! But lets insure your back in case of forgetting 🙂
Content management
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)
Application essential for almost all developers because it allows you to add custom fields almost everywhere! These fields can be type texes, dates, images, map, links … almost anything is possible. For those who fiddle a little, this extension is also for you!
The paid version offers more possibilities and is quickly indispensable for developers and most importantly, the investment is profitable almost instantly.
Weglot, translate your WordPress site easily
Weglot is a French translation solution and allows you to translate your site intuitively. Weglot offers a free plan of up to 2000 words and paid plans for your most important needs.
Weglot complies with Google standards and every page of content translated via Weglot is indexable by Google. Also, the extension is compatible with your WooCommerce store.
Security
WordPress represents between 25% and 30% of the web and is therefore the preferred target of small hackers. So here’s what I use to prevent my sites, blogs and e-commerce shops from being in danger.
WPS Hide Login
This extension only does one thing but it does it well. It allows you to hide the ad URL /wp-admin by what you want, style/administration, /backoffice or what I advise, something more anonymous like /bo87ko8hj (a series of numbers and random letters wholesale).
I first test the URL/wp-admin to test whether the current site is a WP or not, but I prefer that my sites remain as opaque as possible to avoid making them vulnerable.
SecuPress
A powerful and French security plugin, SecuPress is available in a free version, sufficient for most of us but has a paid version that allows you to go much further in protecting your site.
However, I would like to tell you that it is better to put a security solution before being attacked than to put one on when it is too late 🙂
Another security solution is also available, Wordfence, but I don’t know fan of how it works.
Akismet Anti-Spam
It’s not a security solution per se, but spam can be a good indicator of the security of your site. This is an extension that absolutely needs to be enabled on your WordPress blog.
The free version is more than enough to protect you.
This plugin is also offered by default by WordPress but I rarely see it activated, we live in a crazy world.
Swiss knives
Jetpack
Module developed by Automattic (the publishing company of WordPress, WooCommerce, Akismet, just that) that offers multiple features and become unavoidable over time.
You’ll be able to activate a CDN for your images, add sharing buttons for your networks, offer similar items and a whole bunch of other things.
If you switch to a paid plan, you will be able to have daily backups of your site and much more 🙂
WP-Optimize
WP-Optimize allows you to act on a lot of things but I use it mainly to clean up the database of my sites. Indeed, WordPress pollutes the database quite a bit by creating multiple “revisions” for your articles. Useful for articles being written, they are much less useful for published articles.
In general, this will allow your site to maintain a long-term database.
So yes, if you counted, there are more than 10 plugins but I could not see myself stopping in such a good way while I still had a few on hand.
Don’t hesitate to comment as we all have our little pack of essential extensions and it will be interesting for everyone to discover them!
Image by formsteller_de of Pixabay
