Being in the blogging business for as long as I have, I have tested my fair share of plugins. There are hundreds of thousands of plugins to choose from, but I have picked a few of my absolute favorites that I think every blogger should have (or at least consider). Here are my 5 Favorite Plugins that every blogger should have! Most of these you can download straight from the plugins section of your WordPress dashboard.
An SEO Plugin
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is how search engines like Google and Yahoo see your site and posts. Say you search google for “Weight Watchers Instant Pot Recipes”. The posts that come up use those specific keywords in the titles and post URLs to be seen. This is helped with Yoast SEO.
Yoast allows you to override and edit what the search engines see and shows you how it looks. You can target your search traffic with more detail.
A Social Share Plugin
My NEW favorite Social Share plugin is GROW by Mediavine. Formerly Social Pug, the interface has had a complete overhaul. It’s simple to integrate, will count previous shares, and looks awesome on posts. There are two versions – the standard free version and a Pro version at $34 per year. A sound investment that is less than $3 a month and will help your posts shine on social media.
Grow by Mediavine is one of the easiest to use social sharing plugins available. It lets you add highly customizable social share buttons that will integrate beautifully with your website’s design, leading to increased interactions and social media shares.
The free version of the plugin comes with five of the biggest social media platforms, mainly Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
A Security Plugin
Security is important, and my favorite is Wordfence. I have found the free version of this plugin to help fend off attacks. You can also schedule scans or force a scan on your site to see if there are any problems with hackers adding code to files in the backend. If you do find anything you can easily remove the code through the plugin, no need to head over to your host to deal with it.
You also have more capabilities with the Premium version at $99. The Premium version includes block by country, leaked password protection, and monitoring robot activity in real time.
A Recipe Plugin
Hands down, my absolute favorite recipe plugin is another Mediavine owned – Create by Mediavine. Not only can you create and optimize your recipes for Google Search Results, but you can also create DIY how to posts and lists, all printable for your readers!
The plugin is affiliate friendly, will calculate nutritional values, and has several SEO options that will get those recipes to the front page.
Let me know what your favorite WordPress plugins are in the comments!