Top 27 WordPress Plugins for 2020
If you are starting a WordPress website or if you have had one for a while, everyone is on the lookout for the best plugins to make your website run as efficiently as possible.
Some of the things that you do on a regular basis, things that take up your time, you may have been unaware that there is a plugin that can automatically accomplish the same task.
Perhaps there was something that you always dreamed of doing and never thought was possible unless you paid a developer to create it. You looked for a free plugin to do it, didn’t know what to search for, and could find it.
The list below may help you. I use, have used, or will use each of these listed WordPress (WP) plugins below.
Most of these plugins are free but a few are not (not my fault but they are here for a reason – you’ll see). Read the list below. Click the links to take you directly to WordPress download page and more information on each.
The list has been broken down into three categories: Beginners, Established, and Advanced.
The Beginners list is for people new to WordPress that have just started a WordPress-based website. The Established list is for website admins that have been in the game for a few years, have a plethora of published posts, images, and their website is receiving traffic. The Advanced list are a list of tools that will make your life as an admin far easier.
Beginners
Akismet Anti-Spam
Akismet checks your comments and contact form submissions against our global database of spam to prevent your site from publishing malicious content. You can review the comment spam it catches on your blog’s “Comments” admin screen.
Broken Link Checker
This plugin will monitor your blog looking for broken links and let you know if any are found. Monitors links in your posts, pages, comments, the blogroll, and custom fields (optional). Detects links that don’t work, missing images and redirects. Notifies you either via the Dashboard or by email. Makes broken links display differently in posts (optional). Prevents search engines from following broken links (optional).
Disqus for WordPress
The Disqus for WordPress plugin lets site owners and developers easily add Disqus to their sites, replacing the default WordPress comment system. Disqus installs in minutes and automatically imports your existing comments.
W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache (W3TC) improves the SEO and user experience of your site by increasing website performance and reducing load times by leveraging features like content delivery network (CDN) integration and the latest best practices.
Thoughts – This is the second plugin that you should download and activate after install WordPress as your website’s CMS.
Wordfence Security
Wordfence includes an endpoint firewall and malware scanner that were built from the ground up to protect WordPress. Our Threat Defense Feed arms Wordfence with the newest firewall rules, malware signatures and malicious IP addresses it needs to keep your website safe. Rounded out by 2FA and a suite of additional features, Wordfence is the most comprehensive WordPress security solution available.
Yoast SEO
A true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and much more.
Thoughts – I have used all the top SEO solutions and this is the best one in my opinion.
Jetpack by WordPress.com
Jetpack is your site’s security detail, guarding you against brute-force attacks and unauthorized logins. Activate site accelerator tools and watch your page load times decrease — we’ll optimize your images and serve them from our own powerful global network, and speed up your mobile site to reduce bandwidth usage (and save money!). Advanced site stats and analytics for understanding your audience.
Thoughts – This is the first plugin that you should download and activate after installing WordPress as your website’s CMS.
No Self Pings
This plugin disables intra-blog pinging.
