Recommended Plugins Every Site Should Have

Backup Plugin

It's important to regularly back up your website. If your site breaks, you can restore it in just minutes with a backup! Your website host should have backup tools you can use to automatically back up your site, so check with them first before installing another plugin! If this is not provided, these free WordPress plugins that will work just as great: UpdraftPlus and BackWPup

Security Plugin

I highly recommend installing a security plugin to protect your site from hackers. I have Siteground hosting, so I use the Siteground Security plugin on all of my websites. Your host might also have a security plugin available. If not, I recommend the Wordfence plugin.

Spam Plugin

Getting a ton of spam comments and spam contact form submissions? Askimet is the #1 anti-spam plugin you need and is free for personal sites.

SEO Plugin

SEO is Search Engine Optimization. It means how well your site ranks in Google search. Good SEO means a higher rank in Google searches!

Rank Math is what I use for SEO on my websites, and I find it more user-friendly and easier to set up than the Yoast SEO plugin.

Cache Plugin

The purpose of a caching plugin is to speed up your website and boost performance. It stores your website data to allow pages to load more quickly. Most Cache plugins have other features as well– like image optimization. You might already have a cache plugin installed from your hosting. If you do, do not download another caching plugin– having duplicate caching plugins can cause errors.

I recommend SG Optimizer for caching if you use Siteground hosting.

Other cache plugins I recommend: W3 Total Cache & WP Super Cache

Image Optimization Plugin

Images can take up a ton of space and can cause your site to run slowly, especially if you're uploading a ton of large images. 

I recommend using either the Siteground Optimizer plugin (if you're using Siteground hosting) or the Smush plugin to size down & optimize your images to improve your site speed.

**  I do not provide support for these plugins. If you have issues with any of these plugins, please contact the plugin's support!