As of late 2024, there’s currently ~60,000 plugins available for for download in the WordPress Plugin Repository. For me that’s way too many to choose from, so I’ve created this simple list for myself to use as a vital reference in my day-to-day workflow optimizing/fixing WordPress sites.
WP plugins I actually use and recommend to clients/agencies:
Over the years of building and optimizing websites, I’ve probably experimented with hundreds of plugins. The following 25 have consistently delivered results, whether for speeding up a site, enhancing SEO, or improving usability.
The easiest way to make your WordPress website faster and boost your Google PageSpeed score. Get more traffic, better engagement, and higher conversions effortlessly.
This premium plugin should only be setup by an experienced developer due to its immense library of optimization features. If done incorrectly, it could deindex URLs from Google – I saw this happening during a quick audit a couple days ago.
I also use a Chrome extension called Check My Links to find broken links on the frontend of a webpage. FYI clients love to see visuals of work performed, so I’ll provide screenshots of broken internal links with a big red highlight. Each one I send also has the URL in question atop the screenshot like the example below.
screenshot of chrome extension Check My Links at work
Places a big Call Now icon to the bottom of the mobile devices like cell phones and tablets. Because your mobile visitors probably have a phone in their hands this plugin will allow them to call you with one simple touch of the button.
I use this plugin strictly for quick incremental backups before I manipulate any files or plugin settings. For daily/automatic backups, however, they should be done server-side (within your hosting account) rather than rely on ANY plugin.,
I use the pro version because it shows exactly where queries are found before I choose to fix or replace any items such as links or even raw code within specific databases.
