WordPress plugins are fantastic tools that can optimise and adapt your site in pretty much every way you can imagine. However, plugins are complex pieces of software that use processing power to run, meaning that there is definitely such a thing as having too many plugins.
The number of plugins you should use per site varies on a number of things, such as site size and plugin quality. For smaller sites, try to aim for around 5-10 good quality plugins and for medium to large sites, we recommend no more than 20. Having too many plugins, or having bad quality plugins, can slow down a website and make it more susceptible to viruses, errors and crashes.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at what plugins are, how many you should use, best practices for plugins and our top 6 plugins for a WordPress website.
What are Plugins and How Do They Work in WordPress?
Plugins are additional pieces of software that can be installed into CMS systems such as WordPress to allow it to perform various tasks or implement certain features. From creating contact forms to improving SEO, there’s not much that WordPress plugins can’t do.
WordPress has a dashboard of thousands of available plugins that can be installed onto a site. These plugins work by using access points provided by the WordPress Application Programming Interface (API), which essentially allow it to link onto existing code and perform a desired action when necessary.
Why Plugins are Great for WordPress Sites
Plugins are great for WordPress sites because they can make your site more user-friendly, by including useful features such as forms and galleries, as well as optimising aspects of your site such as improving page speed and SEO.
Some plugins can optimise the performance and speed of your site, as well as plugins that protect against viruses and hackers. However, it is important to choose plugins that are essential to your website, as well as being high quality and compatible with other features of your site.
Can You Have Too Many Plugins in WordPress?
Yes, you can absolutely have too many plugins in WordPress, which is why it’s crucial to only add essential and high-quality plugins to your site.
Too many plugins can slow down a WordPress website because they use a lot of energy from the server to run. The more plugins you have, the more information the server must process, and therefore, the slower your site will become.
It’s also important to note that some plugins are better quality than others and this will also affect site speed and performance. Poorly coded or outdated plugins can make your site more vulnerable to viruses and malware, whereas high-quality plugins can benefit your site.
Best Practices for WordPress Plugins
Best practices for WordPress plugins:
Only install plugins that are essential for your site
Be selective and choose the WordPress plugins that you absolutely need. This ensures that the plugins will benefit your site, not hinder it.
Check compatibility between plugins
Some plugins won’t be compatible with other plugins for WordPress, so it’s important to ensure that you check compatibility with existing plugins. You should also avoid installing multiple plugins with the same function, as this will only slow down your site and take up valuable processing power.
Regularly update plugins
It’s crucial to regularly update your plugins for WordPress, as outdated plugins can make your site more vulnerable to site speed issues and viruses. However, it is important to back up your site before each update and check your site afterwards as, occasionally, updates can become incompatible with an element of your site and cause errors or crashes.
To check for errors, you can use tools such as Screaming Frog, an advanced SEO site audit tool which scans your site for errors and warnings such as broken links or 404 pages.
Another great tool to use is PageSpeed Insights, which shows you how quickly pages are running and how they can be improved.
Choose high quality plugins
Poor quality plugins can make a huge difference to your site’s speed, performance and health. This is why it is important to choose high-quality plugins that have been well coded and don’t put your site at risk.
Check reviews!
Whilst we know that one bad review isn’t representative of a wider experience, more bad reviews than good ones could be a warning sign. Check the reviews of the plugin you are looking to install on the WordPress Plugin Directory.
Plugins We Recommend for WordPress Sites
We’ve come up with our favourite plugins for WordPress sites. These include:
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is a fantastic free plugin, which is currently installed on over 10 million sites and acts as a guide to improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). It analyses your pages for SEO and readability issues and suggests best practices, helping you to optimise your site and boost traffic. Offering features such as keyword optimisation, automated structured data additions and customisable meta titles and descriptions, Yoast SEO is an amazing tool to give your site the boost it needs to rank highly in the SERPs.
Yoast SEO is user-friendly, with a simple display, making it accessible for non-developers and website beginners. It also offers a premium version for £99/ year, providing internal linking suggestions, content insights, and redirect management. However, it doesn’t offer the same amount of specific, local SEO features that Rankmath does, making it more suitable for general SEO.
Rankmath
Rankmath is another great, free SEO plugin for WordPress, which offers slightly different features than Yoast SEO. A key feature of Rankmath is that it enables support for structured data by adding schema code to your website. This can result in rich search results, better click-through rate (CTR) and ultimately, more traffic.
It’s a diverse plugin with more features than Yoast SEO, making it a little more complex to use, so we’d recommend Rankmath for those who are slightly more experienced with websites and SEO. Rankmath also offers specific, local SEO tools, such as including your address and linking to Google Maps, making it ideal for local businesses aiming to gain traction and increase local revenue.
Rankmath also offers premium versions, with features such as additional keyword tracking, 24/7 priority support and advanced Google Analytics 4 integration. However, for small businesses or those who are just starting out, the free version provides all of the tools you need to build a strong SEO strategy.
Woocommerce
Woocommerce is a great free plugin for eCommerce SEO, especially on WordPress sites. It helps you to create beautiful digital storefronts that reflect your brand and industry, it allows you to customise product pages quickly and efficiently and it increases revenue with a shopping basket that helps to convert potential customers into guaranteed buyers.
Woocommerce also offers paid versions, with features such as premium themes, multiple shipping options and advanced reporting tools, so if your aim is to run a large eCommerce store with international shipping and more advanced tools, then it’s definitely worth paying for.
CookieYes
CookieYes integrates an intuitive cookie banner into your website, enabling cookie consent and ensuring GDPR compliance. Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars and currently installed on over 1 million sites, it’s a must-have for anyone looking to track cookies.
If a user decides to decline cookies, then, unfortunately, the user is not tracked as a visitor to your site on GA4 (Google Analytics 4), meaning that you may have more traffic than you think!
The great thing about CookieYes is that it allows you to see how many people are declining cookies, which is important information for anyone trying to increase and monitor their traffic. This is also a great WordPress plugin to use if you are an agency reporting for your clients, as it allows you to more accurately monitor traffic, enabling you to assess whether strategies are working and see the true trend in a client’s traffic.
WP Rocket
WP Rocket is a premium, all-in-one web performance plugin for WordPress which speeds up your site, resulting in increased traffic and higher conversion rates. WP Rocket has a user-friendly interface and offers pricing plans from £46/ year to £236/ year, based on how many websites you’re running.
Features include page caching, critical image optimisation, automatic lazy rendering, mobile optimisation and eCommerce optimisation, resulting in faster page speed and a higher conversion rate – nobody likes waiting for a slow site to load!
There are free alternatives to WP Rocket, such as W3 Total Cache and WP Super Cache, but these aren’t quite as simple to use, so we’d definitely recommend WP Rocket.
Wordfence Security
Currently installed on over 5 million sites, Wordfence security is a hugely popular security scanner, protecting websites from attackers targeting WordPress sites.
Wordfence uses an endpoint firewall, malware scanner and login security features such as two-factor authentication. It is widely acknowledged as WordPress’s number one security research team, meaning that only the most up-to-date features are used, and it is always adapting to new viruses.
Wordfence offers both free and premium versions, making it a must-have for any website. The premium version offers features such as advanced malware scanning, country blocking and priority support. Whether your website is for a small business or an international corporation, Wordfence is your number-one defence against viruses, malware and hackers.
The Final Say
Whilst the right WordPress plugins are incredibly beneficial for a site’s functionality, too many plugins can cause major issues. A healthy site is always the priority, so think carefully about which plugins you should install and remember: quality over quantity!
For more ideas on which plugins to use, Search Engine Journal provides a scan of 140K sites to explore the most popular WordPress plugins you could install.
If you need advice on understanding which plugins to install on your site, we’d be happy to help! Contact our friendly team of experts to guide you through the process.
