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With over 60,000+ plugins in the WordPress repository, choosing the best WordPress plugins for blogs is difficult. Even an advanced WordPress user can sometimes find getting the right plugin features overwhelming.
This is 2024, and WordPress has evolved through the years; the features, purposes, and many advanced functionalities are being added.
You’ll often read from WordPress beginners asking which are the best WordPress plugins or themes.
However, for someone who has been blogging on the WordPress platform since 2012, it is safe to say I have tested over a hundred WordPress plugins so far. WordPress has also evolved from a blogging platform into full-fledged eCommerce software.
Having the right WordPress plugins for your blog will help you grow faster, scale quickly, minimize stress, and grow your business better.
WordPress Plugins for Bloggers
So, from experience, here is a list of must-have WordPress plugins for blogs in 2024. Some are premium plugins, and some have free and pro versions.
Review the list and read the plugin features, details, and functions to find the best fit for your blog and business needs.
1. WP Rocket
Undoubtedly, it is the number one WordPress caching plugin for severe bloggers and businesses.
Top marketers like Neil Patel, Ana Couto, and Michiel Heijmans (COO at Yoast) used WP Rocket, trusted by Fortune 500 companies, as their number-one caching plugin for speed and performance optimization.
Business websites like WP Engine, Yoast, Elegance Themes, and BigCommerce trust WP Rocket and recommend it as the one WordPress Cache plugin to their customers.
Unlike many other WordPress caching plugins with a complex setup, WP Rocket is straight out-of-the-box, 80% enabled.
WP Rocket deploys the most suitable configuration setup for your website and reduces page load time significantly. It automatically deploys caching features like page cache, Gzip compression, cache pre-loading, etc.
Additional features like image lazy load, CDN services, CSS, and Javascript minification can further boost page speed by activating these features.
WP Rocket is one of the mush-have WordPress plugins for blogs in 2024 and beyond. You can read a more thorough review of WP Rocket in this post.
2. MonsterInsights
With over 2 million active installs, MonsterInsights is the #1 Google Analytics WordPress plugin.
MonsterInsights connects your Google Analytics account to your WordPress blog so you can see how users find and interact with your website.
Many bloggers often forget to log in to their Google Analytics accounts frequently; connecting your blog with MonsterInsights allows you to analyze your GA data in your WordPress dashboard.
3. Optin Monster
Optin Monster is the lead generation WordPress plugin of choice for many marketers.
It allows you to convert website visitors into subscribers. With Optin Monster, you can build email subscribers quickly.
Optin Monster is a feature-rich software. It comes with pre-made high-converting customized email forms with the help of its drag-and-drop builder.
Optin Monster is an awesome lead-capturing WordPress plugin for serious business owners looking to build their email leads faster. It helps eCommerce sites convert abandoned shopping cart visitors into email subscribers.
With its regularly added marketing features, Optin Monster now has mobile-exit intent for mobile marketing. You can read more about mobile-exit intent on the Optin monster blog.
4. SeedProd
You dream of a BIG website launch, but your blog is not ready yet. Instead of letting visitors see an uncompleted or half-backed website, please give them a beautiful homepage design.
SeedProd is the ideal coming-soon or under-construction WordPress maintenance mode plugin. This plugin helps you collect email subscribers by integrating it with your email marketing software.
So, even if your website is not ready yet, you can quickly build your email list and have an audience ready before launching your website.
SeedProd has handy features like social media integration, a countdown timer, email marketing integration, ready-made templates, etc.
It helps to keep your blog homepage beautiful and functional while working in the back end to build your website pages and design.
5. WPForms
Many WordPress contact forms plugins exist today, but WPForms is one to try. With over 3 million active installs, WPForms is your ideal contact form builder.
WPForms is a drag-and-drop form builder that allows you to create beautiful email forms, contact forms, payment forms, online order forms, surveys, polls, etc.
The plugin has both free (WPForm Lite Version) and paid options. Like any other pro version plugin, you get more helpful form features from the pro version.
The free plugin is ideal for a simple contact form builder; you must upgrade to the pro version for more advanced form features.
WPForms works with popular email marketing and payment services. This helps to quickly build beautiful forms for your favorite email or payment services.
The video below provides an overview of how helpful WPForms are to businesses. Also, you can check out my review of WPforms Pro here.
6. Yoast SEO
While WordPress is SEO-friendly straight out of the box, Yoast SEO helps you get more out of your WordPress SEO efforts.
With over 5+ million active installations, Yoast SEO is probably one of the must-have WordPress plugins for blogs in 2024. Yoast SEO is regularly updated to meet with today’s SEO best practices and WordPress.
SEO is more important now than ever; Yoast SEO optimizes your on-page SEO. It guides you towards writing better search engine-friendly content that your human visitors will find helpful.
Yoast SEO is a feature-rich WordPress SEO plugin. The SEO plugin makes generating and submitting a sitemap painless. It adds meta tags to your website and connects your site to Google.
It makes 301 redirects easy to create, optimizing your content for social media shares, etc. With the Yoast configuration setup wizard, getting it working takes seconds.
7. Jetpack
If you run a WordPress blog, you need JetPack.
JetPack is one of the must-have WordPress plugins for bloggers. JetPack is brought to you by the same guys that gave you WordPress – Automattic.
If JetPack is installed on your blog, you can reduce the number of plugins installed. JetPack has valuable features that let you do away with other related plugins. So you don’t have to install two plugins where one will do.
Like many of the plugins listed here, JetPack is a feature-rich WordPress plugin.
It comes with auto-updates plugin features, tight-air site security, image optimization, lazy load and optimization, downtime monitoring, site scan, and backup, brute force attack protection, auto-publish, sharing, traffic stats, related posts, site speed, etc.
All these features combined in JetPack help save the installation of other related plugins. JetPack is the first plugin your WordPress site needs.
8. Stackable – Gutenberg Blocks.
Before this plugin, I was using the Atomic Block – Gutenberg editor.
But since I discovered the Stackable-Gutenberg block, I fell in love instantly. It has more fantastic block editor features than the Atomic Block editors had.
Stackable -Gutenberg blocks have a setting panel that makes customizing each block editor more fun and provides more styling options.
The free version gives you 83 block designs, while the premium version gives you access to all 315 block designs.
You can customize each block to your theme colors, style, settings, etc. The Stackable – Gutenberg Block has many functional blocks to play with; here is a list you can check out:
- Advanced Columns & Grid Block
- Advanced Heading Block
- Advanced Text Block
- Feature Grid Block
- Image Box Block
- Icon List Block
- Card Block
- Count Up Block
- Pricing Box Block
- Team Members Block
- Number Box Block
- Button Block
- Divider Block
- Separator Block
- Container Block
- Latest Posts Block
- Accordion Block
- Feature Block
- Call to Action Block
- Header Block
- Video Popup Block
- Testimonial Block
- Notification Block
- Expand / Show More Block
- Blockquote Block
- Spacer Block
It is a handy page builder WordPress plugin every blogger should try out. Watch the 3-minute video below to glimpse what Stackable can do for your WordPress blog.
9. Official Facebook Pixel Plugin
If you’re ruining or planning to run ads on Facebook for your blog content, the Facebook Pixel code is one thing you should never ignore.
With your website’s Facebook Pixel code setup, you can capture users’ actions like view count, leads, add to cart, purchase events, submitted forms, etc.
This information will help you better understand your site users and create more targeted and relevant Facebook ads in the future.
You need to add the Facebook Pixel code to your website.
Of course, you can manually copy/paste your Facebook Pixel code into the header section of your web pages, but not many bloggers are code-savvy. Messing up with codes is not uncommon for beginner bloggers.
Facebook has a plugin integration makes adding your Facebook Pixel to your WordPress blog easy. I use the Facebook Pixel WordPress integration plugin on CyberNaira.
The Facebook Pixel plugin makes it super easy to add your Facebook Pixel code to your website in minutes. It also has built-in support for these WordPress plugins:
- Contact Form 7
- WPForms
- MailChimp for WordPress
- Ninja Forms
- Easy Digital Downloads
- Caldera Forms
- Formidable Forms
- Gravity Forms
- WP eCommerce
- WooCommerce
10. Grow By Mediavine – Formerly Social Pug
There are lots of social sharing buttons for WordPress posts/pages. And I have tested and used many of them, including Sumo, Shareaholic, AddThis, etc.
I have found that many of these plugins add extra loads to your hosting server, increasing the loading speed by milliseconds.
Grow by Mediavine is the best social sharing button I have used recently. It does not bloat your server like many other social sharing buttons—a very lightweight social sharing plugin.
I use the Grow By Medavine social sharing button on CyberNaira.
Here is a case study by WP Rocket about which social sharing button is the fastest and with the minimum loads on your WordPress server.
The free version of Grow is ideal for most blogs. It is what I use on this very blog.
It comes with before and after content and social sharing button placement. Floating sidebar. Social share count, including Twitter. Editable label button for more engagement.
If you want more features, the pro version is good to consider. It comes with more added features such as:
- More social sharing networks
- Pop us Social sharing buttons
- Customize social sharing button colors.
- Import and export settings option.
- Google Analytics UTM tracking.
- Mobile sticky social sharing buttons.
- Shortcode for social sharing button
- Social Media Follow buttons
- Most Shared Post Widget.
11. WP Sticky Sidebar
WP Sticky sidebar is the ideal WordPress plugin to make that vital sidebar element sticky on the scroll. If you have many elements on your WordPress blog sidebar but need one to be sticky, this plugin is what you need.
I use it to make the sidebar opt-in-form sticky on this blog. As you scroll up/down, you can see that the sign-up form is on the page.
This is good for bringing the attention of your blog users to an essential element on the sidebar. WP’s sticky sidebar makes it visible, so it never gets unseen.
The plugin uses the CSS class ID of the sidebar element to identify what to make sticky. So you need to fill in this filled-in plugin setting page. You can get the element class ID by searching your website page source code in the browser.
The plugin works immediately if your theme uses the secondary” id for the sidebar menu.
It has both free and paid versions.
The pro version comes with more features like mobile/desktop disable options. Adding CSS styling to the sticky sidebar. Post/page disable or enable options.
Conclusion…
Now that you have a list of 11 must-have WordPress plugins for blogs, you can choose the best fit for your blog needs.
You don’t have to install all the plugins mentioned here. Pick and install only the best plugins that align with your WordPress blog functionalities.
If you enjoy reading this post, please share it with your followers.
Most of plugin I am using, I am using some alternates of given plugins is this ok?
For example light cache speed instead of wp rocket.
Waiting for reply
Sure, Vijay,
It is okay to use some of these plugins alternatives. As far as they give you what you want. That’s the key.
Thanks, Vijay.
Such a significant instructive blog!! I should state that all the WordPress plugins are helpful for blogs. Thank you for sharing this article.
Thanks, Rushabh,
Glad you find the WordPress plugins useful.
A nice post. Thanks for sharing a wonderful list of WordPress plugins. It is really very useful list. Keep posting such good works.
Thanks, glad you like it.
I use Yoast SEO for publishing all of my articles on my website! Great WordPress plugin!
Thanks, Bily,
Glad to read you also use Yoast SEO plugin. Thanks.
Great post! I will surely use WordPress plugins for my blogs about led products. Keep posting!
Glad you find the post helpful, thanks.
Hey SHAMSUDEEN ,
Excellent and well-written post. I truly appreciate your efforts and hard work.
You have done a fantastic work here and suggested the helpful plugins for wordpress user. You have elaborated each plugin very nicely along with all the crucial information that is true enough to educate the readers.
Your listed plugins are so important and they must be used by every wordpress user.
After going through this post i really got helpful ideas and have also boosted my knowledge upto some limit.
Eventually thanks for sharing your knowledge and such a helpful post.
Hi, Aadarsh,
Thanks for finding the list of WordPress plugins useful. Nice to read you find the list very helpful, and glad you learn something new here today.
This article is really quality from the content to the part of the image you share, I thank you and respect you, hope you continue to share a lot for everyone to see.