The 6 basic plugins that every website should have
If you start making a WordPress website, installing a theme and some settings is a start. The next step is to install some basic plugins. Below you will therefore find a list of plugins that we believe are a must for every website.
# 1 Yoast SEO
The undisputed number 1 SEO plugin worldwide. Yoast is the plugin to optimize your web page for search engines. In a simple way you (by means of red, orange and green dots) are taken by hand into the world of SEO or search engine optimization. Based on your focus keyword, Yoast gives you directions on how to improve the page. Is everything green? Then your page is optimized and ready for the worldwide web.
# 2 Simple Sitemap
Where you can use Yoast for an xml sitemap, there you use Simple Sitemap to automatically create an html sitemap. You put an html sitemap (by default) in the footer of your website so that people and search engines can reach all pages of your website via one overview. With Simple Sitemap, this is a piece of cake. The free version offers sufficient possibilities, but if you want to exclude pages from your sitemap then (rightly) paying for this plugin is inevitable.
# 3 Redirection
One of the most downloaded plugins is Redirection. At the time of writing, there are more than 1 million WordPress websites using this simple yet powerful tool. Redirection gives you the opportunity to repurpose old URLs through a permanent redirect. You can also use the .htaccess or the paid version of Yoast to implement a redirect. However, redirection is less error prone and is also free.
# 4 Duplicate Post
Again a simple but effective plugin that every website should have. The name says it all, Duplicate Post gives you the option to duplicate a page at the touch of a button. Very useful if you make different landing pages with the same design or if you want to do a split test where you only change the text on a page. This plugin is so simple that no words can be made dirty.
# 5 Simple Custom CSS and JS
Are you familiar with CSS and how you can change the appearance of a website with this then this is an ideal plugin to use. Instead of having to do everything via an ftp connection or via the editor, you can make adjustments in a separate environment with Simple Custom CSS and JS. This is useful if you want to make changes quickly without having to change your theme. An additional advantage is that it works independently of the updates to your theme, so that your CSS and Javascript are preserved and cannot be overwritten.
# 6 Really Simple SSL
With millions of downloads now, this is a second showpiece of Dutch origin. With Really Simple SSL it is possible to get your website on a secure connection with a few clicks of the button. HTTPS is an indispensable part of this and a must for every website. In fact, if your website does not have an HTTPS connection, this can affect your rankings in the Google results.
This brings us to an end of these 6 plugins that every website should (actually) have. If you have a suggestion for a plugin that we should add to this list, let us know!
