Have you ever had trouble figuring out which types of plugins you need on your WordPress website? In this post, I talk about the 5 types of plugins you need, plus grab our cheat sheet for the best free WordPress plugins.

First of all, what is a plugin? According to the WP Beginner glossary, “a plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. In the WordPress community, there is a saying that goes around: ‘there’s a plugin for that’. They make it easy for users to add features to their website without knowing a single line of code.” Basically, it allows you to add cool features to your WordPress site without technical knowledge.

Just a reminder: when you download a new plugin, make sure it’s compatible with your latest version of WordPress, and that it has been updated fairly recently. Also, just because I love plugins doesn’t mean I have a bunch on my website; I download what I need to protect my site and help it run smoothly.

So let’s get to the fun part and talk about the 5 most important types of plugins and why you need them.

Website backups

The main reason why they’re so important is that in case an update goes wrong (like with WordPress, themes, or plugins), you can easily use your latest backup so that you don’t lose your data and can get your site up again a little easier. And just because your web host offers website backups doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your own backups. You also won’t have to pay extra unless you want a premium version of the backup plugin you choose. Other reasons to do site backups are that your site may be vulnerable to malware and hackers, which brings us to the next point.

Security

I didn’t know exactly how vulnerable my site could be until I installed a security plugin. A good security plugin will protect your website from login attempts from people who aren’t you, suspicious IP addresses, and it will give you a list of what plugins and themes need to be updated, as well as files that may be causing issues.

SEO

SEO is another language sometimes; even we don’t fully understand it. That’s where a good SEO plugin comes in. It will help you optimize your blog posts with things like the focus keyword, the SEO title, the meta description, and a list of other areas to help your posts and your site show up better in search engines.

Analytics

Ever wanted to know where your website traffic is coming from, or how many visitors you get each day? Instead of having to log into Google Analytics each time, you can install a plugin that you connect your account to, and you’ll get real-time updates right from your WordPress dashboard. So easy, right?

Spam

Most new WordPress websites come with an anti-spam plugin. What’s great about these is that it prevents spam comments from ending up on your blog posts; and if you have comment approval turned on, it makes it to where you don’t have to sift through every comment to see whether it’s spam or not.

There are countless types of plugins you can download for your website, but these are my top 5 that I can’t do without.

Have questions? Still confused about plugins? Comment below, or click on the chat box in the corner to send me a message. I can’t wait to talk with you!

And as a bonus, you can sign up below to get your freebie, The Best Free WordPress Plugins Cheat Sheet!