Different hosting platforms allow marketers to create websites and publish their content online. But merely publishing blogs/articles will not be sufficient if your content isn’t reaching your target audience. You must improve your SEO rankings to communicate with your niche. Smart marketers find the right keywords to target, optimize the images’ file sizes, and make their content readable for better results. And a WordPress plugin permits even amateurs to organize their websites like an experienced search engine optimization expert. You can find many best WordPress plugins online that have distinct features and diverse functionalities. But let’s talk more about the different benefits of these add-ons first.
Reasons For Installing A WordPress Plugin
You might’ve installed different extensions on your Chrome browser to perform various functions. These “add-ons” or “extensions” enhance a browser’s capabilities and enable it to execute tasks. For instance, you require an extension to watch videos on Chrome without supporting this format.
Similarly, Flash allowed users to watch animated videos online. These “plugins” also work for WordPress users by adding certain features marketers need for producing engaging content. It doesn’t matter if you can’t even write a single line of code. You have to install a plugin, and your content shall become readable, keyword-rich, and SEO-friendly. Here are some of the benefits from the best WordPress plugins 2021:
Plugins take over the development responsibilities while saving you time and money. WordPress has an all-embracing library of extensions that provides you with different functions, ranging from more minor updates to larger utilities. These plugins are as easy to install as they’re to remove. And they give you enhanced flexibility to change/modify any feature you want. For instance, you can choose to turn some settings on/off, including sizes, fonts, styles, and colors.
You might’ve heard about PHP, the language in which WordPress is written. Other platforms such as Joomla require a certain level of programming skills in PHP. But, unlike its rivals, WP empowers beginners in programming to also establish a website.
WordPress happens to be a self-updating platform. It notifies content creators whenever a new update is ready for installation. It is also open-source, so the code is visible to the public. Therefore, just the basic know-how of PHP allows you to program these plugins.
Lastly, an entire community uses WordPress to promote their content. You can contact these people or acquire study material regarding the working of WordPress plugins for SEO. If you question how these plugins operate, there’s no shortcoming of online support available to you.
Best WordPress Plugins You Should Try
Your content requires to get optimized for search engines without which your niche wouldn’t discover it. That’s why marketers employ the services of third-party developers for link building. The sort of techniques they implement is similar to what WordPress extensions offer to you. These plugins help your website excel on Google and elevate its position on SERPs. So, if you’re wondering how to improve your WP content, here are some fantastic add-ons you should try in 2021:
1. Yoast
When it comes to improving your SEO efforts, websites tend to trust the Yoast plugin. Besides SEO, this tool also enhances your content’s readability. Checking your keyword density helps you evenly distribute the link juice in your writing. This extension is also helpful when it comes to writing your meta title and description. The SEO analysis by the Yoast plugin teaches you which problems hamper your content’s readability and what improvements can be unhelpful. It also ensures that each article is 300-worded at least. Moreover, Yoast also ascertains that your focus keyword is present in the first paragraph and meta title/description.
2. W3 Total Cache
Users are attracted to your platform when pages respond quickly to their commands and data access is made convenient. When users frequently access information, the computer stores it in a temporary portion called “cache memory.” This memory enables browsers to load websites faster, and W3 Total Cache improves this “caching” process. It helps your site save some bandwidth and integrate smoothly with CDN while contributing to reduced download times and better server performance. That’s why many WordPress content creators rely on W3 as their ideal cache plugin. Since, with reduced load time, your platform gets an elevated position on SERPs.Rank Math
Some experts recommend using Rank Math instead of Yoast. Since Rank Math has a better and more user-friendly interface, you can also add more than five focus keywords. Yoast doesn’t provide you instant indexing service. But we believe that the main advantage you’ll have with Rank Math is a faster website since it’s three times lighter than Yoast.
Moreover, it provides you a built-in 404 monitor for resolving errors. Also, you can pick and choose between different features for not letting the site become too crowded with unnecessary functions. Besides advanced SEO auditing, Rank Math permits you to create an XML sitemap of your website.
3. Squirrly
What if you’re not an SEO expert? You hire an outside professional. But Squirrly serves as your non-human SEO consultant! This extension gives you recommendations for elevating every web page’s position on SERPs. You will enter your article’s title before punching some keywords in and then start writing.
This add-on shall optimize keywords for you while you’re busing producing the content, unlike Yoast, where you save the article from getting suggestions. This tool will also warn you about any possible competition. If you wish to understand search engine optimization, Squirrly is your digital buddy. And, mixed with WordLift, Squirrly makes your content unbeatable.
4. WordLift
What does your content need to attain a better position on SERPs? You’ll respond by saying visibility, readability, and internal linking. Well, WordLift happens to assist you in excelling in these disciplines. This tool utilizes NLP (natural language processing) for enabling search engines to discover your writing since it can translate simple text into machine-friendly content.
Meanwhile, it makes your blogs/articles engaging for your target audience. That’s how a brand can boost organic traffic to their domain. A company can leverage the power of AI in its favor via extensions such as WordLift. No wonder Airbnb and Greenpeace have become users of this fantastic plugin.
5. Optimole
Bulky images can slow down your page. Statistics show that two-thirds of online shoppers (64%) expect your site to load in four seconds at max. Moreover, around 80% of consumers become “dissatisfied” if your page is slow. The ideal amount your webpage should take for loading is three seconds. And a significant contributor to a slow-loading website is bulky images.
Therefore, this amazing plugin helps to optimize these pictures for making your website faster and more responsive. As it’s cloud-based, you don’t have to worry about straining your server. Now, you can reduce the file sizes of your PNG/JPEG images. And this tool is also compatible with Elementor.
6. Elementor Pro
Popups are essential for attention-grabbing and lead generation. Elementor Pro – an extension of Elementor – allows you to create many kinds of popups. You can make fly-ins, slide-ins, and even top/bottom notification handles. Similarly, Elementor Pro lets beginners make buttons, timers, and forms of different varieties. So, you can make log-in, contact, registration, and opt-in email forms.
It gives you over one hundred themes to choose from or the option to innovate an idea for that theme. These forms enable customers to subscribe to your offers and become loyal consumers. Another one of the best WordPress plugins would be OptinMonster that also contributes to effective form-making.
7. OptinMonster
If you want help in your brand’s lead-generation endeavors, OptinMonster can help you out. This plugin creates opt-in forms for your websites. These forms allow your audience to give their consent so brands would contact them in the future. Now, you can turn random visitors into email subscribers and communicate with them via email marketing.
OptinMonster’s website claims that they provide lead-generation services to over 1 million WP websites. Even a beginner can attract new leads and enhance his/her site’s conversion rate. This extension tells you crucial info about your visitors, including scroll, inactivity, time spent, and click-through rates.
8. WordFence
Cybersecurity isn’t a trivial matter. Your website’s security remains constantly vulnerable to external attacks from hackers and blackmailers. That’s why you need to install this WordPress security plugin. WordFence – essentially – is a WAF (web application firewall). It recognizes malicious attacks and prevents hackers from infiltrating your platform.
You can experiment with its free version by switching to the premium package. No wonder WordFence has over four million installs due to the real-time protection against malware it provides. This add-on also sends daily email reports to keep you informed regarding the status of your website’s security features.
9. Revive Old Posts
This plugin was formerly known as Tweet Old Post. But, as you can guess, it doesn’t work exclusively for Twitter now. Instead, this extension now shares your old and new posts on different social media platforms. That’s how you resurrect your forgotten blogs, repurpose dead articles, and keep your content evergreen.
The fantastic feature of this add-on is to incorporate automation with social media marketing. You can also schedule your next Facebook post, Instagram status update, or tweet. Revive Old Posts enables you to include links and hashtags in your publications. You should try its free version before switching to the premium one if you like.
Conclusion
It won’t be an exaggeration to describe WordPress as one of the marvels of the 21st century. This technological innovation has become ideal for the content management system for non-blogging platforms. You can also manage your website from every geographical location without any FTP/HTML expertise.
Not only does WordPress give authors complete authority, but search engines also find it convenient to crawl and index the content published on it. Statistics show that around 40.7% of websites utilize WordPress, giving it a CMS market share of 64.6%. Some 58,167 extensions – or plugins – allow you to modify your site as per your wishes. These best WordPress plugins help you perform numerous functions. You have add-ons for SEO optimization, adding the option for live chats, or regularly scheduling a backup for your content.
You don’t require technical know-how or hiring a website developer to include these functions. Even non-paid versions help you reach your desired outcomes. Even paid versions have proven to be cost-effective for small companies. Downloading the best WordPress plugins 2021 is easy; you have to visit the dashboard and add the desired plugin. In short, these add-ons have changed the way people used to run their websites by offering flexibility with more-than-expected outcomes.