What are your go-to WordPress plugins?

Help
1

Here are some WordPress plugins I find super useful lately.

RankMath or The SEO Framework (TSF)

For client sites, I’ve been using RankMath because it’s lightweight and covers everything you need. For my own sites, I prefer TSF as it offers more control and is the least resource-heavy SEO plugin.

WP Rocket

A paid plugin but totally worth it. It boosts website speed in just a few clicks.

Perfmatters

Great for controlling server-heavy features, especially on content-heavy sites.

Imagify

Perfect for compressing and optimizing images, which is a lifesaver for media-heavy websites.

Phoenix Media Rename

Recently discovered this—it renames your images automatically to match the post title. A big time-saver!

WP Sheet Editor

Lets you manage posts, pages, and other site data in an Excel-like format. Updating tags and categories has never been easier.

Hide Admin Notices

Keeps all those admin alerts in one spot, making the interface cleaner.

Lasso & Internal Link Juicer

I use Lasso to manage affiliate links and Internal Link Juicer to automatically link keywords to specific pages. Makes life easier!

What are some plugins you swear by that I might have missed?

2

My go-to plugins include:

  • Astra Pro Theme
  • Beaver Builder
  • Gravity Forms
  • Updraft Plus Backup/Restore
  • Wordfence
  • RankMath SEO
  • The Events Calendar

I mostly work on political campaign websites. For those, the Events Calendar is great for managing events, and Gravity Forms works wonders for creating forms that direct users to donation pages.

3

@Mackenzie
WordFence is a must! Also, Updraft has saved me so many times when I needed to roll back changes.

4

Vero said:
@Mackenzie
WordFence is a must! Also, Updraft has saved me so many times when I needed to roll back changes.

Totally agree. Updraft also makes cloning sites so much easier, but yeah, the backups can clutter your folders if you’re not careful.

5

Can you use WP Rocket and Perfmatters together, or is it one or the other? I’ve only tried Rocket so far.

6

Nyle said:
Can you use WP Rocket and Perfmatters together, or is it one or the other? I’ve only tried Rocket so far.

You can use both, but make sure not to overlap their settings. Things like caching or minifying can clash if enabled on both.

7

Nyle said:
Can you use WP Rocket and Perfmatters together, or is it one or the other? I’ve only tried Rocket so far.

Stick to WP Rocket only—it’s solid and gets the job done without needing extras.

8

Does Phoenix Media Rename actually rename the file name or just the title? If it’s just the title, I’m not sure it’s worth it.

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Phoenix said:
Does Phoenix Media Rename actually rename the file name or just the title? If it’s just the title, I’m not sure it’s worth it.

It renames the file itself, which is why I got it in the first place. Then I discovered it has other handy features.

10

Here’s my usual plugin stack:

  • ACF Pro
  • ShortPixel (for image optimization)
  • WP Rocket
  • RankMath
  • Envato Elements
  • All In One WP Migration

They’ve worked well for my projects so far.

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Why do you prefer RankMath? I’ve always found it a bit overhyped. Curious to know what it does well for you.

12

Roux said:
Why do you prefer RankMath? I’ve always found it a bit overhyped. Curious to know what it does well for you.

I mainly use it for basic SEO tasks—managing schemas, 404 errors, and titles. It’s also simple enough for clients to navigate.

13

@Vero
Fair enough. I suppose for basic SEO, it gets the job done. Thanks for sharing!