Did you know that about 75 million websites use WordPress?

WordPress is the power behind over a quarter of the websites in the world. Yet each of these sites is unique and different, offering a new experience to the user.

WordPress plugins are one of the top ways for companies and individuals to set their websites apart. Plugins can be used to change the way a site looks, or what it can do. They can give you information to help your site run better.

Wondering which plugins you should use on your site? We’ve put together this list of the top 10 plugins for WordPress to help you decide. Read on to learn about the top 10 plugins you need to download now.

1. Yoast SEO

For many top 10 plugins lists, Yoast SEO is at the top. This is one of the essential WordPress plugins that can make or break your website’s success.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is key to getting visitors to your site. SEO covers the techniques used to get your site higher in Google’s rankings. The higher your site ranks, the more likely users are to find it when they do a Google search for something related to your website.

However, SEO can be a challenging game to figure out on your own. Yoast takes on the SEO burden for you, so you’ll know if your posts are properly optimized without becoming an SEO expert yourself.

There are many different benefits to using Yoast SEO. One is that Yoast prompts you to choose a relevant keyword for your posts, then use it appropriately throughout the content.

Its page analysis uses a simple traffic-light system to show you if you’re on track or not. When the light is green, you’re good to go. Never thought you’d see SEO made simple? With Yoast, it really is.

2. BackupBuddy

No matter what, you should always have a backup plugin. BackupBuddy is one of the best around.

With a backup plugin, your site is automatically saved, even if something goes terribly wrong. The great thing about BackupBuddy is that it’s beginner-friendly and easy to use. This means you’re more likely to back up your site now, rather than wait until it’s too late because you were trying to figure out a difficult plugin.

With this plugin, you can easily schedule automatic backup times. Everything will be stored safely in the cloud, so you can retrieve it if you need it.

3. Contact Form 7

Almost every site needs a contact form. You’ll want to make it easy for people to reach out to you with questions, concerns, or suggestions.

Contact Form 7 is one of the easiest and most customizable contact plugins. You can add and name multiple forms to choose from. If you want to make some boxes on the form required for submission, you can. No coding knowledge required!

4. WooCommerce

If you’re going to be selling things through your site, this is the plugin that can simplify your life.

This has completely overhauled doing e-commerce through WordPress. Before, people ran into many challenges while running and managing an online store through WordPress. WooCommerce has streamlined the process, allowing more people to open online businesses.

There is a bit of a learning curve to WooCommerce. However, it’s so much easier than doing it without a plugin. This has become a wildly popular plugin for anyone with an online store.

5. Google Analytics by Yoast

That’s right, Yoast made the top 10 plugins list twice.

Google Analytics can be viewed without Yoast, of course. But this plugin allows you to view analytics and your WordPress site in one easy location, without opening an extra browser tab.

Anyone who works from their computer knows how quickly you can find yourself working with 10 or 20 tabs open. Anything that can streamline the process is a good thing.

Once you can see your site’s analytics in the WordPress dashboard, you’ll never want to go back to the way you did it before.

6. Shareaholic

Everyone wants their site to get social media shares. Why not make it easier for visitors to share your site with a plugin?

Shareaholic is one of the most popular sharing plugins. It even lets you customize the shapes, sizes, and colors of the buttons. If streamlined branding is critical to your site, this customization can be a great thing.

7. Disqus

Are you running a blog or website that’s attracting a lot of user comments? Then you’ll want to use the Disqus plugin.

This third-party system for comments ensures that no matter how many comments you get, they won’t negatively impact your server.

This way, your page’s speed won’t be affected. It even includes spam filters to keep pesky spam comments away.

8. MailChimp

Email newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your fans or customers. However, the trick is getting people to sign up for the newsletter in the first place.

With MailChimp’s plugin, you can easily create a pop-up prompt that asks people if they’d like to sign up for the newsletter.

Don’t worry – it doesn’t have to be an annoying pop-up that takes over the center of the page. You can set it to pop up in a corner where it won’t get in the way of the user’s experience.

9. Akismet

Maybe you don’t get enough comments on your site to need Disqus. You’ll still want to keep spam out of the comments you do get, though. Akismet can help.

This plugin automatically filters out comments that appear to be spam on your site. It also keeps a running history of which users were flagged and which were cleared by the plugin.

10. Jetpack

When you’re installing multiple plugins from this list, you’ll want Jetpack on your side to make it easier.

This plugin lets you install some of the top WordPress plugins with just one click. When they need to be updated, that’s just one click, too.

Ready to Try the Top 10 Plugins?

There are countless WordPress plugins you could try. However, if you just stick to the top 10 plugins on this list, you’ll be off to a good start.

Need to know how your site is doing? We can give you an analysis that will let you know if you need to add plugins or make changes. Contact us today to learn more!