If you have recently started working with WordPress, you might be confused about certain features of WordPress. However, it is one of the most user-friendly platforms to create and run your website. WordPress gives you an abundance of features to improve the performance of your website and one of such features is WordPress Plugins.
A plugin is software that you can add to your website according to its need and it will help you to improve the performance of the website. In this way, you can work on the SEO plans of your website on your own without acquiring any technical knowledge from an institute. WordPress gives us all a space to learn and create our website right from scratch. However, if you prefer a more user-friendly approach to building your website without the need for coding or technical expertise, exploring the options provided by the best website builders can offer a convenient and efficient alternative.
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. You are now familiar with the basics of WordPress Plugins but how to decide the right plugin for WordPress. Here, we have penned down all the things one should keep in mind while deciding the correct plugin for their website. It is quite possible to get baffled while finding that plugin that is going to fit in perfectly with your SEO plans.
1. Analyze Your Requirement
It is always wise to first analyze your website before making any decision on it. The first step you should take to decide the right plugin for your WordPress SEO is by analyzing the requirement. You must jot down the requirements of your website in order of importance. This will ease down your process of choosing plugins according to the need for optimization.
2. Dig In Directory
Once you have created a list of requirements for your website, the next you have to do is take the help of the WordPress directory. It is the place where you are going to search for the appropriate WordPress plugins. Put in the functions and features you are looking for in the search bar. There will be a list of plugins that will show up on the screen. If any plugin matches the requirement, you can look further into the details of that plugin. Information like installation support, reviews and development information of plugins will give you a clearer picture.
3. Choose And Compare
When you look into the WordPress directory, the first two pages contain the most rated plugins available on WordPress. You can either go through those plugins or search for a more fitting match for WordPress SEO plans.
Now, as you might have found a couple of plugins that best match what you were looking for. Open these plugin pages on a different tab and go through the detailed information about each of them to compare them better. If you still can’t decide, you can either trust its reviews or the number of users. Check the latest update date of the plugin and active installation number, these two indicate how popular the plugin is.
4. Plugin Rating
This is a major factor that influences one’s decision of deciding the best plugin for WordPress. As per data, there are more than 54, 000 plugins that are available on WordPress for a better experience at the backend for a website owner and developer. It gets difficult to choose from when there are so many options. Plugin ratings can help you in that case. But you must keep this in mind as well that there are plenty of users who don’t give back ratings to plugins so there might be many plugins available on WordPress that might have low numbers of ratings but might be downloaded by hundreds of users.
5. Support Overview
There is a section called Support Overview with every plugin which states information about the number of times support being provided by the developers of plugins to its user. You can even go through the support thread which shows how the resolution was provided in part to other users of that plugin. If there are many unresolved issues left in the support section that means the developer doesn’t respond timely to its users. You can also face issues in the future and then this will create problems if the developer is so inactive.
6. Go Through FAQs
We usually skip this part of any webpage where FAQs are mentioned. However, if you are looking for tips to choose the right plugin for WordPress. This is an important tip to go through the FAQs of a plugin as it will give you vital information about that plugin. FAQs can even solve queries that might come to your mind regarding that plugin.
7. Test A Plugin
Adding a plugin to your website can slow down the performance of your website. At some point in time, need the help of a WordPress developer because while it’s easy, it still needs an expert to carry out the bigger tasks related to development and customization and deal with some WordPress issues that may come in the way. To ensure the best performance and customization for your WordPress site, consider hiring WordPress development services for professional expertise and tailored solutions. If you have read about the algorithm that search engines follow to rank a website, you must know how much the speed of a website matters. Now, check if a particular plugin slows down your website or not. You can search for a website that can test the speed of your website. Go check the speed and note it down somewhere. Now, come back to your website and activate the plugin you have decided to add to your website. In the end, you can again test the speed of your website and check if there are any mild or severe changes in the speed of the website. If your pages are taking too long to download, it will be better to look for any other plugin for the website.
8. Free Or Premium
Many plugins are available on WordPress to come in two variants. One is free to install and use and the other comes with a price. Now, you might get clouded with the thought of which version is better.
Free Plugins are a good choice to make as it comes with lesser risk and evitable consequences. If you are new to the WordPress SEO world and not ready to take a monetary risk for your website plugins yet then you must choose the free version.
The premium version comes with some features that are not available in the free version. These features can help you better in the optimization process. However, WordPress amateurs can avoid using premium versions and learn the basics first.
We hope these tips to choose the right plugin for WordPress will help you in decision making. Choose the right kind of plugin which will fit in perfectly with all the requirements of your website and your goals for your website. You can also take help from search engines to gather more information about certain plugins and then make a decision.
