Akismet is an obvious choice for any list of WordPress plugins we always use. But there’s plenty of other plugins that we find ourselves installing every single time we build a site with WordPress. If Matt and the Automattic crew ever decide to make these part of the core WP software, Holly and I certainly would not object.
This isn’t a list of the best plugins out there. It is simply a list of plugins which are installed every time we deploy a WordPress site. Actually, most of them are plugins that help out WordPress admins and editors.
Customizable Post Listings
I’ve heard more than one WordPress ninja refer to this plugin as the Swiss Army knife of WP plugins. What it does it allow you to quickly include lists of recent posts, recent comments, random posts, and other types of lists. It’s inevitable that somewhere in your site design that you’ll want to include a list like this.
Dublin Core for WordPress
Another plugin that easily optimizes your site for search engines by inserting the Dublin Core metadata as meta tags in your posts and pages.
The Excerpt Reloaded
Expands the options in using content excerpts in your themes.
Feedburner FeedSmith
Priceless if you are using Feedburner to monitor your RSS feeds. Which you should be.
Google XML Sitemaps
Help optimize your web site for search engines. The plugins I love most provide a ton of useful functionality without actually having to do a lot, if any, configuration. Just install and you’re done.
One Click Plugin Updater
Keeping WordPress sites updated used to be a nightmare. Seemed like every time I logged into the WordPress dashboard, I was informed that I had out of date plugins. While that still seems to be the case, the One Click Plugin Updater actually makes the process of keeping plugins up to date painless. Does what it says it does - updates all your plugins with a single mouse click. Eliminates the painfully repetitive process of downloading, unzipping, and uploading updates of your installed plugins one by one.
Search Everything
Expands the search functionality of WordPress to include more than just search of blog posts. If you are utilizing WordPress as a a CMS, this plugin is an absolute must.
WordPress Database Backup
Does exactly what you think it does. The beauty of this plugin is that you can use it to configure automated weekly backups of your DB. Quite honestly, this plugin is mission critical.
What are your essential WordPress plugins?
