The ONLY Must-Have WordPress Plugins You’ll Need for Bloggers

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Updated: May 2025

If you’re running a WordPress site, it is crucial to install these must-have WordPress plugins on your site. These plugins can improve your website’s SEO, speed up your site, keep your site secure, and help you make money online.

Plugins can be tricky because there are so many of them, and you never know which ones are the best WordPress plugins for bloggers.

You need a balance of essential WordPress plugins to have for security and speed and WordPress plugins that will improve your site’s functionality.

So, let’s walk through the must-have WordPress plugins for bloggers that will keep your site fast and efficient. And the best part is that most of them are absolutely free to use!

1. Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights

I’m sure you know that Google Analytics tracks your website performance. There are a ton of plugins that have the ability to give you access to GA, but I have the MonsterInsights plugin.

There are paid features to this plugin, but I don’t bother with them! So I have the free version, and it’s all you really need.

One thing that’s important to note about GA is that you can accidentally have it installed twice, which is something that you don’t want. I had this happen to me, and it was not good for my stats!

Since so many plugins offer Google Analytics functionality, it is easy to accidentally verify your credentials twice, and that means GA will count your traffic twice. So make sure this doesn’t happen!

2. Rank Math SEO

Next up, we have Rank Math SEO, a must-have WordPress plugin for your site. If you want your content to rank in Google, having a solid SEO strategy is crucial, and Rank Math is a powerhouse when it comes to SEO optimization.

Unfortunately, you still need to understand SEO strategies on your own. This plugin won’t really help with that, but it does handle everything else!

From a keyword checklist on the side of every blog post you write, Google Search Console integration, a 404 monitor, and it allows you to redirect links if you ever change them, which is my favorite feature! It offers a lot more too, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

Another SEO plugin I used in the past is Yoast SEO, but Rank Math is more advanced, has more features, and is just better overall in my opinion, so that’s the one I would go with.

I also recently realized that it has Google Analytics functionality with it as well! So, if you don’t want Monster Insights, you can just use Rank Math for your GA4 integration!

It’s always a good idea to have fewer plugins on your site since they tend to slow your site down, so this is a good idea to do. The only thing that Monster Insights does that Rnak Math doesn’t do is it will give you a snapshot of your stats on the WordPress dashboard.

Personally, this doesn’t matter for me as I always go directly to the Google Analytics website to check my stats, so seeing them on my dashboard isn’t necessary, and after finding this out, I actually got rid of Monster Insights!

It’s up to you to decide what you want to do, but either option is fine!

Rather watch the video? Check it out below!

3. ConvertKit (Now called “Kit”)

If you’re building an email list or planning to start, ConvertKit is one of the best email marketing platforms out there. I’ve been using Convertkit for email list building for years.

And this is the plugin that costs money, technically. The plugin itself is free, but if you don’t have Kit (As it’s now known), which is the service you have to pay for, then the plugin obviously does you no good.

But if you’re a blogger who’s looking to start an email list, which is something I recommend you do, Kit is what I would go with. You can create opt-in forms for your email list with landing pages and mini ones that you can add to blog posts or in your sidebar.

I use Kit to sell products, automate email sequences, and more. There’s a lot you can do with it, so if you’re interested in trying this one out, check out Kit right here!

4. PrettyLinks

For those of you doing affiliate marketing, PrettyLinks is the next plugin I recommend. 

This plugin lets you create neat, branded URLs for your affiliate links, making them easier to share and track.

So it turns the super long, ugly raw link that affiliate companies give you (For example, my Kit link: https://partners.kit.com/wfwyef75ee5c) and turns it into a shorter version that you can customize to match your brand (like https://www.sarahmarie.blog/convertkitreferral)

If your readers see a link like https://partners.kit.com/wfwyef75ee5c they’re less likely to click on it. I wouldn’t even be able to tell what that was if I didn’t know where it led! So something like https://www.sarahmarie.blog/convertkitreferral is much more reliable to click on and easier to remember!

5. Antispam Bee

A small but must-have WordPress plugin for your site is one called Antispam Bee. This plugin blocks spam comments and filters them out so you don’t have to worry about approving or deleting comments.

I still have comment approval on my site, so I can make sure all the comments that come through are legitimate, but this plugin blocks pretty much all the spam comments.

It’s pretty easy to spot which ones are real or not, and occasionally one might get through, but for the most part, it makes reading the comments on my blog and going through them so much easier.

Plus, it’s lightweight and doesn’t slow down your site, which is important!

6. A Security Plugin

While we’re on the topic of spam and speed, another plugin you should get is a security plugin.

Now, I’m using one called Security Optimizer (which is hosting-specific), so unless you’re using the same host as me, that plugin won’t be useful to you.

Instead, the one I recommend that is not hosting-specific is Wordfence Security. It’s one of the most popular and trusted security plugins.

It offers features like a firewall, malware scanning, login protection, and more. Which is a great way to safeguard your site from potential threats!

7. A Speed Optimizer

You also want to make sure your site is fast. I use a plugin called Speed Optimizer, which is also hosting-specific. However, it’s hard to recommend an exact speed plugin because it depends on what your site needs.

But generally, a site could use lazy-load images and one that optimizes them because images really slow down a site. So, what I’d recommend is checking your site speed on PageSpeed Insights.

PageSpeed Insights is a website that tells you a bunch of technical stuff and what’s slowing down your site. It’s honestly hard to understand- I still have no idea how to fix half the things wrong with my site

But what I do to fix that is I copy and paste the issues into ChatGPT to help me figure out what’s wrong and what plugins I’ll need to download to fix the site speed.

That way, you can get more personalised answers on what your site needs exactly to speed it up! Site speed is an important ranking factor for Google, so you’ll want to make your site load as fast as possible.

8. Broken Link Checker

Next, we have Broken Link Checker. This plugin does exactly what you’d think- it scans your site for broken links and helps you fix them quickly.

However, I recommend keeping it deactivated unless you’re specifically using it. When you’re going through and updating old links or old blog posts, activate it and let it scan your site for broken links. Then you can go through and fix them.

But once you are done with site link clean up, it’s best to deactivate it since it can slow down your site while it’s constantly checking for broken links. You don’t have to delete it entirely; just deactivate it, and it will be fine!

9. Weblizar Pin It Button On Image Hover And Post

If you’re actively using Pinterest for traffic (which I highly recommend!), this plugin is great for adding a “Pin It” button to images on hover.

And this does exactly what you’d think. When users hover over an image, the “pin” button appears just like it does when you’re trying to pin something onto Pinterest.

It makes it super easy for users to share your post to Pinterest! Try it out with the pin image below!

You’ll notice every single one of my posts has 2-3 pin images, and I usually write a message letting people know to “pin me” so that they can share my content organically on Pinterest- and I don’t have to do anything else!

10. Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA

This is a plugin that not everyone will need, but it’s super important for those who do, so I wanted to include it anyway!

This is a plugin that I have because my theme doesn’t have a cookie notice. If your theme doesn’t already come with a cookie notice, you’ll need a plugin to help you stay compliant with GDPR and CCPA regulations.

So, if your theme has one already, you can skip this one. It likely does because this is the first theme I’ve ever had that doesn’t have a cookies notice, but I want to make sure that those who need it have it!

You can tell if your theme has a cookie notice or not by just going to your site homepage as a visitor would. If you see a Cookie notice on the bottom, you’re good to go; if not, get this plugin!

How to Install a WordPress Plugin

In case you’re not sure where to get any of these plugins, you can either look up and install the plugins yourself, or you can simply click on any of the links I included in the post. That will take you directly to the plugin to install it!

Installing on your WordPress Dashboard

To install a plugin for the backend of your WordPress, look for “Plugins” on the sidebar and then “Install new plugin”.

From there, just search for any plugin you want. Click “Install now” and then “Activate“.

If you are clicking on any of the links that I included in the post, this is how you would install them:

Click on any of the links I added, like for Pretty Links. You’ll be brought to a page like this where you’re prompted to download it to your computer. It’ll download a zipped file:

From there, you can head back to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New Plugin. At the top, you’ll see an “Upload Plugin” button. Click that and choose the file you just downloaded.

From there, you can activate the plugin, and there you go!

Things to Remember about WordPress Plugins

Once you install the plugin, though, a lot of times, you’re not done. You may have to go into the plugin and set it up or adjust the settings. You should see a new section added to the sidebar of your WordPress Dashboard.

Sometimes plugins get hidden in the pop-out menus, so make sure to check all the options on the side if you don’t see it right away! Once you find it, check that there isn’t anything extra you need to do to get the plugin working correctly!

Pin me for later!

Some things you’ll want to look out for when installing plugins is how good they are. Make sure to pay attention to;

• The reviews
• How many active installations they have
• How often are they updated/when was the last update
• Are they compatible with your version of WordPress?

If you see a plugin that is never updated and isn’t even compatible with your version of WordPress (You’ll know because it’ll say “Untested with your version of WordPress”), those are plugins you want to be wary of!

You also want to make sure that you keep your plugins updated. Unupdated plugins can cause issues like compatibility issues, slow load times, broken links, security risks, negative SEO, and a lack of new/advanced features.

I personally keep all my plugins on “Auto updates,” which you can do by going to your list of installed plugins and turning on the feature on the right-hand side of the screen. That way, you won’t need to remember to do it every time!

Self-hosted WordPress

Every plugin you see here is only available on the self-hosted version of WordPress. If you don’t have a self-hosted WordPress website, I highly recommend switching over to one. It will be better for you in the long run in so many ways!

You’ll be able to monetize better, look more professional, and you’ll get access to all these amazing plugins! If you want to switch over, check out this guide right here on getting started with self-hosted WordPress!

I also have a video on WordPress.com Vs WordPress.org if you want to know which is better for you!

These are the 10 must-have WordPress plugins that will help you optimize, secure, and monetize your site.

If I missed any essential plugins that you have installed on your site, let me know what they are in the comments below! Or check out another blog post!