10 Free WordPress Plugins to Rev Your Site Up – Optimize and Improve
The importance of having a well-optimized WordPress site in today’s world of competition can not be warned enough. Realizing that you are running a blog, online shop, or corporate website, you can easily understand that SEO can greatly improve all parameters of the site’s performance. Among the many ways that you can do this is through using free tools that are specially created to boost different features of your site. Here in this article, I want to share ten free WordPress tools that can enhance your website and get you to the desired results. Yoast SEO Description and FeaturesYoast SEO is one of the best SEO plugins that are currently available for WordPress and is popular for providing users with an all-in-one SEO optimization tool. Some of the key functions are keyword optimization, readability analysis, meta tag descriptions, XML site mapping, and many others. How it Improves SEOYoast SEO plugin assists in enhancing your site’s SEO by offering real-time feedback concerning the ways through which the content can be optimized. It helps enhance the friendliness of your pages for SEO since it helps you set keywords, enhance readability, and correct meta tags. Installation and Setup Guide The plugin available in the WordPress plugin directory is Yoast SEO. You need to install and find ‘Yoast SEO’ mode, clicking on it to open up the Yoast SEO control panel. As a result, proceed with the configuration of basic SEO parameters of the site using the configuration wizard. Begin to apply what you learn from Yoast SEO in organizing your posts and pages in the WordPress editor, particularly in the Yoast SEO meta box. Monster insights Google Analytics for WordPress Google Analytics Integration – OverviewMonsterInsights is another great plugin that can be effectively used to install Google Analytics on your WordPress site and will help you monitor your site traffic and its activities. Key Features and Benefits This feature is fairly easy to integrate with Google Analytics. Analytics and other reports in your WordPress backend to check on the go Enhanced eCommerce tracking If you have custom dimensions and event tracking you want to pass through to Google Analytics, add them here. Step-by-Step Setup Process Make sure that you are using the MonsterInsights plugin, download it, and activate it. There is a procedure on how to connect Google Analytics Account and the steps are displayed on the screen. Set the tracking options depending on your requirements. You benefit from clear detailed reports accessed at the WordPress dashboard for your site’s performance. WP Super Cache Writing the Key Role of Caching for the Aspect of Site SpeedIt is a great methodology of enhancing site speed and performance through holding copies of your web pages to lessen the pressure taken by your server alongside enhancing the rate of conveying the pages to the users. The following are the specifications of WP Super Cache: Creates HTML pages that are cacheable from your otherwise dynamic WordPress theme The mod caching system can support multiple caching types which include the mod_Rewrite, PHP, and Legacy caching types. It is rather simple to set up and operate this software. Configuring The AVS – How to Install Download and make the WP Super Cache plug-in available then turn it on. To find the settings for the plugin go to “Settings > WP Super Cache.” Caching is enabled, and you need to choose the caches that are available at the moment. There are more options available that may be configured based on the requirement including the cache expiry time and CDN support. Wordfence Security Importance of Site SecurityFor any WordPress site owner, it’s important to ensure the site is safe from hackers, and malware among other vices that can compromise the site, its data, and its owner’s reputation. The following is the list of some of the features that Wordfence security has: Real-time threat defense feed Firewall protection Malware scanning Login security Installation and Initial Configuration Open your WordPress site then download and activate the Wordfence Security plugin. In the WordPress admin panel, navigate to the Wordfence section and go to the dashboard. To set up basic security settings follow the setup wizard which will open on the screen. Check out the regularity of different security alerts and respond appropriately to ensure that your site is safe. UpdraftPlus Importance of Regular BackupsBackup is very crucial to avoid loss of data as a result of hackers, server complications, or even an involuntary action by the users. Features of UpdraftPlus Automatic backup scheduling Online storing solutions like Google Drive, Dropbox, and so on. Easy restoration process Database encryption Automatic Backups – A Step-by-Step Guide UpdraftPlus is a popular plugin you can use for this process; ensure you install and activate it. Navigate to ‘setting’, and click on ‘UpdraftPlus Backups’. Backup settings can be set and the preferred cloud storage selected for your requirements. Do a test backup that way to check the settings are configured properly. Elementor Page Builder Advantages of using a Page BuilderThese page builders including aspects allow users to design unique customized layouts of your site without writing a single line of code. Key Features of Elementor Drag-and-drop interface Pre-designed templates and blocks Responsive design controls Integrations with popular plugins Elementor Simple Steps to Creating Pages The next step which is to install the Elementor plugin should be followed by the activation of the same. Open ‘Add New’ for a new page or find the wanted one and open it in edit mode: click ‘Edit with Elementor’. There is also a convenient module where armed with drag-n-drop tools you can add or change the elements. To see the changes on your website live and reflect on your site’s pages, save and publish the page. Smush Image Compression and Optimization Effect of optimizing images on the overall site speedThis is the process of making an image file to be less in size while making it appear larger, this helps a website to load faster thereby enhancing its speed. Features of Smush