400+ Essential WordPress Plugins {Roundup}

In the past few months, we have covered many plugins WordPress webmasters would need to enhance the functionality of their websites. As a webmaster, you need to make sure your site is fast, SEO & social media friendly, and compatible with smartphone and tablet devices. You should also harden your website and backup your files and databases. Spending some time to make your website more engaging is not a bad idea either. Here are lists of 400+ plugins you can use to get those tasks done:

SEO Plugins for WordPress

Most web publishers rely on search engines to get new visitors. You may have the best content in your niche market. But if your work is not being found on Google and other search engines, you are going to get left behind. The below plugins let you optimize your titles, URLs, keywords, and everything in between to increase your site’s chances of getting ranked higher in the SERPs:

• SEO-Toolbox: covers 80 of the best WordPress plugins that come handy for search engine optimization campaigns.
• Broken Link tools: these plugins let you find and handle broken links in WordPress. They save you time fixing these issues quickly.
• Content theft plugins: content theft is still a big issue for publishers in this day and age. You can’t stop every thief but these plugins give you a better chance to take a stand against content thieves.
• SEO title plugins: page titles are still a very important ranking factor to Google. These plugins give you more control over your title tags.
• Post promotion plugins: your site’s internal link structure matters towards your chances of getting ranked higher in the search engines. These plugins build links to your other posts and keep visitors on your website for longer.
• Traffic Monitors: as a webmaster, you simply can’t ignore your traffic data. A decent traffic monitor lets you figure out areas your site can be improved upon. These 5 plugins handle the job well.
• Plugins to increase engagement: getting more people to visit your website is important. But it is not everything. These plugins can keep visitors on your site for longer.
• .htaccess plugins: all webmasters who run their website on Apache need to know a thing or two about .htaccess files. These scripts make handling these files easier.

Social Media Plugins

One of the best ways to generate traffic for your website is by relying on top social networks. Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Quora are all worth targeting. Here are some of the plugins you will need to integrate these into your site:

• Social media plugins: covers 90 scripts webmasters can add to their website to make it social media friendly.
• Social bookmarking plugins: want to give your visitors the chance to share your content with the world? These social bookmarking plugins have you covered.
• Facebook plugins: Facebook can be a great traffic driver for websites. This list shows you how to integrate Facebook into WordPress.
• Twitter tools: Twitter is another great social network to be involved in. These plugins make adding Twitter to your site easier.
• Pinterest widgets: Pinterest is a rising social network. It can be a huge traffic driver for your website if you approach it the right way. This list shows you how to integrate Pinterest with WordPress.
• Quora plugins: Quora is a popular social Q&A community. It helps businesses build credibility in their niche markets. Adding Quora to WordPress might give your site an edge over others.
• Foursquare plugins: Foursquare does not need any introduction. It is quite addictive and helps its users get more out of their local area. With these plugins, you can show your check-ins on your site.
• Google+ widgets/scripts: these are helpful if you want to give your visitors the chance to +1 your stories and share them on Google+.

Mobile Plugins for WordPress

Every year that goes by, more people get used to the idea of using their mobile phones to visit their favorite websites. If your site is not optimized for smartphones or tablets, you are missing the boat. These plugins help you make your website handheld friendly:

• Mobile Friendly WordPress: covers themes and plugins you can take advantage of to make your website optimized for smartphones and tablets.
• QR Plugins: QR codes could make your site even easier to use for mobile users. These plugins integrate QR codes into your WordPress site.
• iPad Plugins: your website may look pretty decent on sophisticated tablets such as the iPad. But these plugins make it even easier to browse through on those types of devices.

Cache Plugins for WP

It goes without saying that some cache plugins can improve the performance of WordPress sites dramatically. Most established websites use caching to offer a faster experience to their visitors. These plugins help you do that on your very own site:

• Cache Plugins: while we rely on W3 Total Cache to keep most of our sites speedy, there are other cache plugins that are worth exploring for webmasters. This list covers those.

Contact Plugins

Every business owner needs to include the appropriate contact information and forms on his/her website for existing customers and future leads. These 10 contact plugins are simple to use and let your visitors get in touch with you fast.

WordPress Security Tools

Keeping WordPress secure against hack and spam attacks is not always easy. But there are plenty of tools available to webmasters to help them keep hackers at bay. Here are a few plugins that could make your site’s security protection tougher to crack:

• Security Toolbox: includes a complete list of tools you may want to take advantage of to make your website secure against hack and spam attacks.
• WordPress firewalls: these plugins keep hackers at bay and let you know when your website is under attack.
• Exploit scanners: these tools go through your site and find areas you may want to focus on to keep WordPress clean.
• Login protection: if your login page is somehow compromised, you will quickly find yourself in trouble. These plugins help you protect your login page and get notified when it is under attack.
• Plugins for rogue users: these are developed for folks who allow registrations on their WP sites. They help with handling trolls and rogue users.
• Anti-spam plugins: spam is a huge problem for all of us bloggers. A decent spam plugin will reduce your workload and keep spammers away. This list covers some of the tools that can handle the job.

Backup Plugins

All WordPress webmasters need to take time to create backups of their files and databases. These lists cover the plugins that handle this:

• Backup to Dropbox: these plugins make sending WordPress files to Dropbox simple. They automate the process and save webmasters time in the process.
• Cloud backup plugins: not everyone uses Dropbox to store backup files. The items in this list cover Rackspace Cloud, Amazon S3, and other cloud storage solutions

Translation Plugins

Not everyone reads and speaks English. If you are targeting an international audience, you need to give your visitors ways to translate your content fast. These 5 translator plugins help with that.

You are not going to need all these plugins to improve your website. But it is always nice to have options.

Do you have any plugin suggestions? Please include them in the comments section.