I wrote an earlier post about useful plugins but it is 12 years old and I am only using two of those plugins now. I thought about updating it but it was time for a different approach.
Advanced Ads – new to using this but made doing Google AdSense very easy. It has some neat features and if I continue doing ads, it will be helpful to grow.
Database Cleaner – makes keeping my database tidy a one-click thing. Even though I haven’t paid for any of this author’s free programs he helped me when I tried to use another plugin. It turns out I was trying to use a discontinued feature at another website and there was no problem with his app.
Disable Gutenberg – Gutenberg is unceasingly simple and slows me down.
Elementor/Elementor Pro – Neat way to instantly build your own theme. I used to pay $50 for themes in the past and I like being able to change it myself. This is something even beginning WordPress users can use.
Inline Related Posts – I like that this is showing my other articles and doesn’t slow it down with pictures like other related posts plugins.
OneSignal – I wrote about this here and it is only one of the 2 plugins that I have used since I started this website.
ShortPixel – Again this is the second of two plugins I have used since the website started and this has been a huge help in automatically optimizing images. It is amazing.
Site Kit by Google – This is a summary of how Google services are working with my blog. It has some speed issues and it is not updated real-time. It seems to only update once a day at the end of the day. I use this to see if I am getting any money from Adsense. So far I’m at $2.
Sitemap – This is an easy and beautiful output for a sitemap. I have tried other sitemap plugins but they cost money and were unnecessarily complex.
WP LinkedIn Auto Publish – This has caused some problems recently see here. Still, it is free and does the job most of the time.
WP Rocket – I had to get this since it had so many rave reviews. It says it improves your speed and does 80% of the configuration automatically. I didn’t see any difference in installing it. However, I did see a big difference once I started to test and configure its settings. Strongly recommended. This cost $60 a year.
WP Search – This is AI with a beautiful and easy search interface. There is a free plan and a paid plan if you are high volume. This is the best search plugin I have found for WordPress. Read more about it here.