Wordpress Plugin Tips & Tricks

This is gonna be a pretty short post, but I thought it would help to give some plugin tips and tricks!

I've been doing Wordpress sites for years now. Started long before I came to WA. I have a degree in Digital Media and I've been doing site's for years.

I'm more of a graphics guy. Started off doing 3D and animation. Use to work in Lightwave 3D and Adobe After Effects. Photoshop is pretty much an every day use program for me. Started off in web work with HTML and Dreamwear. Digital Media is kind a "Jack of all Trades" degree when it comes to a lot of this stuff.

But since I've been using Wordpress, I absolutely love it. Wow, what a time saver!

Now, there are a ton of Wordpress tips and tricks out there, but I thought I would concentrate on some tips that I think would help a great deal of pepole here at WA. I'm pretty sure I have seen some posts and questions asked here quite frequently where some of these tips will help.

Okay, let's dive in!

The first tip: Don't have duplicate plugins that do the same thing!

Example: You don't need 2 or more SEO plugins. This will not help you. If anything, it will hurt you. Besides slowing down your site, you might get some really bad conflicts between the 2 which might cause your site to go haywire.

The second tip: Get rid of your XML sitemap plugin if you have All In One SEO (or similar SEO plugin).

This tip parrots the first tip, but it's so common, I thought I would mention it as a standalone tip. You do not need 2 plugins that do the same thing. Google, Bing, Yahoo do not see your sitemap any differently if XML sitemap or All In One create it. It's the same kind of file with the same information (depending on how you configure it). Once again, if you have both, you are just slowing up your site.

Also, if you switch from XML Sitemap to All In One, remember to make sure the name of your file is the same in Google Search Console. It's mostly gonna be yoursite.com/sitemap.xml (ignore this link).
If it's the same, you don't have to do anything. If it's different, you have to make sure you add it to Google Search Console.

The third tip: Deactivate plugins that you aren't using!

I have plugins installed that make life easier for me when doing certain things, but they aren't essential or even needed in the function of my website. Examples of this are a Duplicate plugin that I use that duplicates posts, pages, widgets, etc.... Also a link checker plugin that I use maybe once a week to check for broken links. When I need the duplicator plugin, I go ahead and activate it, use it, then deactivate it. I do the same thing with the link checker. When a plugin in deactivated, it does not use the resources of your site, therefore it doesn't slow down your site.

I use to just completely delete the plugin and then when I needed it again I would reinstall it, use it, then delete it. I recently found out that when deactivated, they do now slow down Wordpress. You can read more about that here if you would like:
https://www.wpbeginner.com/beginners-guide/will-inactive-plugins-slow-down-wordpress-should-you-delete-inactive-plugins/

The fourth tip: This one is pretty straight forward. If you don't need it, delete it!

You might thing that is common sense, but some people just don't know that plugins slow up a site. This is actually something that is in WA's site health. You will have a pretty good score if you don't have many plugins.

Let's hear it if you have others!

That's about it, I hoped this helped some people out. If you have any other tips or tricks when it comes to plugins, feel free to comment below and share with the community.

Good luck with your sites and stay safe! We are all here for one reason and that is to succeed! As a community though, you will greatly shorten the timeline in finding success while helping out others that are also here to help you.