The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Plugins: 17 Examples & How They Work

From blogs to complex portals and enterprise websites, millions of sites are powered by WordPress. In fact,40.2% of all websitesare built on the open-source content management system (CMS).

推动平台的受欢迎程度是其易用性和灵活性。WordPress提供standard functionalityto allow any user to get a site up and running in no time.

You can create posts and pages, manage and schedule content, assign user roles, upload and insert images and other media, and moderate comments right out-of-the-box.

Let’s say you do all that and want to continue building your site by自定义您的登录页面oradding social proof to your posts and pages，，，，for example. Since WordPress is open-source, you could extend or modify the source code to create nearly any functionality your site needs. Such flexibility is a huge appeal forWordPress开发人员。

But what if you’re not a developer and don’t have much experience编码？在这种情况下，您可以使用插件。

WordPress plugins are like apps on your phone. You can download or purchase them to add or enhance the functionality of yourWordPress website。

插件允许WordPress用户创建强大的站点，而无需触摸一行代码。作为content management systemscontinue to democratize web design and abate the dependency on web developers and designers, plugins are an increasingly integral part of how we create and consume content on the internet.

This post will give you an overview of what WordPress plugins are, how they work, and some of the most popular examples.

Plugins can make small tweaks on your site or massive changes, depending on their features. For example, you could use a plugin toadd a WhatsApp share buttonto your site or tocreate a fully multilingual site。Or, if you run an ecommerce business, you might install a plugin toassist with payment gatewaysor allow visitors tobook appointments online。

There are also plugins that can help youenhance your contact forms，，，，make beautiful sliders，，，，backup your sitein case of data failure, and makeemail opt-in简单 - 加上很多more.

While many make changes to the front end of your site, some plugins make changes on the back end so maintenance is easier for your team. These plugins might allow you toscan your site for broken links，，，，run A/B tests， 或者put your site into maintenance mode，，，，for example.

Now that we have a better understanding of what plugins are, let’s take a closer look at how they work.

A plugin developer who wants to use theWordPress Plugin APIto create a plugin will start by creating a PHP function to, say, delete comments with profanity from their site. Then they’ll hook the function to a specific event, such as saving comments to the WordPress database or publishing a post, by using theadd_filter() functionoradd_action() function。

Let’s say this developer wants to create a plugin that adds a line of text that says “Thank you for reading!” below every post on a WordPress site. In that case, the function of the plugin would be adding “Thank you for reading!” to a post and the event that triggers the function would be publishing a post. So their plugin file would look something like the following:

/**
* Plugin Name: Thank You Plugin
* Plugin URI: http://www.mywebsite.com/thank-you-plugin
* Description: The very first plugin that I have ever created.
* Version: 1.0
* Author: Your Name
* Author URI: http://www.mywebsite.com
*/

add_action( 'the_content', 'my_thank_you_text' );


功能my_thank_you_text（$ content）{
return $content .= '
Thank you for reading!
';

？>

Now let’s say you’re a site owner who wants to add this functionality to your site. In that case, you'd need to add the plugin to your WordPress website. Let's look at the different ways you can do so below.

如何在WordPress中使用插件

There are多种方法可以添加WordPress插件到您的网站。例如，您可以从仪表板，官方的WordPress插件目录或第三方站点进行此操作。可以单击一键即可自动安装官方目录的插件，而某些高级插件必须通过A手动安装File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client。

To install a plugin from the official WordPress directory, you simply have to log into your dashboard and selectPlugins>Add New。Then search for the plugin using the built-in search bar. From there, you just have to clickInstalland启用。

To understand how to install a plugin that's not available in the official directory, let's return to the plugin example above. If the "Thank you for reading!" plugin is not available in the directory, then you would download the plugin as a zip file and save it in theWP-CONTENT/插件通过FTP客户端文件夹的目录。这个would automatically install the plugin to your WordPress site.

You’d then navigate toPluginsin your admin dashboard. Once you located the newly uploaded plugin from the list of installed plugins on your site, you’d just click the plugin’s “Activate” link and be all set! From then on, every time you published a post, the line “Thanks for reading!” would be automatically added to the bottom of the post.

Most plugins begin working right away, but you may need to configure their settings to ensure they're working the way you want them to. For example, if you were using theWP Staging – DB & File Duplicator & Migrationplugin toset up a WordPress staging site，，，，then you'd need to go to the plugin's settings page and clickCreate New Staging Site.然后，输入一些信息，例如登台站点的名称以及您想复制的内容。否则，插件将不会自动上台。

If this sounds like a lot of work, then you might be wondering why people use plugins instead of editing core WordPress files to add functionality to their site. That’s because, when updating to a new version of WordPress, all the core files — and any edits made to them — are overwritten. To add that same functionality on your updated site, you’d have to go back in and edit the core files again.

但是，如果您安装插件以在您的网站中添加功能，那么您只需要担心keeping the plugins updated。

Now that we understand what plugins are, how they work, and how to use them, let’s look at some plugins that can add essential features to your WordPress site.

Must-Have WordPress Plugins

WordPress offers essential standard functionality to get you publishing visual content as soon as possible to attract your target audience. However, it’s missing some key features to help you engage and delight these visitors. Themust-have WordPress pluginsbelow can help optimize your content, enhance your站点或着陆页，，，，advance your conversion strategy, and keep your visitors coming back.

1。HubSpot WordPress Plugin

HubSpot’s WordPress plugin offers an array of sales, marketing, and CRM features. The plugin allows you to engage visitors with live chat and chatbots and then convert them into leads with forms and popups. You can nurture leads by building responsive email drip campaigns and marketing automation campaigns. You can then use HubSpot’s built-in analytics to evaluate the impact of each of these sales and marketing actions.

This plugin not only connects your WordPress site to HubSpot’s marketing, service, and sales tools — it also connects your site to the HubSpot CRM. That means you can easily manage your contacts, segment them into lists, and see every interaction they've had with your website, from page views to live chat conversations.

The best part? You can do all this without leaving your WordPress dashboard.

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This plugin is free but you can upgrade to付费计划，，，，starting at $50 per month. As your business grows, you may need to build more custom reports or increase your ad spending, for example. In that case, you can check out HubSpot’s upgrade options.

2。Yoast SEO

Merely creating and publishing quality content isn’t enough — you have to optimize it for search engines to rank and attract new visitors. The Yoast SEO plugin is specifically designed to help you improve youron-page SEO吸引更多有机流量到您的网站。

无论您是要创建一个吸引人的标题，优化特色片段还是对特定关键字进行排名，Yoast的强大功能范围，，，，including a snippet preview, internal linking tool, and readability and SEO analysis, automates and simplifies the optimization process for you.

有一个free and premium version of this plugin. The premium version unlocks even more features, including a redirect manager and automatic internal linking suggestions. With over 135 million downloads, it’s the most downloaded SEO plugin.

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3。Wordfence Security

Wordfence is one of the most comprehensive WordPress security solutions available. It includes a malware scanner that quickly alerts you about security issues and an endpoint firewall to prevent attacks on your site. It also provides real-time visibility into traffic and hack attempts on your website and two-factor authentication, among a suite of additional features, to protect your site.

有一个免费的高级版本。高级版本包括更多功能，包括实时防火墙规则和恶意软件签名更新和IP黑名单。WordFence Security拥有超过300万个主动装置，是最受欢迎的WordPress防火墙和安全扫描仪。

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4.Elementor

If you’re a non-coder, you can still create the WordPress site of your dreams byusing a page builder plugin like Elementor。

Elementor is a visual drag-and-drop page builder with advanced design capabilities. With this page builder, you can choose from hundreds of templates and then customize them with Elementor’s mobile editing to create beautiful and responsive pages. Elementor comes with dozens of widgets so that you can easily add buttons, images, carousels, and headlines, among other elements, to your pages.

It’s free but you can upgrade to the premium plan for more templates, widgets, animation effects, and more.

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5.UpdraftPlus

With UpdraftPlus, you’ll never have to worry about manual back-ups again. You can use this tool to back-up your files directly to Dropbox or Google Drive, among other cloud platforms, and restore them with a single click. That means if the day comes when your site gets hacked, your server crashes, or something goes wrong with an update, you know your website — plus all its related files and databases — are safe.

有免费的高级版本。UpdraftPlus Premium解锁了更多的云存储选项，包括OneDrive和Azure，并具有更多功能，包括增量备份和数据库加密。它具有超过200万个活动安装，是最受欢迎的计划备份插件。

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6.WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a powerful caching plugin that offers a robust range of features, including cache preloading, GZIP compression, Google Fonts optimization, and DNS prefetching, to speed up your WordPress site. What sets WP Rocket apart from other speed optimization plugins is that it begins working right out of the box once installed and activated on your site.

WP Rocket is a premium plugin with plans starting at $49 per month.

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If you only install these six plugins, you’ll be in good shape. These tools will help you improve your site’s lead generation, SEO, design, security, and speed.

However, if you have the time and resources to manage more plugins, then you can continue to extend the functionality of your site to better meet the needs of your visitors and back-end users. Let’s check out some of the most popular plugins below.

Best WordPress Plugins

Some WordPress users wonder if there’s such a thing as installing “too many” plugins on their site. The truth is that your site’s performance depends more on the quality than on the quantity of plugins on your site. If they don’t follow WordPress’s coding standards or aren’t regularly updated, then they can slow down or even break your site.

与其尝试保持低于任意号码，只需确保您安装的每个插件都会添加一个功能，可以增强您网站上的访问者体验，而不仅仅是很酷。

下面we’ll look at some of the most downloaded and highly rated plugins in the market. From optimizing images to integrating advanced analytics, each can add valuable functionality to your site.

7.Jetpack plugin

If you want to install as few plugins as possible, start with Jetpack. Jetpack is a powerfulall-in-one pluginthat helps your site with traffic generation, SEO, security, site backups, content creation, and community building and engagement. With this tool, you can see your site stats at a glance, automatically share new posts to social media, protect your site from brute force attacks, and more.

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With over 53 million downloads, Jetpack is thesecond most popular pluginof all time. There’s a free version, but you can upgrade to a Personal, Professional or Premium membership.

8.Smush

Smushis WPMU DEV’s image optimization plugin for WordPress. You can optimize every image you’ve ever added to your site with one-click (as long as they’re 5MB or less in size). Since image files tend to be bloated with data that isn’t needed, optimizing and compressing your site’s images with Smush is an effective and easy way to speed up your site.

从WordPress direc帕克是免费下载tory. There is a pro version available for those looking to optimize an unlimited number of images up to 32MB. WP Smush Pro plans start at $7 per month.

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9.Akismet Anti-Spam

Akismet反垃圾邮件提供优秀的垃圾邮件保护for your WordPress site. By checking comments and contact form submissions against a spam database, this tool prevents your website from publishing malicious content. That way, you’re only responding to your loyal readers and not spambots.

该插件是免费的，尽管您可以升级到每月5美元的高级计划以获得高级统计和优先支持。Akismet的下载超过8200万，是有史以来最受欢迎的插件。

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10.Monarch plugin

Monarchis a premium WordPress plugin that can help you increase your social shares and followers. With this tool, you can create a custom set of social media share buttons and follow buttons. In addition to letting you choose from dozens of social networks and profiles, it also offers many options for the placement and design of your buttons.

该插件还概述了您的社交媒体性能。在Monarch仪表板中，您会找到您的历史统计数据（股票总数，关注和喜欢）；您的一天，周，月和年统计数据；您表现最高的帖子；和个人帖子统计。

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要使用Monarch以及优雅主题的其他一套其他工具，您必须以每年89美元的价格购买会员资格或终身访问权限，一次性费用为249美元。

11。Google Analytics Dashboard Plugin for WordPress

MonterInsights创建了此插件，以使您可以轻松地将WordPress网站与Google Analytics（分析）连接。以前，您必须聘请开发人员或学习在WordPress主题的各个不同领域中添加Google Analytics（分析）代码才能设置此集成。借助Google Analytics（Analytics）仪表板插件，您可以在WordPress仪表板内部设置Google Analytics（无需开发人员或任何需要的代码）。

This plugin is free, but you can upgrade to the premium version for all Google Analytics tracking features including events tracking, ecommerce tracking, custom dimensions tracking, popular post tracing, affiliate link tracking, and more. With over 2 million active installs, MonsterInsights is the most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.

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12。LifterLMS

Let’s say you want to add or sell online courses on your WordPress site. In that case, you’d use a learning management system (LMS) plugin like LifterLMS.

LifterLMSlets you manage all aspects of your online courses — from administration to documentation to reporting — right within your WordPress dashboard. With this tool, you can create an unlimited number of courses, generate coupons, incorporate quizzes into your curriculum, and keep track of everything from refunds to membership orders.

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The core plugin is free, but you can add more functionality bypurchasing individual add-ons or bundles of add-ons。

13。ThirstyAffiliates

If you are looking to monetize your site with affiliate links while building trust with your audience, you’ll want to consider installing an affiliate link management plugin like ThirstyAffiliates. WithThirstyAffiliates，您可以单击几下鼠标的会员链接。您还可以在WordPress仪表板中直接管理，分类和自定义这些链接。

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术的养蜂体有免费的pro version具有更高级的功能，包括链接调度和URL缩短。付费计划起价为每月49美元。

14.Envira Gallery

Envira Galleryhelps you create responsive photo and video galleries for your WordPress site. You can organize your photos into albums, display your image thumbnails on multiple pages, and share your images on social media networks — all without any coding.

有一个Lite版本的插件available for free in the WordPress directory. Premium plans start at $29 and include advanced features for creating dedicated gallery pages, importing images from a Dropbox account, and more.

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我们讨论了许多免费增值和高级插件。现在，我们将查看一些免费的插件，您可以下载以满足您网站上的特定需求，而无需花费更多的预算。

免费的WordPress插件

假设您只是将您的业务在线上网，并希望保持较低的成本。好消息是，您可以从raybetappWordPress目录下载超过55,000个免费插件来自定义您的网站。

However, because free plugins do not come with warranties or guaranteed support, make sure that a plugin has been recently updated and has good reviews before installing it on your site. Below let’s look at a some highly-rated free plugins.

15.WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a flexible plugin that enables you to set up an ecommerce store in minutes. With this tool, you can easily create product, cart, and checkout pages. You can also accept a variety of payment methods and offer different shipping options, including free and flat rate shipping.

WooCommerce also comes with built-in sorting options and taxonomies so that customers can filter products by price, newness, popularity, ratings, categories, tags, and other attributes to find exactly what they're looking for.

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16。Google XML站点地图

Using a sitemap plugin will help ensure your posts get indexed faster by Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other major search engines.

Because Google XML Sitemaps supports all page types and custom URLs, you can use this plugin to create special XML sitemaps that help search engine crawlers understand the structure of your site and retrieve it more efficiently. Google XML Sitemaps allows you to set specific pages for priority indexation and automatically informs search engines about new posts and pages.

With more than one million downloads, this is one of the most popular sitemap plugins for WordPress.

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17.重定向

如果你运行一个WordPress的网站,你不想risk losing visitors or damaging your site’s SEO because of broken links. Redirection is a free redirect plugin that can help you handle these errors without having to manually change them. With Redirection, you can easily create and manage 301 redirections and keep track of 404 errors.

With over one million active installations, Redirection is the most popular redirect manager for WordPress.

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Enhance Your Site with Plugins

您是否愿意add formsto your site,automatically compress and reduce your images， 或者monitor your traffic for suspicious activity，插件可以添加或扩展WordPress网站的功能。这可以帮助您预期并满足当今和将来的消费者的需求。

编者注：该帖子最初于2020年3月发表，并已更新以进行全面性。