Photo by Xiaobin Liu
Optimization is key to Internet success. You can get more results from the same content if you take the time to optimize it. These top plugins will do a lot of that work for you, giving you more time to focus on creating content and honing your skills.
1. Yoast SEO
This is the number one SEO plugin for WordPress. It’s used by professionals and amateurs alike. Its simple format is easy to understand. It gives you a chance to plug in your keywords and see how you’re doing. Yoast also does some basic content checks on your work. If you struggle to know when your paragraphs are too long or aren’t sure if you’re using your keywords too often or not often enough, Yoast is a comprehensive checkup to set you on the right path. A bit of a jack of all trades, Yoast is a great place to start optimizing your content.
2. Digg Digg
Digg Digg is a way to keep your blog responsive and in tune with the needs of your audience. While most WordPress themes have coding that will allow you to install social media buttons, this can vastly slow down your loading process. Digg Digg is a plugin that allows you to add social media buttons to a floating bar that follows a user around the site. Therefore, it’s unobtrusive while remaining convenient. Best of all, it’s a much faster plugin!
3. All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets
Rich snippets are a simple concept that can really boost your click through rates. When someone searches for the keyword you’ve ranked for, they’ll find you—and a page of other results. Rich snippets are a way to stand out from the other search engine results. They help search engines display more information, like a star-rating or how many reviews you have, right from the search engine page. This made the top plugins list because it helps the work you’ve done to rank highly matter more. The more information you deliver off the bat, the better the odds that your search engine listing is going to catch someone’s eye!
4. Social Metrics Pro
Part of optimizing your blog’s content is optimizing it for your audience. This should be an ongoing process. Don’t try to fix what isn’t broken, but still keep an open mind to new practices. You should be looking for ways to produce ever-increasing engagement—which means trailing your audience to where they live. Social Metrics Pro allows you to view how each post does on various social media sites. Tweaking some style and presentation can help you optimize your content to be shared on various networks, and even get more shares overall. Having this information all in one place, right on your WordPress dashboard, makes optimization easy.
5. Broken Link Checker
Sometimes top plugins are made because they take the load off of you. Part of optimizing your content is adding images and links. It makes your posts beautiful, builds value on your blog pages, and helps you rank higher. As you amass more content, however, you start to run into broken links. This happens when a resource that you tagged for a post a year ago is taken down; now you have a link on your blog leading nowhere. Broken links and broken images clutter up your blog. It lowers the polish and can be frustrating for an audience. Broken link checker monitors your links and notifies you when one no longer works. This allows you to update it, or decide to simply remove that link and let it go. Either way, it’s better than a broken link living on your page.
These plugins will change how you see your content. Rather than struggling to keep on top of everything yourself, they give you the breathing room to have perspective. These top plugins will help your content stay sharp, relevant, and shareable.