9 Most Popular WordPress Plugins Ever Made

admin | March 19, 2012 | 0 Comments

#1: All in One SEO Pack

All in One SEO Pack tops our list because it helps you get that one big thing that every successful website needs: traffic! This useful little plugin helps you optimize your website for search engines, ramping up your organic traffic and shooting you to the top of the search engines.

Total Downloads: 9,970,221

Average User Rating: 4 Stars (1174 ratings)

How It Works:

When you install the All in One SEO Pack plugin, it’s ready to work right out of the box. Plus, if you’re a more advanced user you can also fine-tune your settings to get the best results. All in One SEO will automatically optimize your titles for search engines, automatically generate meta tags, help you to avoid duplicate content, and more! A must have for anyone looking to increase their organic traffic and rank better in search engines.

Stats At A Glance:

Requires: 3.0 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.3.1
Last Updated: 2011-12-10

Get All in One SEO Pack Here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

#2: Akismet

While Akismet is a great plugin for any WordPress blog, we can’t help but feel that they may have cheated their way into the most popular plugins category, since WordPress includes Akismet automatically in every installation!

Still, if your website has a spam problem (and whose doesn’t!) then Akismet is the plugin for you. Akismet filters out your comment and track-back spam for you, leaving you free to focus on more important tasks.

Total Downloads: 8,761,783

Average User Rating: 4 Stars (880 ratings)

How It Works:

Every time a new comment, trackback, or pingback is added to your website, it will run through Akismet’s web service, which will run hundreds of different tests to determine whether or not it is spam. Akismet will award the comment/trackback/pingback with a thumbs up or a thumbs down, saving you time and energy sorting and deleting spam comments.

Stats At A Glance:

Requires: 3.0 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.3.1
Last Updated: 2012-1-11

Get Akismet Here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/akismet/

#3: Contact Form 7

Looking for an easy way to create and manage your contact pages? Well, your search is over, thanks to Contact Form 7!

Total Downloads: 6,034,480

Average User Rating: 4 Stars (1429 ratings)

How It Works:

With Contact Form 7, you can customize your contact form and mail contents quickly and easily. This plugin also allows you to manage multiple contact forms, which can come in handy on a big site. Contact forms made with this plugin also support Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, and Akismet spam filtering.

Stats At A Glance:

Requires: 3.2 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.3.1
Last Updated: 2012-1-31

Get Contact Form 7 Here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/contact-form-7/

#4: NextGEN Gallery

If you want to include pictures on your blog in an engaging way (and who doesn’t?), then NextGen Gallery should be high on your list of plugins.

Total Downloads: 4,747,373

Average User Rating: 4 Stars (2132 ratings)

How It Works:

NextGen Gallery will create a fully-integrated image gallery on your blog, complete with slideshow option. Copying and moving images between galleries is easy, and you can even add a watermark to your images or text. NextGen Gallery uses an Ajax-based thumbnail generator, meaning you can say goodbye to server limitations during the batch process. The plugin also gives you the ability to include a slideshow, random picture, or recent picture in your sidebar.

Stats At A Glance:

Requires: 3.2 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.3.1
Last Updated: 2012-1-17

Get NextGen Gallery Here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/nextgen-gallery/

#5: WPtouch

Ever wonder how to create a mobile version of your website for visitors using smart phones? Well wonder no longer, WPtouch is here!

Total Downloads: 3,102,498

Average User Rating: 4 Stars (521 ratings)

How It Works:

When you install WPtouch on your website, the plugin will automatically generate a clean mobile version of your site for anyone who visits your site via smart phone. Mobile visitors can toggle the mobile view on and off as they please. This plugin offers a fast and easy way to deliver a user-friendly version of your site to mobile users, and you don’t have to alter any of your coding or your theme. Just activate WPtouch, and you’re good to go!

Stats At A Glance:

Requires: 3.1 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.3.1
Last Updated: 2012-1-23

Get WPtouch Here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/

#6: WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache is all about speeding up your website, so if slow-loading pages are a problem, this is the plugin for you!

Total Downloads: 2,962,761

Average User Rating: 4 Stars (1174 ratings)

How It Works:

WP Super Cache generates static HTML files from your dynamic WordPress blog, which are then served to visitors instead of the much bulkier, slower-loading WordPress PHP scripts. The majority of your visitors will get these static pages, including visitors who are not logged in, visitors who have never left a comment on your blog, and visitors who have never viewed a password-protected post.

The only drawback to this plugin is that a limited number of open data ports can lead to problems serving content when the load on the site is too heavy. One alternative you may want to check out is W3 Total Cache, which offers a more robust solution and is quickly growing in popularity.

Stats At A Glance:

Requires: 3.0 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.3.1
Last Updated: 2012-1-30

Get WP Super Cache Here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-super-cache/

#7: Google Analytics for WordPress

Every good webmaster knows that checking your website’s analytics is a great way to measure your success and determine what aspects of your site need work. The Google Analytics plugin for WordPress makes accessing your site’s analytics a breeze.

Total Downloads: 2,862,376

Average User Rating: 4 Stars (907 ratings)

How It Works:

Google Analytics for WordPress makes installing Google Analytics on your website super easy. All you need to do is paste in your Google Analytics ID, and you’re ready to go. For more advanced users, you also have the option to manually place your tracking code in other locations on your site. Plus, Google Analytics for WordPress utilizes the asynchronous Google Analytics tracking code, which is the fastest, most reliable tracking code you can get from Google.

Stats At A Glance:

Requires: 2.8 or higher
Compatible up to: 3.3.1
Last Updated: 2011-10-12

Get Google Analytics for WordPress Here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/

#8: WP-PageNavi

If you want to make your blog stand out from others and add a little flare while you’re at it, then WP-PageNavi is a great plugin to try.

Total Downloads: 2,371,680

Average User Rating: 4 Stars (537 ratings)

How It Works:

We all have those “← Older posts | Newer posts →” links at the bottom of our WordPress blogs to allow visitors to scroll between posts. But with WP-PageNavi, you’ll get a special template tag that you can use to generate fancier pagination links. It’s not a critical plugin that can make or break your site, but it’s a great way to add more of a personal touch!

Stats At A Glance:

· Requires: 3.1 or higher
· Compatible up to: 3.3.1
· Last Updated: 2012-2-11

Get WP-PageNavi Here: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-pagenavi/screenshots/

#9: WordPress SEO by Yoast

WordPress SEO by Yoast is another great plugin that can help your blog rank well in search engines. In fact, with its growing popularity, WordPress SEO may even surpass All In One SEO Pack sometime in the near future. Maybe our next most popular plugins list will feature WordPress SEO in the #1 spot!

Total Downloads: 999,104

Average User Rating: 4.5 Stars (1236 ratings)

How It Works:

WordPress SEO by Yoast makes you choose a focus keyword when you’re writing new posts, and then makes sure you use that keyword often. There’s also a convenient “snippet preview” that will show you what your post or page will look like in the search engine results, so you can fix things like title length and meta description. There’s also a Linkdex Page Analysis option, which checks various things on your site, such as whether or not your images have an alt tag containing your focus keyword, whether or not your posts are long enough, if you’ve used your keyword in your sub-headings, and so on.

Stats At A Glance: