When was the last time you checked the plugins on your WordPress website?
While most site owners tend to forget about the plugins or only update them once in a blue moon, it’s important to have a look at your plugins periodically.
Reasons why you need to audit your WordPress plugins
Security
Unused, dodgy-looking, or out of date (not updated) plugins are a potential security risk. They can be an easy way for hackers to get access to your site and that’s something you want to avoid!
Speed
The more plugins you have on your site, the more it impacts your site speed. And with site speed being so important to SEO, it’s best to keep only the plugins you’re using or need.
Stability
You may have seen it before – you install a plugin, then all the alarms and red text alerts show up: CONFLICT! Not all plugins play nicely together which can cause stability issues with your website.
How to audit WordPress plugins
Reviewing your plugins is easy to do and, assuming you don’t have dozens and dozens, doesn’t take too long.
But first things first…
🛑 BACK UP YOUR WEBSITE.
Before making any significant changes to your website, you should take a backup so you can roll back if the site breaks (touch wood).
Once you have your site backed up, follow these steps.
- See what plugins you have installed, which ones are active, and which plugins you’re actually using on your site. (It is unbelievably common for people to install plugins, thinking they sound wonderful, and then never use them!)
If there are any plugins that don’t tick those boxes, deactivate and delete them. - If there are any plugins that look a bit dodgy (generally they aren’t rated terribly well on WordPress.org) it’s best to nix those as well.
- Take note of how many plugins you have. There’s no “perfect number” of WordPress plugins to install on a site but the fewer you have, the less problems you’re likely to have. (Less risk, less conflict, more site speed – yay!)
What to do if you run into trouble
Doing any sort of site maintenance can be daunting and plugins are no different.
There are plenty of avenues available if you need assistance, such as the WordPress support forums or Facebook Groups (such as WordPress Plugin Suggestions or All About WordPress).
And you can ask me too! If you need some help or have any questions, hit the comments below 👇 or send me a DM on Instagram or Facebook.
