How Many Wordpress Plugins are Too Many?

Lynne Level 1

July 4, 2016, 8:11 pm

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I have heard that having too many plugins can be bad for your website SEO and that it can slow down your website.

Can anyone explain to me why having too many plugins can be bad for SEO? Is it because it slows your website down or are there other reasons that come into it?

And even though I've been told that "too many" plguins can be bad for SEO nobody has been able to tell me how many is fine and how many is too much. I don't just add plugins all over the place but I do have a good few on my websites.

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anwebservices

anwebservices

I am working with WordPress for long time as user but also as developer of themes and plugins. To be honest nobody can tell how many plugins is too many, because it depends on which plugins are you using.
This is little complicated to explain but i will try to be as simple as i can. For example many plugins in it's codes using some "third party" website's for additional purposes like javascripts etc... So if they not include javascript in the code, but perhaps requesting javascript hosted on third party website, it's mostly OK, as most of these websites are very fast in providing it, BUT if you have few different plugins requesting same javascript to display some files or features of your website, then it's slowing down your website, just because of multiple calls to third party files, and speed is measured in milliseconds, so if your page is loading for 1 single second it's far too slow for Google crawlers and can be downside for SERP.
That's main problem why it's hard to tell how many plugins to use. In some cases 3 could be too much, while in other case 10 would be nothing to worry about. So only solution is to test them by switching on and off and test your website, plus when you getting new plugin for your WordPress, always read other member's reviews to get better plugins!

10 years ago

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Lynne

Lynne

Thank you for your explanation. It makes it a lot clearer for me to understand, so it is not necessarily about the amount of plugins but the type of plugin and whether it slows my website down or not. I'll check that out with the plugins I have published on my websites.

With my mommy blog (that was an online store) I have loads of plugins that I was using previously but I am not any more. This is something my sister and I are busy with now. We are going to redo that whole website and do a good clean up of all the unnecessary things.

10 years ago

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anwebservices

anwebservices

Here is something what can help you out to test your website speed and see what slowing it down https://www.seoclerk.com/faq/17894...speed-of-website

10 years ago

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Lynne

Lynne

Thank you, I will check out that discussion to learn about my website speed.

10 years ago

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anwebservices

anwebservices

OK, few more things i forgot to mention.

Do not use plugins which are not updated for 6 or more months, specially over 1 year.
Always update your plugins to latest version

It also depend who is coding plugin and which coding techniques are used. Even if plugin is regularly updated, but coded in old coding techniques it can slow your website few milliseconds, so few here few there can be a problem. Again, try to switch them on and off to test. If you find which one is slowing your website most, try to find another one which can provide you with same functionality.

10 years ago

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Lynne

Lynne

Thank you for those tips.

When I am searching for a plugin I usually look at when it was last updated, whether it is compatible with my version of Wordpress, how many downloads it has, how many people have rated it and what the rating is and of course then I look at the functionality of the plugin.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to check in here and ask everyone's opinion of a plugin I am thinking of using, and also ask for alternative suggestions. I wouldn't know anything about coding techniques and know what is old or not!

10 years ago

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anwebservices

anwebservices

Yet another thing to mention. (sorry for multiple posting but they keep coming to my mind) I suggest you also to test your theme! Theme can cause same problem as plugins, because it's not just design in themes, there is also coded functions and can be troublesome, depending on coding quality. So you can switch your website to default theme for short time and test it's speed to make sure theme is OK

10 years ago

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Lynne

Lynne

Nope, post away. These are the types of things I know nothing about, themes are also something that confuses me. I just look for something that looks good to me. I know, I can almost see all the experts here sighing and rolling their eyes, mumbling "oh stupid woman"... But I don't know what to look for with themes other than just nice looking.

10 years ago

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webexpert1313

webexpert1313

Hello, Its not matter How many plugins are good or bad for WordPress.
You need to consider in all plugins about bugs, if everything is good then no matter how many plugins work in your website. Thanks

10 years ago

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Lynne

Lynne

Yes I've heard sometimes plugins conflict with each other or your theme... geez too many things for me to keep thinking about!

10 years ago

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