Plugins -The downside

Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 12:57 am

Over the last few days we have been talking about a wide variety of plugins and why they are helpful. It has been done by category and there have been a large number of plugins discussed.

This series came about while answering a question posed here and your questions are welcomed and I will be addressing them here so leave them in the comments below.

what are you top plugin choices for WP?

Now the downside to plugins. Each plugin has the potential to slow your blog’s load speed down. The images you are using on your blog are also a factor but a slower load speed can hurt you.

How fast your page loads is now part of Google’s algorithm. If your plugins are slowing your blog down that can become a detriment to where your pages rank in Google.

There is always a trade off when you add plugins. You can check your page load speed at a variety of sites. Just do a search for page load speed.

Now to be truthful your theme and the number of images it uses will make a difference too.

So even though all of the plugins mentioned in this series and a lot of other plugins can add to your blog some neat things there may be a trade off.

Some plugins like the ones for SEO far outweigh any slowing they may cause through the improvements they can create some of the nice but not necessary items you might want to skip.

As you see the new shiny buttons of plugins add them then test the change in page speed. Take advantage of the tools Google provides for webmasters. This will allow you to get an insight into how Google sees your site.

Remember that your questions and comments are appreciated. Leave them below.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy.

After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably.

If you would like help in building your business check out my coaching offer.