Choosing the Best Plugins for WordPress VIP: Enhance Functionality and Performance

Do you want your WordPress VIP website to reach its full potential? Selecting the right plugins can go a long way in determining the feature set and performance of the site.

As there are thousands of plugins in existence, choosing the most suitable ones that meet your needs may be quite challenging. You might require help from a WordPress VIP partner to choose the best from a library of 60,000 available plugins.

Plugins are critical add-ons that add functionalities to your WordPress VIP site, but how do you select the right ones? In this article, you will learn more about the most important features of choosing the right plugins for WordPress VIP hosting for your website.

How to Choose the Best Plugins for WordPress VIP Website?

When it comes to selecting plugins for a WordPress VIP site, it is not just about going to the WordPress plugin directory and choosing the first five plugins with the highest rating or the most downloads. You should look at various things to ensure the plugins you use are suitable for your site, for instance:

1. Security

   Security is always a top priority in the WordPress VIP platform. Thus, any plugin you choose should be actively developed and updated frequently to avoid security risks.

   Some old plugins or plugins with low output escaping can be dangerous to your site and its security. WordPress VIP is the only hosting platform that is FedRAMP certified, and it prioritizes security, scalability, and performance. So, scan a plugin’s code with PHPCS to reveal issues and conduct a manual review as well.

2. Compatibility

   Despite the platform allowing for the installation of a wide variety of plugins, some of these may interfere with the architecture of the system or with other plugins. WordPress VIP services can help you test a plugin fully by option before putting it into use on your site.

3. Regular Updates and Support

   Ensure that you choose plugins that are updated often and have responsive support teams. Updates have to be frequent to ensure the plugin is compatible with the new VIP WordPress versions and security updates. An active support team is capable of resolving any problem as soon as possible, which will help to avoid the situation when your site is not available.

4. Ease of Use

   Sometimes, the plugins are complex and have many built-in features. So, watch out for bloated code because if it is not well done, then it might affect the performance. Several classes and data structures will be loaded on every page request, degrading the responsiveness.

   Conduct a simple inspection of the source code, and you can look for the functional line of code that resolves the issues. Going through the rest of the code is not necessary.

5. Reviews and Ratings

   If you aren’t sure which plugin to use, look for user reviews and ratings. The feedback will help you get a holistic idea of the pros and cons associated with a plugin for your WordPress VIP website.

What Does WordPress VIP offer?

WordPress VIP is different from normal WordPress hosting and enables you to install plugins from GitHub, giving you full control of your website. Plugins are stored on GitHub, and the code goes through automated pre-approval checks for security and performance before going live.

Here’s what WordPress VIP offers:

1. Complete freedom to install a plugin of your choice via GitHub without a line-by-line review
2. Control over the automated scans against pull requests from the GitHub repository (it provides real-time feedback on security and performance in the code before you commit the plugin to production)
3. Inability to modify or create a file and have it served or executed, which leads to better security from attack vectors
4. Flexibility to use integration from enterprise technology partners

Essential Plugins for WordPress VIP

To help you get started with the best HVAC website design or any other website for a different industry, here are some of the most popular types of plugins that are often used on WordPress VIP websites:

1. Performance Optimization Plugins

   Performance is very important to keep users interested and to have low bounce rates. The WordPress VIP platform currently has many performance optimization features, including Varnish page caching and Gzip compression.

   However, other plugins like Comprehensive Sitemaps might also be useful for organizing massive sitemap pages, but they do not overload the memory or lead to timeouts. Do not install plugins like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache because they can interfere with the built-in performance options in WordPress VIP.

2. SEO Plugins

   Organic traffic is crucial for any site, especially for WordPress VIP users. The best plugins available are Yoast SEO and Rank Math SEO. These plugins provide features to enhance content, meta tags, and keyword placement that can improve your site’s search engine positioning.

   That being said, it is crucial to understand that many SEO plugins could slow down the website, particularly when it is indexing a large website. It is always strongly recommended that you test all these plugins later and seek the help of WordPress VIP services in case of any problems.

3. Content Creation and Optimization Plugins

   You will also need useful plugins such as Co-Authors Plus and Edit Flow for your content-creating process. Co-Authors Plus enables one to assign multiple authors for a particular post, which is very useful in group blogging.

   Edit Flow enhances the editorial desk with options such as custom statuses and editorial comments. These plugins help organize content in your WordPress VIP site and improve the quality of content that you post.

How Do Plugins Work on WordPress VIP?

Let’s understand the process of how plugins work on WordPress VIP:

1. VIP MU Plugins

   The WordPress VIP network requires certain MU (must-use) plugins to be installed on all VIP sites. The WordPress VIP team develops some of these plugins, including caching and security plugins. The VIP MU codebase enables integration into the VIP Platform Integration, which provides essential functionalities like caching and security enhancements.

2. Additional Plugins

   In addition to the minimum MU plugins, WordPress VIP permits the use of other plugins, like third-party and Automattic plugins, that could be a great addition to your site. Automattic plugins undergo rigorous testing and security vetting as they are specifically built for WordPress and the VIP platform.

   It is also possible to create and install custom plugins for the system when needed for business purposes, but these custom plugins go through the same testing and review as third-party plugins, ensuring high quality through automated testing services.

3. Installation and Management

   At WordPress VIP, installing and managing plugins is easy but requires care and attention. You can install, update, and delete plugins through the VIP site’s wpcomvip GitHub repository.

   Using this method, you can quickly and easily roll back to a previous version in case of any problems after installing a new plugin. When talking about custom plugins, they can be loaded through either the /plugin directory or the /client-mu-plugins directory, depending upon the preferred loading behavior.

   If you find any difficulty, you can easily contact a WordPress development agency for effective installation!

The Bottom Line

Selecting the right plugins for WordPress VIP can make a huge difference in how well your site performs and its security. To enhance your site’s security and ensure that it delivers superior performance, you should only choose plugins that are compatible with the WordPress VIP platform, regularly updated, and backed by the development teams.

WordPress VIP has certain criteria that are not easy to meet, which is why it’s crucial to select appropriate plugins for the environment with the help of WordPress VIP services! As a leading WordPress development agency, Icecube Digital can assist you with end-to-end WordPress VIP development and offer post-deployment support as well. Share your requirements today with our experts.