WordPress optimization is a must for every blog, either you are achieving this with manual efforts or by installing wordpress plugin, it is important to make sure the visitors have an excellent easy browsing experience.

And that being said, here are 15 Word Press plugins that will make your blogging experience a much more pleasant one. With thousands of different plugins to choose from, it is a chore browsing through them.  

Google Syntax Highlighter for WordPress – Download

This great plugin is an integration of the Google Syntax Highlighter and it colorizes your code on the go. Most languages, such as C++, Css, Delphi, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby and XML/HTML are supported. It is very simple to use as you only have to put the code inside <pre> tags and assign them the attributes name=” your code” and class=”your chosen language”. Easy as pie!

Exec-PHP – Download

The Exex-PHP plugin executes code inside posts, pages and text widgets. You will not even have to modify your theme files when inserting the PHP code. Some other features that are included are: configurable user warnings for inappropriate blog and user settings as well as update notifications if a newer version of the plugin has been released.

All in One SEO Pack for WordPress – Download

The All in One SEO Pack for WordPress is one of the easiest to optimize posts regarding meta tags, titles, descriptions and more. Simply said; everything can be fine-tuned with this plugin.

Google XML Sitemap Generator - Download

Google XML sitemap supports all WordPress generated pages and every time you create a new post your sitemap will get updated as well. This is not only beneficial for your visitors but also for the search engines, and all major search engines support the sitemap protocol.

Bookmark Me Plugin for WordPress – Download

This is an easy and simple plugin for WordPress with links to social bookmarking sites, such as del.icio.us, Digg and Reddit. With the plugin your visitors are able to submit posts they enjoy to any of these given websites, which hopefully leads to even more visitors to your blog.

Akismet Plugin – Download

Akismet is a necessary tool for everyone enjoying WordPress. Thanks to Akismet you will not have to worry about your blog getting invaded by spam comments on posts. If you put <?php akismet_counter(); ?> in your template you will see exactly how much spam Akismet has caught for you.

WP-SpamFree Anti-Spam – Download

This is yet another powerful WordPress plugin that will protect your blog from spam, making sure that almost all automated spam will be deleted. Some of its newest features are enhanced comment blacklist option, possibilities of seeing who that have been blocked and a new option for smaller graphic counters which displays spam stats. The WP-SpamFree Anti-Spam plugin is highly appreciated in the WordPress community.

Google Analytics for WordPress - Download

Google Analytics for WordPress is a great plugin, which will track all of the outbound links from within all parts of your blog. The plugin will also allow you to track AdSense clicks. Google Analytics almost exclusively get high ratings by people using WordPress.

WordPress.com Stats - Download

This plugin is easy to install and with it you will get easily understandable statistics. Some might want very complex stats and then this plugin might have to look elsewhere but if you are more likely to enjoy statistics that focus on the most popular metrics this is quite possibly the plugin for you. Get numbers on pageviews, the most popular posts, where your traffic is coming from and what they click on when they leave your blog.

Contact Form 7 – Download

If you want a simple but still flexible contact form plugin you will probably enjoy Contact Form 7. The plugin can manage several forms and they can all be customized. Thanks to the contribution of many users, Contact Form 7 is now available in several different languages.

WP-PageNavi - Download

If you are tired of the default navigation of WordPress you should try out the WP-PageNavi plugin. The page navigation on your blog will look more professional and stylish (that is a matter of taste I guess) with WP-PageNavi.

WP Super Cache – Download

Through this plugin you will be able to create static pages to your WordPress blog. Thanks to the static pages, created by the WP Super Cache, your server will not get too busy and hence your site will not be experienced as slow by your visitors. If you have an article that you think have the possibility of hitting the frontpage of Digg, then you will need this plugin so that your site does not crash.

WP-DBManager – Download

With the WP-DBManager plugin you will be able to do all sorts of important fix ups with your database. Some of the things that you will be able to do are: backup database, restore database, optimize database, delete backup database and run selected queries. All in all a plugin that supports pretty much everything that you need for your database.

WP-DB-Backup – Download

Simple and easy, with the WP-DB-Backup plugin you will be able to backup your core WordPress database tables, as well as other tables which can be found in the same database.

Breadcrumb NavXT - Download

The Breadcrumb NavXT plugin creates customizable breadcrumb trails for your WordPress blog. The trails show the hierarchy leading to the current page rather than the actual path that was taken to get to the current page. Breadcrumbs are good for your visitors as they help them understand where they are in relation to the rest of the site. A bonus with breadcrumbs is that they a very small and hence will not take up much space.

And there you have it!  Do you have a plugin you cannot live without?  Please comment and share with us.

David Walsh is a writer for Web Hosting Search.  Hosting maybe boring but this guy puts the spice in it.  Read hosting reviews and even find a domain name to get your online website life started.