If you are running your blog on WordPress- and most of the most popular bloggers insist that you should be- then you can take advantage of some terrific plug-ins that will make your job easier and faster, while helping you optimize your blog for the search engines at the same time.

You can find lists of the best WordPress Plug Ins all over the Internet, but when you are trying to decipher which ones to use, it can get a bit murky. Some plugins are used by most bloggers. Akismet is a spam filter plugin that is terrific at preventing spammers from taking over your blog comments. Blog comments are one of the most important parts of your blog, so it is important to make sure they stay protected and on topic.
To encourage your readers to comment more, consider a plugin that helps them do just that. CommentLuv is a great plugin that lets your readers automatically enter their name, email and website info at the comment box, making the process faster and easier. Subscribe to Comments increases commenting by engaging your readers in other people’s comments, bringing them back to continue the conversation.

The SEO capabilities of your blog are always affected by content, but also by some of the background work you do to the blog. Google XMLSitemaps lets the search engine spiders see the whole layout of your blog, which means increased view of your keywords, if you’ve done things properly.

The All in One SEO Pack plug in is definitely a must have for your WordPress blog. This little plug in sets everything up for you to make sure your most important SEO techniques are in place for every post.

WP SuperCache helps your blog load faster by keeping a cache that loads your blog without needing to load the PHP scripts. Faster loading time means happy readers, so this plugin should increase the readability factor of your blog. PageLinks will make it easier for you to link posts to each other so readers can read more about their favorite topics.

Of course, no post on popular WordPress plugins would be complete without linking to the plugin to install your plugins! With this one, you no longer need to download, upload and unpack your plugins. This little baby does it all for you. While you are at it, be sure to include the automatic upgrade plugin so you can upgrade your WordPress blog with just a few clicks of your mouse.

Obviously, this list barely scratches the surface of WordPress plugins. While these are some of the plugins many bloggers won’t do without, there are hundreds of other plugins to help you create the most effective blog possible. We’ll continue the list in the next post.