WordPress is site-building software that allows create and manage websites without coding or web development experience.

There are thousands of WordPress plugins that provide the tools for customizing the website to meet the site owner’s specific needs and goals. Plugins can add general functions to make a website more secure, add new features or extend functionality. So with plugins, your site will look better, run faster, and attract more traffic. Also, secure plugins will protect your site from hacking or malware and etc.

In this tutorial, you will see how to install WordPress plugins via WordPress admin page and manually.

How to install WordPress plugins via WordPress admin page?

Installing plugins via WordPress admin page is the easiest way to install WordPress plugins by accessing them through WordPress admin page.

1. Firstly, you need to log in to your WordPress admin area.
2. Then navigate to Plugins → Add New.

3. You will see various plugins, so you should choose the plugin you want to install and then click on Install Now.

4. After that, the preferred plugin will be installed, and click on Activate. So the plugin will be started using.

Note. All installed plugins you will be able to see by heading to Plugins → Installed Plugins.

How to install WordPress plugins manually?

You can manually install WordPress plugins by manually uploading them to your hosting package via cPanel.

1. You need to log in to your cPanel and navigate to File Manager.
2. Then, you should find your website folder. It should be public_html and find wp-content folder.

3. So there, you should see the plugin folder where plugin files are stored.
4. Then, you need to click on Upload button and upload your plugin zip file. After file is uploaded, you will see it there.
5. So then you will need to extract that zip file.
6. Now, you will need to log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Plugins. There you should see your uploaded plugin and you can activate it by clicking on Activate.

Additional information

Since there are many various plugins, choosing the most suitable plugin for your website is pretty tricky. So here are some points to which attention should be paid.

Plugin updates

Frequently updated plugins can help you to avoid security breaches inside your website.
Also, plugins that are being updated continuously show that plugin developers are still managing and updating plugins to avoid, for example, bugs.

Ratings

Plugin users share their opinion and reviews about plugins. So their personal experience using that plugin is valuable that gives you insight into how the plugin performs in real-time situations.

Compatibility

Plugins that are regularly updated most likely will be compatible with the latest version of WordPress. So before installing the plugin, make sure that it will work with your WordPress version. Also, review plugin documentation or plugin forums.

Installation number

It shows how popular that plugin is. If the number is high, then most likely, that plugin will be high quality.

Note. You should use one plugin for each function because too many of them can slow your site.
Furthermore, plugins that have similar functionality can cause various conflicts inside your website.
So the recommendation would be to use one plugin for each functionality.