With the advent of Google’s March update and chargeable stats for Jetpack, how can you re-optimise your WordPress plugins?
Google’s March update was a kick in the teeth for many bloggers, and to add insult to injury, along came a chargeable model for Jetpack stats. My initial reaction was to bin Jetpack altogether, it’s bloatware after all, but after I calmed down, I had a re-think. Maybe it wasn’t a wise idea to throw the baby out with the bathwater after all. It’s time to re-evaluate the way I use WordPress plugins.
Google Analytics.
Although Google Analytics is complex and overwhelming, with a bit of work, you can get the info you used to get with Jetpack stats without too much trouble. Sure it’s a pain, but it does the job.
Jetpack features that are worth keeping.
Not paying for Jetpack stats does not necessarily mean you need to ditch Jetpack altogether. I went through a process of ditching all the features I didn’t need; performance and anything to do with images (more on this later) being the big one.
But some features are worth keeping: The integration with WordPress.com for one, helps with gathering followers (I have almost 2k of those). Also, related and popular posts are useful tools to drive traffic. Finally, there’s stuff that’s easily missed but really important, like the sitemap generator tool.
in other words, don’t bin Jetpack on a whim, make it work for you with features that are still free (for now). It’s been tightly integrated into WordPress for years, and cutting the umbilical cord maybe isn’t the best idea.
Use specific WordPress plugins for a specific purpose
Going back to the Jetpack performance and image features, I’ve learned that a great plugin performing a single task is better than an average one performing a wide range of tasks. Case in point being…
Use a CDN
I’ve put off doing this for years, not realising they cost next to nothing in reality. Instead of using the built-in Jetpack CDN, go for something like bunny.net, which surprisingly only costs around a penny per GB of bandwidth and gives your site a significant speed boost. It even comes with it’s own WordPress plugin!
WordPress plugins: Putting it all together
I’m now in a situation where I still have all the features that matter (like the Jetpack sharing, traffic and community features), but without the drawbacks of paying for Jetpack stats or having a slow inbuilt CDN. My site’s faster and therefore will hopefully rank higher.
I hope you found this article useful in your fight with Google’s new policies. If you have any other hints and tips, drop a comment below.
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