If you’re using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS) for your website, you’re aware that for every single task or feature, you need to install a plugin. Whether it’s a backup plugin, a word editor, a performance optimization plugin, or a virus scanner — each of these come as a separate plugin.
The problem is that with each new plugin installed, you need more time to maintain them. They offer different tools and options that can be mutually contradicting or even impossible to use together.
What if one plugin could include the majority of features you need? Enter the Jetpack plugin for WordPress! So, you may be wondering just what Jetpack plugin is — and what’s so special about it — given its claim to fame in the WordPress community. Jetpack is a collection of tools rolled into a single plugin. These tools have been tested and ensured to work together to benefit your website.
Of course, website optimization efforts go hand in hand Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and SEO tools, which the Jetpack plugins and family of products have incorporated into their portfolio of features. An essential read for those seeking SEO functionality would be the Improve your site performance and SEO for free with Jetpack Boost article.
How do you set up the Jetpack plugin in WordPress?
The Jetpack plugin can be installed through the Plugins section of your site’s WordPress Dashboard. You can use the Jetpack plugin to improve page loading times for your site.
To be able to install the Jetpack plugin, you’ll need a WordPress-compatible hosting plan, a publicly accessible website, and a WordPress.com account:
Once you’ve installed the Jetpack plugin, you’ll need to activate it by clicking the Activate button in the Plugins section of your site’s WordPress Dashboard.
Depending on the features of the plugin you’d like installed, the setup of the Jetpack plugin itself will vary. However, the main common requirement is a WordPress.com account, as most of the features will leverage the WordPress.com connection in some way. Be advised that some feature addon offered with the free Jetpack plugin are paid — such as those associated with the Jetpack VaultPress service.
Overview of the Jetpack plugin configuration and benefits
The Jetpack plugin used to be a part of the default WordPress installation. However, due to the complaints and concerns of WordPress users, that is no longer the case. Still, it can be installed for free, while different plans are available for purchase, depending on which features you might need:
Jetpack is a versatile WordPress plugin with SEO-focused and other tools to help optimize a site’s performance and security. The following sections summarize the various categories of features included in the Jetpack plugin.
However, one should always evaluate these categories of features in the context of selecting the best Jetpack plan — free or paid — for the functionality needed for you website:
Full Jetpack plan listing and price comparison
Jetpack Boost plugin
The Jetpack Boost plugin is a separate plugin that offers SEO features to optimize the site for search engines. For example, the plugin allows lazy loading to improve the Core Web Vital score. It allows for critical CSS generation, as well as JavaScript deferral. If you’re not using any other SEO plugins, it can also be used to optimize title and meta description formats in the Traffic > Search Engine Optimization section.
Jetpack VaultPress Backup functionality and service
The Jetpack VaultPress Backup feature in the Jetpack plugin has equivalent functionality as the Jetpack VaultPress Backup standalone plugin. Both serve as your backup solution from Jetpack.
Backups and restoration of WordPress websites are serious matters. Many WordPress backup plugins and services that specialize in hourly backups, incremental backups, and other features that have been developed over the years. Unlike them, the Jetpack VaultPress Backup is a premium module with the Jetpack plugins and family of products:
- Jetpack VaultPress Backups via the Jetpack plugin
- Jetpack VaultPress Backup standalone plugin | The #1 WordPress backup plugin
- Jetpack Security plugin (includes Jetpack VaultPress Backups) for WordPress protection
- Jetpack Complete plugin (includes Jetpack VaultPress Backups) | The ultimate tool kit for WordPress
It supports one-click restoration and takes automatic backups. The main difference it makes is how and when a backup is created.
Whenever an event occurs, Jetpack creates a backup. An event can include the creation or modification of a page or post, the installation, modification, or update of a plugin or theme, the submission or modification of a comment, and the addition or modification of a user account:
- More about the valuable Jetpack VaultPress Backup feature set
- Meet Jetpack VaultPress Backup as a standalone plugin
- Jetpack VaultPress Backup plugin with real-time backups and one-click restores
WordPress Jetpack plugin also keeps an Activity Log of all events, which is listed in chronological order. Every entry in this Log serves as a recovery point. Simply select an event and choose between downloading the backup or restoring your site to its previous state.
Downtime/Uptime Monitoring feature
Downtime/Uptime Monitoring is a feature that you can find in the Security section of the Jetpack settings page:
- Downtime/Uptime Monitoring for WordPress sites
- The importance of Downtime/Uptime Monitoring with Jetpack
- Guide to WordPress Downtime/Uptime Monitoring
In general, Downtime/Uptime Monitoring is not included in most hosting plans, and for any type of website, it’s a crucial feature. Whether you’re a blogger or own an online store, making sure your website is up and running is important. This concern is where the Downtime/Uptime Monitoring comes in. It’ll send you an email once the site goes down. It’ll also email you once it’s back up with the time of total downtime.
Lazy Loading for WordPress feature
Lazy Loading is a feature that improves page loading speeds by delaying image loading until the user interacts with a particular part of the page. It can be enabled in the Performance & Speed section of the Performance tab within the administration area. Read more in the Lazy Loading Images for WordPress using the Jetpack plugin article.
Jetpack CDN
Jetpack CDN is free of charge, comes with unlimited bandwidth, and does not require you to sign up for it. In general, content delivery networks speed up the site’s loading times significantly. If your hosting plan doesn’t come with a CDN included, Jetpack’s CDN is always a good idea and gives you these advantages:
- It saves your hosting plan’s bandwidth, as it preloads content to the CDN and serves static content from it.
- Visitors generally prefer faster-loading websites, and increased speeds are bound to improve their experience with your website.
- With increased speeds, your site will rank faster for target keywords within Google SEO tools.
Related Posts feature
One of the features of the Jetpack plugin that utilizes the WordPress.com connection is the ability to list related posts on every post you make on your website:
Generally, this would be resource-exhausting, as other plugins would need to query the database for anything similar to the post you created. The plugin will serve cropped thumbnail images for all related posts from the Jetpack CDN service while utilizing the WordPress.com resources to actually locate the required posts.
Site and Comment Subscription features
Jetpack allows you to enable Site and Comment Subscription functionalities below the comment form. These subscriptions and notifications help with increasing the subscription rate and user interaction for interesting content.
Email Subscription feature
Another type of subscription that Jetpack offers is the email subscription. It simplifies the process by collecting all email addresses making them transferable to any other service provider, while also sending all your new posts to subscribers.
Site Verification Tools for webmasters
Jetpack simplifies adding metatags to the website with its Site Verification Tools when required to do so by other various services. These will usually need to be added for various verification purposes, required by Google, Facebook, Pinterest, or similar.
Site statistics and related features
Some hosting companies will allow you to track basic site statistics within their own control panels. Jetpack offers a premium feature of integrating Google Analytics and the Google Analytics integration feature is well documented on Jetpack's website.
However, if you’re not looking to do that just yet, you’ll also be able to track the traffic on your website with the Jetpack plugin itself. The traffic status can be found in the Jetpack > Dashboard section:
- More about the Jetpack Stats feature set
- Jetpack Stats, simple, yet powerful statistics to grow your site
Major Jetpack product discounts for agency partners
The cheapest way to receive discounts on Jetpack services is to sign up as an agency:
Remembering the importance of site backups, SEO, and other key features provided by Jetpack and Nexcess
The crucial thing to remember when using WordPress is always make backups! Even if making a tiny modification to a single file, it’s always safer to keep a copy of it locally or on the server instead of just overwriting it with new changes. As well, maximizing SEO value in your content is essential.
Whether you have an online store, or a blog, having a reliable partner for your business is necessary to make any task easier. At Nexcess, our Managed WordPress hosting plans and WooCommerce plans are scalable, flexible hosting plans that come with free daily backups, Unlimited Email Accounts, and our 30-Day Money Back Guarantee included in every plan.
Hosting expertise you can count on
Our expertise goes beyond WordPress hosting. When you need help, our WordPress experts — who include active contributors — are standing by to resolve your questions and concerns.
Should you wish to see how we assist our clients with the documentation provided, feel free to browse the extensive Nexcess Knowledge Base for useful information, such as:
- Giving WordPress a boost with the Jetpack plugin
- Backing up WordPress with the Jetpack VaultPress Backup plugin
- Using the Jetpack Boost plugin on your site
Nexcess hosting plans also come with an excellent 24/7/365 support team ready to help with any issues that might pop up along the way!
Related articles
- WordPress security checklist: how to secure a WordPress site
- How to secure your WordPress site
- 5 best WordPress security plugins for your new website
