What are the best plugins when starting a website ?

Use the all in one seo pack!

also include:
popular post plugin
yet another related post
sharebar
front page category
better wordpress minify

I think I have them all!

Well, I don't think you should not install a plugin that actually not require for your theme or you do not need some functionality that you want. So uninstall all the unnecessary plugins.

So, as per your question you need a SEO plugin and I always recommend yosta for this. Also you may need google xml sitemap for the initial sitemap submission to google.

P.S. If you are using shared hosting you should you a WP super case so make sure your website do not use a lot of server resource.

Hope this helps
Sabbir

Start with :

Google Analytics
Google XML Sitemaps
All In One SEO Pack
Pretty Link
Legal Pages
Contact

Essential in my view:

Yoast SEO (includes XML Sitemaps so no need for an extra plugin)
Limit Login Attempts
Contact Form 7 or similar
Pretty Link or WP Shorties
A cacheing plugin - which one works best will depend on your host
Share Buttons by AddToAny
Akismet or similar anti-spam
A database backup - one that emails a copy of the database somewhere so you have an off-site backup

Optional but useful:

Exclude Pages from Navigation
Search Exclude

Themes are very much a personal choice - I tend to keep with the built in ones such as Twenty Twelve.

The best plugins are the ones you don't install!

Way too many people install plugins they don't need.

First of all, figure out what the most important action you
want your visitors to take. Do you want them to read and
share your posts, sign up to your newsletter, buy something
or do something else?

What ever that one thing you want them to do... design your
blog to make that happen. Then install the plugins that will
help you make that happen.

Don't install anything that won't help you achieve your objective,
it will just slow WordPress down.

John

I must say Thanks to all, this is very useful knowledge.

Everytime I see a "top 100 wordpress plugin" list I literally get dizzy.

Less is more.

A good number of WP plug-ins are helpful. Google analytics is mentioned but you don't need a plugin for that. I agree that many are used that are better off forgotten, such as one to install your favicon, etc. You can do these things yourself and it is better.

However there are a few that are really important.

Akismet (or potentially a similar plug-in) to stop spam is essential. If you don't get it immediately you will kick yourself the first day your spam comments jump from 5 to 85.

trevord92 is the only one I notice suggesting Limit Login Attempts but I think it (or another like it) is absolutely essential. I set mine to block a log in attempt after four errors in a row and was amazed to find within a couple days that I had people trying to hack my site all too often. Since hackers can use programs to try thousands of log in attempts in short order, this is critical to prevent unwanted access to your site.

By the way, changing your admin user name is just as essential for security.

Not essential, perhaps, if you want to do it manually, but having a good sitemap plug-in is close to essential. I use Google XML Sitemaps to assure that my sitemap is kept up to date and posts are sent to Google immediately after posting.

One plugin that I would recommend is W3 Total Cache.

You can use this plugin to deliver static html files that don't make database calls and are much quicker than the regular php files that are used.

You can also integrate this with Cloudflare CDN for free to further increase the speed and reach of your website.

Try Yoast SEO, it also includes XML sitemaps.

Don't forget about security. If your site get hacked then your everything will be lost. So, use Wordfence security. It is one of the best security plugin for wordpress.

Thank you so much to everyone that has contributed to this post. It has really helped me and I'm grateful for all the experience you have shared.

I hope to be able to give something back to the community too soon :-)

Frasser