Chained WordPress CLI commands to install and activate recommended plugins.

wp-cli-install-rec-plugins

# wordpress-seo provides ability to edit meta information and provides sitemap.
# w3-total-cache provides advanced caching no matter the server technology available.
# better-wp-security provides brute force protection and a number of WordPress enhancements.
# google-analytics-for-wordpress provides robust Google Analytics integration through the Google API.
# redirection detects 404s and 301s and allows admins to set up redirects in the WP admin.
# ewww-image-optimizer provides automatic optimization of uploaded images with local libraries instead of cloud-based services.
# backupwordpress simple backup solution that can store backups above web root.
# relevanssi provides better site search using a local index.
# cloudflare is the best. Free automatic CDN and security solution. 
# jarvis is a quick search for the WordPress admin. Indespensible.

# Array of plugin slugs as listed above. h/t @wpbullet 
plugins=( wordpress-seo w3-total-cache better-wp-security google-analytics-for-wordpress redirection ewww-image-optimizer backupwordpress relevanssi cloudflare jarvis )

# Install and activate each plugin. h/t @blindpet Trevor Anderson Mike Andreasen
wp plugin install --activate ${plugins[@]}

Each line can be reduced to

wp plugin install wordpress-seo --activate

Nice work, you can also use an array and one line them, WP-CLI is smart enough to know what to do with the spaced list

#array of plugins
WPPLUGINS=( wordpress-seo ewww-image-optimizer better-wp-security )
wp plugin install ${WPPLUGINS[@]} --activate

Documented them here

Thanks for the feedback. Updated.