Critical WordPress Maintenance Tasks to Perform Regularly  

Are you curious about what to add to your WordPress maintenance tasks checklist?  

Keeping a WordPress site in good shape is a continuous effort that helps ensure your site remains healthy, secure and functions properly.   

So, what actions should you take and how frequently? Our detailed WordPress maintenance checklist has all the information you need.   

Whether you aim to improve performance, boost security, or reduce loading times, this guide will assist you.   

Let’s get started. 

Why are WordPress maintenance task important?   

Owning a WordPress website is like owning a car. It’s insufficient to just fill it up with gas once and expect it to run smoothly indefinitely. Just as a car requires regular oil changes, your WordPress site needs consistent maintenance to remain in optimal condition.   

WordPress maintenance is vital for keeping your site fast, secure and functioning well. Your website is made up of various components, hosting, themes and plugins, but none of these are designed to work perfectly together on their own. When you add your content, such as text and images, it becomes evident that everything must be in harmony for an excellent visitor experience.   

Regular updates and maintenance are necessary to ensure that all these elements operate together without issues. If you let it slide, your site could slow down, become susceptible to hacks, drop in search rankings or even crash.   

To prevent problems like slow loading times, security risks and a decline in SEO performance, prioritizing the maintenance of your WordPress website is essential.  

Key checklist for WordPress important maintenance tasks  

Change your WordPress credentials   

Passwords serve as your primary defense against hackers attempting to gain unauthorized access to your website. It’s essential to create strong, unique passwords for all your online accounts to bolster security. Even with robust passwords, there’s still a risk they could be compromised without your awareness.   

That’s why WordPress security experts recommend regularly updating your passwords. This includes those for your WordPress admin, FTP or SSH accounts and the WordPress database. For detailed information, check out our beginner’s guide on how to change your password in WordPress.  

That said, the only drawback of strong passwords is that they can be hard to remember.   

To simplify password management, we recommend using password managers like 1Password. These tools help you securely store and quickly fill in passwords, eliminating the need to type or memorize them.  

Create a Full Backup of Your Website 

A backup plugin is one of the most essential tools for your WordPress site. CodeGuard is a top solution for automating daily backups. It provides peace of mind with regular, secure backups that protect your website data. 

CodeGuard offers strong protection. But, Jetpack is a reliable backup option for customers who use its other site management features. This gives you flexibility if you’re already integrated with Jetpack. That said, we still recommend CodeGuard for its robust features and ease of use. 

Additionally, it’s good practice to run a manual backup occasionally to ensure everything is saved correctly. Once completed, check that your backups are in your preferred remote location, like Dropbox or Google Drive.  

Test your WordPress forms & features  

If your website includes essential features such as forms or a checkout process, testing them regularly is vital. There’s nothing worse than discovering that you’ve missed out on potential leads or sales because a form stopped functioning without your knowledge.  

Testing once a month may suffice for some websites, depending on how essential these features are to your business. However, if a malfunctioning form could result in lost revenue or clients, it’s wise to test these features weekly.  

For the most critical functions, consider automated monitoring. Services like Pingdom can check essential features daily or hourly to ensure everything operates smoothly.  

Optimize your database  

WordPress keeps a lot of essential information in its database, such as your content, comments, users and settings. As time goes on, your database can gather a significant amount of unnecessary data.   

Excess information in your database can make backups larger, slowing down the process of uploading, downloading, and restoring them. Database optimization helps by cleaning out clutter and improving overall website performance. 

Our partner, SiteLock, offers reliable backup solutions to protect your data. With secure storage on SiteLock servers, you can back up your web files on demand or on a set schedule. This ensures maximum uptime, even in the event of an unexpected disaster. SiteLock also backs up your MySQL database, keeping customer data safe and secure at all times. 

Run speed test  

The loading speed of your website is vital for user experience and conversion rates can even enhance your SEO slightly.   

Even if you optimized your site for performance during its initial setup, that doesn’t ensure it will remain optimized over time. Regularly checking your site’s performance is crucial to spot and resolve any issues. For most websites, a monthly check is adequate.   

However, for more critical sites, you might need to perform a weekly review. If you’re interested in learning how to evaluate your site’s speed, check out our guide on conducting a website speed test. Should you encounter any issues, we also provide tips on improving WordPress speed.  

If you notice slowdowns, especially on shared hosting, your server could be a factor. In that case, switching to a more robust solution like Bluehost Cloud Hosting can significantly improve your site’s loading time and overall performance. For more details, check out our guide on running website speed tests and tips on speeding up WordPress. 

Fix 404 errors  

When someone tries to access a page on your website that doesn’t exist, WordPress will show a 404 error. These errors often occur due to a mistyped URL, but they can also happen if a page has been deleted. Such errors can lead to a frustrating experience for users.   

To prevent users from getting stuck on 404 pages, it’s essential to monitor and redirect these errors. Google Search Console simplifies the process of finding 404 errors on your site. Just log in, click on “Coverage” in the sidebar and look at the “Error” tab.   

Once you’ve identified the URLs that are causing 404 errors, you can set up redirects on your WordPress site and correct any broken links.  

Fix and remove broken links  

As your website expands, you may find that some of the external links in your older articles no longer function. Some websites may have relocated, while others might have disappeared entirely.   

Broken internal links can also pose a problem. You might unintentionally include broken images, poorly formatted links, or even mistype your own links. This can lead to frustration for your visitors and decrease their engagement with your site.   

Regularly checking for broken links is a crucial aspect of maintaining your WordPress site. Fortunately, you can easily accomplish this with the widely used Broken Link Checker plugin.  

Update plugins, WordPress core and themes  

Regularly updating WordPress core, installed plugins and themes is crucial for preventing security vulnerabilities and maintaining site performance. Updates typically include patches that address weaknesses in the system, which if not fixed can leave your website vulnerable to hackers.  

By keeping up with plugin and theme updates, you ensure your site remains compatible with the latest WordPress features and operates smoothly. Staying current not only boosts security but also enhances performance providing a seamless user experience while safeguarding your website from potential threats without affecting visitors. 

With Bluehost, you don’t have to worry about missing updates. They automatically install the latest WordPress version on your website, giving you peace of mind that your site is always secure and up to date without any extra effort from you. 

Audit content and optimize for SEO  

Another key maintenance task is to carefully review and optimize the content on your website. To do this effectively, you’ll want to utilize data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics. 

Google Analytics provides insights into who is visiting your site and what actions they are taking. By analyzing this data, you can pinpoint pages that attract a lot of traffic but have low conversion rates, enabling you to make improvements in those areas. 

With Google Search Console, you can discover which search terms your site appears for in search results. By updating and optimizing your content, you can enhance your search engine rankings for those keywords. 

To further refine your content and improve SEO, consider using the Yoast SEO plugin. Yoast helps you optimize your posts for target keywords, improve readability, and ensure proper use of metadata. It’s also wise to refresh your posts at least once a year. Update the publication date, enhance the content, and use Yoast’s insights to positively influence your SEO rankings. 

Check and delete spam comments  

Many website owners rely on Akismet to manage comment spam on WordPress, as it automatically filters out unwanted messages from your moderation queue.  

That said, Akismet can sometimes mistakenly classify a genuine comment as spam. It’s wise to periodically check your spam folder to ensure that no legitimate comments have been caught.  

After reviewing, you can confidently delete all the spam comments. If you’re dealing with a large volume of spam, think about deleting it in batches.  

While this might not directly enhance your site’s performance, it ensures that you don’t overlook any authentic comments.  

Review WordPress security logs  

WordPress security logs play a crucial role in monitoring and protecting your website. These logs capture key activities such as user logins, file modifications, plugin updates and other significant events. By keeping an eye on these activities, you can spot unauthorized access, recognize potential security risks and resolve issues.  

Conducting regular malware scans helps detect and remove harmful code, while security monitoring can boost performance by catching issues early. Tools like Wordfence and Sucuri offer features to securely store logs and safeguard your site.  

Another excellent option is SiteLock’s SMART Scan (Secure Malware Alert & Removal Tool), which performs an inside-out malware scan. This feature detects malicious code hidden deep in your server and works alongside an outside-in scan for a full threat analysis, ensuring your website is thoroughly protected from potential risks. 

Consider whether you need a new hosting server 

As your website expands, you may find that your current hosting plan no longer meets your needs. While this is a great indicator of growth, it may require you to upgrade to a more advanced plan or even consider switching to a different host. 

If you’re nearing the limits of your host’s capabilities, they may reach out to you. Nonetheless, it’s wise to assess your hosting requirements at least once a year to ensure you’re receiving optimal performance, reliability and features. 

For businesses looking for a powerful and scalable hosting solution, Bluehost Cloud Hosting is an excellent choice. With features such as on-demand scalability, advanced security measures, and a global content delivery network (CDN), Bluehost Cloud ensures that your site performs efficiently, even as traffic grows. It also comes with a 100% uptime SLA (Service Level Agreement), guaranteeing that your site will always be available when your audience needs it most. 

How often should you perform WordPress maintenance tasks?  

Regular maintenance of your WordPress websites is crucial for keeping it secure, fast and functioning properly. Given that WordPress sites are frequent targets for hackers, regularly updating the WordPress core, themes and plugins is essential to safeguard against security threats. This practice also enhances your website performance by preventing slowdowns caused by outdated plugins or unnecessary website files.   

Additionally, maintaining your site is vital for SEO, as search engines tend to favor websites with a seamless user experience. Regularly checking for broken links, updating content and ensuring your site is mobile-friendly can significantly improve your search rankings.  

Routine backups are an essential aspect of site maintenance, allowing you to restore your website if any issues arise. Consistent updates and checks also help prevent compatibility problems as WordPress core and its components continue to evolve.   

To effectively manage maintenance, it’s advisable to schedule tasks such as weekly backups, plugin updates and security checks. Monthly database cleanups and performance checks keep your site running well, while testing every few months and reviewing content yearly helps keep your website up-to-date and relevant. 

WordPress maintenance services 

Regular WordPress website maintenance is important to ensure your site runs smoothly, especially if your WordPress site stuck or experiences downtime. Key maintenance services include updating WordPress software, themes and plugins to prevent vulnerabilities. Regular maintenance tasks like backups, security scans and performance optimization help maintain site speed and security.  

Site owners can also benefit from professional website maintenance services to handle issues such as database cleanup, malware removal and troubleshooting. While maintenance cost vary, they are essential for keeping your site functional, secure and up-to-date, saving time and effort for site owners. 

When should you consider using WordPress maintenance mode?  

WordPress Maintenance mode is a useful tool to activate when you’re making significant changes to your website. Common situations for using maintenance mode include: 

• WordPress installation & redesigning your website 

• Fixing bugs or errors 

• Updating your theme and WordPress files 

• Making major changes to navigation or functionality 

• Implementing big updates to products, services, or features 

Why is Maintenance mode essential?  

These updates can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. Since your site may still receive visitors during this period, activating a maintenance page informs them that work is being done. This helps avoid confusion or frustration and reassures users that your site isn’t malfunctioning.  

If you personalize the page, you can provide updates or even allow users to leave their email addresses to be notified when the site is back online.  

How to activate WordPress maintenance mode plugin?

Activating Maintenance Mode in WordPress is essential when you’re updating or fixing your site, as it shows a temporary message to visitors while maintenance is underway.  

The easiest way to enable maintenance mode is by using a WordPress plugin like WP Maintenance Mode or SeedProd. These plugins let you create a custom maintenance page and activate maintenance mode with just a few clicks. Additionally, hosting providers like Bluehost offer built-in “maintenance mode” options. Simply enabling this feature will display a message such as “The site is under maintenance,” ensuring your visitors are informed while you update your website seamlessly. 

If you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can manually activate maintenance mode plugin by adding a code snippet to your functions.php file or by adjusting the .htaccess file. This way, visitors won’t run into broken pages or errors while you carry out necessary maintenance tasks. 

Wrapping up 

Regular WordPress maintenance is essential to ensure your site remains fast, secure and friendly for mobile devices. By regularly updating themes, optimizing databases, testing site features, and running backups, you can keep your site secure, boost its performance, and give visitors a better experience. 

It’s crucial to have a proper maintenance checklist and follow a schedule that includes frequent backups, updates, speed tests and broken link checks. Doing these tasks can lower the chance of security problems, keep your site up to date, and improve SEO, making sure your website stays working and relevant. 

Frequently asked questions