WORDPRESS MAINTENANCE · BY SAVIOUR BASSEY
A WordPress maintenance checklist for business websites.
WordPress maintenance is more than clearing the update notifications. A site can look fine while a form stops delivering enquiries, a backup fails, or a new image slows an important page. This checklist gives business owners a practical routine for checking the software and the experience customers rely on. Adapt the frequency to your website: a service brochure and a store taking daily orders need different levels of attention.
By Saviour Bassey
1. Record what the website needs to do.
List the important journeys before changing anything: finding a service, submitting an enquiry, booking a call, buying a product, or accessing account content. Record which tools support each journey and who owns the checks. Keep a short maintenance log with the date, changes, test results, and unresolved issues.
Take a few screenshots and note the current behaviour of key pages. This gives you something useful to compare against after an update, rather than relying on memory or an update-success message.
2. Check backups and the recovery route.
A complete WordPress recovery normally needs both the database and website files. Confirm your backup includes both, retain copies from different dates, and keep a copy outside the hosting account. WordPress recommends regular backups and a backup before an upgrade; the interval should reflect how often the site changes.
Check the latest backup actually completed. Periodically test a restore in a separate environment and document how recovery works. For a busy store, think about orders received since the backup: restoring an old database can overwrite newer transactions. Agree how that data would be preserved before using a full-site rollback.
References: WordPress backups and recovery.
3. Update with a plan for testing.
Review available WordPress, theme, and plugin updates and read relevant release notes. WordPress provides updates through Dashboard → Updates, and some security and minor releases can install automatically, depending on the configuration. Know which automatic updates your site allows.
For significant changes, use a staging copy where available and test there first. Take a current backup, apply a manageable group of updates, then check the live site after deployment. Clear the relevant caches so the public check shows the current version. Resolve a failed update before continuing with unrelated changes.
References: Updating WordPress.
4. Test forms, bookings, and checkout.
Test from a visitor’s perspective on a phone as well as a larger screen. Submit a clearly labelled test enquiry and verify it reaches the intended inbox or system. A success message alone does not show that the message was delivered.
Follow booking links, download links, and account journeys that matter to your business. For a store, use an appropriate sandbox or controlled test process to check the cart, payment flow, confirmation, and order notification. Avoid creating accidental real charges. If a third-party service handles the next step, check that handoff too.
5. Review access and installed software.
Check who can sign in and whether each person still needs that access. Use individual accounts, strong passwords, and two-step authentication where supported. Give people the access their work requires and remove obsolete access after a proper handover.
Review inactive plugins and themes before removing them; establish whether another feature depends on them first. Keep installed software current and obtain extensions from trusted sources. The official WordPress hardening guide explains these security fundamentals. Maintenance reduces risk, but an updated plugin list does not prove that a website is free of security issues.
References: Hardening WordPress.
6. Investigate Site Health warnings.
Open Tools → Site Health and review the Status tab. WordPress groups checks into critical issues, recommended improvements, and passed tests. The Info tab records details about the site’s software and configuration, which can help when troubleshooting.
Prioritise warnings that affect updates, security, or essential functionality. Record the cause and next action instead of installing another plugin without understanding the problem. Some issues require the hosting provider’s help.
References: WordPress Site Health screen.
7. Check content, links, and search settings.
Review your main pages for outdated services, broken links, missing images, and information that no longer matches the business. Read the page titles and descriptions after major edits. Keep headings in a useful order and link related pages so readers can continue naturally.
After a migration or launch, verify that the public site is not accidentally left with a noindex setting. Check changed URLs and planned redirects. These are maintenance checks to prevent avoidable errors; they do not replace a content strategy or guarantee search rankings.
8. Compare page speed under similar conditions.
Review a few important pages after adding images, plugins, or new layouts. Use comparable mobile test settings and look at what changed. A single score is less useful than identifying a large image, a blocking resource, or a layout shift that affects visitors.
Check that images are appropriately sized and that caching still works after updates. Keep essential functions in the test: removing a script is only an improvement if the feature that needs it still works. Document the before-and-after results and the remaining limits of the hosting and site setup.
Build a routine you can keep.
As a starting point, check backup completion, update notices, and your main enquiry or purchase journey each week. Review access, content, broken links, and performance monthly. Re-test essential functions after major changes and check recovery periodically. High-activity websites may need more frequent checks.
Assign an owner to each task and keep the record short enough to maintain. If something fails, capture the symptoms, pause further changes, and investigate. A repeatable process makes it easier to spot a new problem and explain what happened when you need support.
Explore related services and resources.
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Practical WordPress website resources from Saviour Bassey. Start with a maintenance checklist covering backups, updates, security, testing and page speed.
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