The WordPress maintenance checklist: what to check every week, month and year
A website is not finished on launch day. This is the practical checklist we use to keep WordPress sites fast, secure and bringing in enquiries long after they go live.
Most website problems are small when they start: a plugin that needs an update, a form that stopped sending, a page that became slow after a large image was added. Left alone, small problems become a broken site or a lost lead. A simple routine catches them early.
Every week
- Check that backups ran, and that at least one copy is stored away from the website’s own server.
- Send a test form and make sure the email arrives in the right inbox.
- Look at new enquiries and reply within one working day.
- Glance at uptime: if the site was down, find out why.
Every month
- Update WordPress, the theme and plugins, after a backup, and check the key pages afterwards.
- Remove plugins you no longer use. Every inactive plugin is code that still needs looking after.
- Review Search Console: the Pages report for errors, and Core Web Vitals for slow pages.
- Check speed on a phone with PageSpeed Insights for your home page and your most visited page.
- Look at the 404 log and redirect any old addresses people are still trying.
Every quarter
- Restore a backup to a test copy to prove that it actually works.
- Review user accounts and remove anyone who no longer needs access.
- Read your key pages as a customer would: are prices, services, phone numbers and opening hours still right?
Every year
- Renew the domain and hosting in good time, and check the SSL certificate renews automatically.
- Review the content plan: which pages bring enquiries, and which questions do customers ask that the site does not answer yet?
- Check legal pages such as the privacy policy and cookie notice.
An hour of care each month costs far less than a day of fixing a broken website.
Do it yourself or hand it over
Everything on this list can be done by someone in your team with a little guidance. If you would rather spend that time on your business, a care plan covers it for you, with a plain-English report each month.
See what is included in our website maintenance and care plans.
StackMIME designs and builds custom WordPress websites for service businesses and the agencies that serve them, in English and Arabic, from Islamabad and Riyadh.
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