WordPress is one of the most popular website platforms out there, accounting for approximately 64.1% of all websites on the internet. That’s a lot of websites! But, that also means there are a lot of websites that aren’t being maintained quite as often as they should be. While WordPress is an incredible and powerful platform, it does need some manual maintenance from you to keep it operating as it should.
So, what do you need to do to keep your WordPress site in tip-top shape? Follow these 6 top tips:
6 Tips for Keeping Your WordPress Site in Tip-Top Shape
- Clean Your Database Monthly
Cleaning your database can be daunting, especially if you are worried that you might accidentally delete something you shouldn’t. However, having lots of things on your website that you don’t really need (such as data from unused plugins) will slow it down, and site speed is more important than ever. Rather than trying to this on your own, try using a performance plugin such as WP Rocket or WP Optimize to do it for you.
- Remove Old Plugins
One of the biggest benefits of using WordPress is the ease of using plugins, but it’s incredibly easy to download and install numerous plugins that all do the same thing until you find one you like, and then leave the rest sitting there. This takes up “room” that can, again, slow your site down, so go through your plugins once a month and clear out the old plugins that no longer work for you.
3. Update Your Plugins & Theme
Once a month, take a look at your plugins and your theme to check for updates. These updates keep everything working as it should and may even give you new features, so it’s well worth putting on your to-do list each month.
- Check Site Speed
A lot of what you’re doing here is to improve site speed, so it’s well worth checking how your site is performing. You can simply google “site speed check” for a few options, but Google’s own “Google Test My Site” is one of the best.
- Check for Broken Links
Broken links can effect your SEO (search engine optimization) rankings in more ways than one. Not only do search engines not recommend links that lead nowhere, but if your visitors are landing on pages that constantly 404 (aren’t there), they’ll quickly leave your site.
Check for broken links on your site and either remove them or set up a redirect to another page. Again, you can find a bunch of free tools for this, but Dead Link Checker is a good once to use. If you need to set up redirects, WP Beginner has a great guide here.
- Make Sure Your Site is Protected
Cyberattacks and malware are becoming more sophisticated with time, and so you need to do what you can to make sure your site is protected. Wordfence is one of the best tools available to do this – it protects your WordPress site from a massive range of attacks and keeps your site secure at all times.
We know this is a lot to keep a handle on, especially for busy small business owners. That’s why we offer full website maintenance services to keep your WordPress site healthy, lean, and secure! To find out more about our services, click here.
