A WordPress website needs regular attention to keep it secure, reliable and working as expected. Even if you rarely change your content, software updates, hosting changes and everyday technical problems can affect how your website performs.
The good news is that maintenance does not have to involve hours of work every week. With the right checks, automated backups and a sensible routine, you can catch many problems before they become more serious.
This WordPress maintenance checklist covers ten important areas, from backups and updates to security, performance and testing. It also includes a practical maintenance schedule to help you decide what to check and when.
1. Check your WordPress backups
Backups give you a way to recover your website if an update fails, something breaks or your site becomes compromised.
A complete WordPress backup normally needs both your website files and database. Backing up one without the other may leave you unable to restore the entire site.
Check that:
- Automatic backups are running successfully.
- Both your files and database are included.
- Copies are stored somewhere separate from your website’s hosting environment.
- You retain enough backup history to recover from a problem that goes unnoticed for several days.
- You know how to restore your website if necessary.
Your backup frequency should reflect how often your website changes and how much information you can afford to lose.
For example, a busy WooCommerce store may need much more frequent database backups than a small brochure website that changes once a month.
Remember that a successful backup notification does not guarantee that the backup can be restored. Test the recovery process periodically, ideally in a safe environment that will not affect your live website.
For more detailed guidance, see our guide to backing up your WordPress site.
2. Keep WordPress, plugins and themes updated
WordPress core, plugins and themes receive updates for many reasons, including security fixes, bug fixes, compatibility improvements and new features.
Leaving known vulnerabilities unpatched can expose your website to unnecessary risk.
You can review available updates under Dashboard > Updates in WordPress. Plugin and theme updates are also visible in their respective dashboard sections.
Before making changes:
- Check that you have a recent, usable backup.
- Read important release notes, particularly for major updates.
- Check compatibility with your WordPress and PHP versions.
- Use a staging website to test significant changes where appropriate.
- Confirm that important website functionality still works afterwards.
Security updates should be prioritised rather than left until the next convenient monthly maintenance session.
Should you enable automatic updates?
WordPress supports automatic updates for core software, plugins and themes.
Automatic updates can help reduce the time a website remains exposed to known vulnerabilities. However, an update can occasionally introduce a compatibility issue or affect functionality.
Choose an approach that suits your website.
For a straightforward website with reliable backups and monitoring, automatic updates may be practical. A more complex website with custom functionality or critical integrations may need additional testing and a more controlled release process.
Whichever approach you use, review update results and investigate failures promptly.
3. Review your installed plugins and themes
Over time, it is easy to accumulate plugins and themes that your website no longer needs.
Unused software can increase the amount of code you need to maintain and may introduce security risks if vulnerabilities are discovered.
Review your installed software and ask:
- Is this plugin or theme still needed?
- Is it receiving appropriate maintenance and security updates?
- Is it compatible with your current WordPress and PHP versions?
- Does it duplicate functionality already provided elsewhere?
- Are there any known vulnerabilities that need attention?
Remove plugins you no longer need, including inactive plugins that are not being retained for a specific reason.
Keep your active theme and any genuinely required parent theme or backup theme, but remove unnecessary themes.
Do not judge a plugin solely by how recently it was updated. A simple, stable plugin may not need frequent releases. Look at its compatibility, support history, security record and whether it continues to work properly.
The number of installed plugins alone does not determine website speed. Their quality, functionality and resource usage matter more.
If a plugin starts causing problems, our WordPress plugin troubleshooting guide covers ways to investigate.
4. Review website security and user access
Security is an ongoing part of WordPress maintenance, not something you configure once and forget.
Regular checks help you identify suspicious activity, outdated software and accounts that no longer need access.
Start by reviewing your website’s security alerts and any monitoring reports.
Check that:
- Administrator accounts belong to people who still need them.
- Users have only the permissions required for their work.
- Strong, unique passwords and multi-factor authentication are used where supported.
- Security tools and monitoring are working as expected.
- Known vulnerabilities and suspicious activity are investigated.
Remove accounts that are no longer needed, or reduce their permissions when appropriate.
Avoid sharing administrator credentials between people. Individual accounts make it easier to manage access and understand who made changes.
Check for malware and suspicious activity
Unexpected redirects, unfamiliar administrator accounts, modified files or unexplained performance problems may require further investigation.
A malware scan can help identify certain threats, but no scanner can guarantee that a website is clean.
See our guide on scanning WordPress for malware and security vulnerabilities for the different types of checks and their limitations.
For a broader approach to protecting your website, read our WordPress security best practices.
5. Monitor uptime and website health
A website can become unavailable without anyone immediately noticing.
Hosting problems, resource limits, application errors and other technical issues can all affect availability.
An external uptime monitor can periodically check whether your website responds and alert you when a problem is detected.
Choose a monitoring interval appropriate to the importance of your website. An online store or business-critical service may need closer monitoring than a small informational website.
Bear in mind that receiving a successful response does not prove that every part of the website works. A homepage can load while a contact form or checkout is broken.
Check WordPress Site Health
WordPress also provides a built-in diagnostic tool under Tools > Site Health.
Review its critical issues and recommended improvements. These can highlight problems involving software updates, scheduled tasks, server configuration and other aspects of your installation.
The information available depends on your website’s configuration.
Use Site Health alongside uptime monitoring and manual testing, rather than treating any single check as proof that everything is working.
6. Test important website functionality
One of the most useful maintenance tasks is to visit your website as a customer would.
A website may look fine in the WordPress dashboard while an important feature has stopped working for visitors.
Regularly test the parts of your website that matter most.
For a typical business website, this might include:
- Sending a test message through your contact form and checking that it arrives.
- Following the main navigation links.
- Checking important buttons and calls to action.
- Viewing key pages on a mobile device and desktop computer.
- Confirming that images and page layouts display correctly.
If you run an online store, also test the relevant purchasing journey, payment integrations and order notifications using an appropriate test method.
For membership websites, check registration, login and other important account functions.
Pay particular attention after updating plugins, changing your theme, modifying hosting settings or introducing new features.
A successful update message does not necessarily mean that every feature still works.
7. Review website speed and performance
Website performance can change as you add content, install functionality or receive more traffic.
Rather than assuming your website is still performing well, check it periodically and look for meaningful changes.
Google PageSpeed Insights can help you investigate performance on mobile and desktop devices.
Where sufficient data is available, it reports real-world user experience alongside simulated test results. These two types of data provide different information, so consider them together rather than relying on a single score.
When reviewing performance:
- Test important pages, not just your homepage.
- Compare results over time where possible.
- Investigate unusually slow pages or recurring errors.
- Check whether large images or unnecessary scripts are contributing to delays.
- Consider whether hosting resources are sufficient for your website’s needs.
A lower performance score does not automatically mean you need a new hosting provider or fewer plugins.
Identify the underlying problem before changing settings or removing functionality.
For example, a slow website might be affected by expensive database queries, insufficient server resources, an inefficient plugin or poorly optimised images. Each requires a different solution.
8. Check links and keep important content accurate
Links and content can become outdated as your website and other websites change.
An external resource may disappear, an internal page may be moved, or an old service page may no longer reflect what your business offers.
Review important pages regularly and check that visitors can still find what they need.
Look for:
- Internal links pointing to missing pages.
- External links that no longer work or lead to irrelevant content.
- Outdated prices, opening hours or contact details.
- Old screenshots or instructions that no longer match the software.
- Important pages that are difficult to reach through your navigation.
When an internal page moves permanently, update links to its new address. Use an appropriate redirect when the old URL also needs to remain accessible to visitors.
Do not redirect every missing page to your homepage. If no relevant replacement exists, an appropriate 404 or 410 response may be the better choice.
Our guide to fixing broken links in WordPress explains the process in more detail.
If you allow comments, this is also a useful time to review pending comments, remove spam and respond to genuine enquiries where appropriate.
9. Review database and storage housekeeping
WordPress stores posts, pages, comments, settings and other information in its database.
As your website grows, revisions, expired temporary data, spam comments and information left behind by plugins can accumulate.
Not all stored data is unnecessary, and a larger database does not automatically mean your website will be slow.
Start by checking whether storage usage is growing unexpectedly or whether database performance is causing an identifiable problem.
Possible housekeeping tasks include:
- Emptying unwanted spam or trashed comments.
- Reviewing old drafts and revisions you no longer need.
- Identifying temporary data that is no longer required.
- Investigating large database tables or leftover plugin data.
- Removing redundant files when you are certain they are not needed.
Take a fresh backup before deleting or optimising database content.
Be especially careful with plugin-related tables and settings. Data that appears unused may still be needed for configuration, reporting or recovery.
Avoid aggressive database-cleaning tools that promise large performance improvements without explaining what they remove.
If you cannot identify the purpose of a database table or file, leave it alone until you have investigated.
10. Review hosting and technical essentials
Some maintenance tasks take place outside the WordPress dashboard.
Your hosting account, domain registration, PHP configuration and SSL certificate all contribute to keeping your website accessible and functioning.
Periodically check that:
- Your hosting account and domain registration are active, with renewal arrangements in place.
- You have sufficient storage and other hosting resources.
- Your PHP version is supported and compatible with your website.
- Your SSL/TLS certificate is valid and renewing successfully.
- Scheduled tasks and other important background processes are running.
- You can still access the accounts needed to manage your website and domain.
Do not upgrade PHP blindly on a live website. Check compatibility and test significant version changes before applying them to production.
You should also know who is responsible for each technical component.
For example, your hosting provider might manage server updates and SSL certificate renewal, while you remain responsible for WordPress plugins and content.
Confirm what is included in your hosting service rather than assuming every task is covered.
How often should you maintain a WordPress website?
Not every maintenance task needs to be performed every day.
A sensible schedule combines automated monitoring with regular manual checks and extra attention whenever something changes.
The following is a starting point rather than a fixed requirement for every website.
| Frequency | Maintenance tasks |
|---|---|
| Ongoing | Run scheduled backups, monitor uptime and review important security alerts. |
| Weekly | Check available updates, backup results and critical functionality. |
| Monthly | Review user accounts, Site Health, performance trends and important content. |
| Quarterly | Test backup restoration, review unused software and carry out broader housekeeping. |
| After significant changes | Confirm that a usable backup exists and test the affected website functionality. |
Some tasks need more frequent attention.
For example, an online store may require several backups each day, while an actively exploited software vulnerability may need action as soon as a suitable fix is available.
Similarly, you should not wait for your next scheduled maintenance session if your website goes down, a customer reports a broken checkout or you receive a serious security alert.
Adjust your schedule according to how frequently your website changes, the importance of its functionality and the consequences of downtime or data loss.
When should you get help with WordPress maintenance?
You can manage many routine WordPress maintenance tasks yourself, particularly if your website is relatively straightforward and you are comfortable working with its settings.
However, maintenance becomes more demanding when your website has custom functionality, important integrations or business-critical features.
You may also find it difficult to keep up with updates, investigate technical problems or test changes consistently alongside running your business.
If that sounds familiar, read our guide on when to hire a WordPress maintenance company.
At Newt Labs, our WordPress Maintenance Care Plan offers an ongoing support option for businesses that would rather have a team looking after their website.
You can also compare our WordPress Care Plans to find the level of ongoing support that suits your needs.
Regular maintenance cannot prevent every technical problem, but it helps you identify issues earlier, reduce avoidable risks and keep your website working as expected.
