10 WordPress Maintenance Tasks to Do Every Month

My post on what it takes to look after a WordPress site explains why each part of the job matters. This is the checklist version: ten tasks to do once a month, in the order I'd do them, with where to find each one in WordPress.

Before you start

Do the ten tasks in one sitting, logged in as an administrator, at a quiet time for your site, not in the middle of a sale.

Keep a short log as you go: the date, what you updated, and anything that looked wrong. When something breaks two weeks later, that log tells you where to start.

The monthly checklist

1. Back up the whole site

Before you touch anything, take a fresh backup of both the database and the files. WordPress's own guide says you need both to fully restore a typical site, and suggests keeping three to five recent backups in different places (WordPress documentation).

Use your host's backup tool or a backup plugin, check that the backup finished, and make sure at least one copy lives somewhere other than the server the site runs on.

2. Update WordPress

Go to Dashboard > Updates. It shows whether a new version of WordPress is waiting and whether your site is set to install new versions on its own. If an update is waiting, run it, then load the home page to make sure the site still comes up.

3. Update plugins and themes

When a plugin or theme has an update, WordPress shows a number in the admin menu and highlights it on the Plugins and Themes screens. Update a few at a time rather than all at once, and look at the site after each group. If something breaks, you'll know which update did it.

While you're on the Plugins screen, look at the "Automatic updates" column. Since WordPress 5.5 you can turn automatic updates on plugin by plugin (WordPress documentation). I'd turn it on for small, well-kept plugins and leave the big ones, like your store or page builder, for a manual update you can watch.

4. Test what visitors use

Updates break the things people use most, so test them yourself:

• Forms. Send the contact form and check that the email arrives. A form can look fine while its messages stop.
• Checkout. If you sell online, run a test order. Most payment providers have a test mode for exactly this.
• Anything else people do on the site: booking, signing up, logging in, searching.

5. Clear the cache and look at the site as a visitor

A page cache keeps saved copies of your pages, so after updates, clear it to make sure visitors see the current version. On a LiteSpeed server, which is what I run, the LiteSpeed Cache plugin's Purge All button clears every cached page for the site, and it's also in the LiteSpeed menu on the admin bar (LiteSpeed documentation).

Then open the site in a private window, where you're not logged in, and on your phone. That's what your customers see.

6. Read Site Health

Go to Tools > Site Health. The Status tab lists critical issues and recommended improvements (WordPress documentation). Deal with the critical ones first. Many of the recommendations need your host, such as a newer PHP version.

7. Check who has access

Open Users and read the list:

• Remove anyone who no longer works with you.
• Give each person the lowest role that lets them do their job. An Editor can publish and manage everyone's posts and pages without being able to install plugins or change settings.
• Look for administrator accounts you don't recognize. An admin you didn't create is a sign someone else got in, and it's time to restore a clean backup and change every password.

8. Clear out the clutter

• Plugins and themes you don't use. Delete them rather than leaving them deactivated. Fewer installed means fewer things to update.
• Spam comments. Go to Comments, open the Spam list and empty it.
• Trash. Empty the trash for posts, pages and media you've deleted.

9. Check speed on the pages that matter

Run your home page and your busiest page through PageSpeed Insights, and note the results in your log so you can compare month to month. If a page has slowed down, the usual suspects are new images uploaded at full camera size and a newly added plugin. My post on what to check in a website audit explains the numbers.

10. Check Search Console

In Google Search Console, open the Page indexing report and look at pages listed as "Not found (404)". Google says a 404 isn't necessarily a problem if a page was removed with no replacement, but if a page moved, a 301 redirect should send people to its new address (Google's documentation). A sudden jump in 404s after an update or redesign usually means links broke.

Every few months

Some checks don't need doing monthly:

• Restore a backup to a test copy of the site, so you know the backups work and how long a restore takes.
• Check the PHP version. WordPress recommends PHP 8.3 or greater; older versions down to 7.4 still run WordPress but have reached end of life (WordPress requirements). Test before you switch.
• Look for plugins that have gone quiet. Each plugin's page on WordPress.org shows when it was last updated. One that hasn't changed in years is worth replacing.
• Check renewals and logins. Know when your domain renews, and who holds the logins to your domain, hosting and site.

For a longer list, see my website maintenance checklist.

Keep your WordPress site, and hand off the list

If you'd rather someone else work through this every month, that's what I do. I host and look after existing WordPress sites case by case. Tell me about yours and I'll send a written quote for hosting and upkeep before anything changes. Content and design changes aren't included. A $500 deposit starts the quote. It's refundable until you accept, and credited to the work. Keep your WordPress site.