A WordPress maintenance and update routine

A WordPress maintenance routine is a short, repeated job so the site stays live. Core, theme and plugins are updated. A backup is taken. Someone checks that the form still arrives. Without a routine the site is abandoned in the state of launch day. An abandoned site one day does not open, or it opens and the form stays silent. Maintenance is not inventing a new feature. It is keeping the current job from breaking.

At Yuz Medya we tie the routine to an order. Backup first, then a trial, then the update, then a check on the live site. If the order is reversed, the way back gets harder too. “I just updated it quickly” is the day there was no backup. This work continues after delivery of WordPress / PHP software. Delivery is not the day the routine ends. It is the day the routine starts.

What is looked at, and how often?

Core and plugin notices are watched weekly. Not every notice has to go live the same day. A security patch is not left waiting. A large release that changes layout is opened on a trial copy first. If there is no trial copy, the large release is applied at a quiet hour, with a fresh backup. If the theme is updated less often than the plugins, it has been forgotten. A forgotten theme falls out of step as core moves on.

The backup is part of the update

A backup keeps the files and the database together. A copy of the files alone does not bring content back. The backup should not be the only copy sitting inside the site. A backup on the same disk as the server leaves with the disk. If a restore has never been tried, the backup is a wish. Once a month, a small restore is tried. The trial does not have to be a full disaster rehearsal. Seeing one page come back is a sufficient sign.

What is checked after the update?

The homepage, one service page, the form and the admin login. The form should land on a real address. If it does not, the update is not a success. The menu, the language switch and, if there is payment, the checkout step are looked at too. If an image breaks, the theme or a plugin may have crushed the layout. This check is a list that does not need more than ten minutes. Without the list, someone says “the site opens” and a broken form stays silent until evening. Speed and indexation of broken pages are a different reading. We tie that to technical SEO. Maintenance is the ground that reading stands on.

The number of plugins makes the routine harder

A plugin for every job is one more risk each month. An unused plugin is not deactivated. It is removed. A deactivated plugin still wants updates and can still conflict. If two plugins do the same job, one leaves. Removal can also be the reason to talk about custom software. We talk about that threshold in WordPress or custom software. The maintenance routine is not there to grow the plugin collection. It is also an excuse to shrink it.

User accounts enter maintenance too. The admin role of someone who has left is closed. An account named “admin” with a weak password does not survive. Two-step verification is on for the admin login. If comments and membership are unused, they are off. An open membership is the door maintenance forgot. The door does not close with an update. It closes with a setting.

The routine is written to a person

A job everyone is supposed to watch is a job nobody watches. The owner of the routine is clear: the agency, someone inside, or a written handover between them. A handover is not sending the password in a message. Where the backup is, what the trial address is, which inbox the form lands in. Without those three lines the routine depends on memory, not on a person. Memory is allowed. A record is required.

• Order: backup, trial, update, live check.
• The form: a real submission after the update.
• Plugins: unused ones leave, conflicting ones become one.
• Accounts: the person who left, and the weak password, are closed.

A short note at the end of the month is enough. What was updated, what was postponed, did the form arrive. The note stays for the owner of the next month. Without the note, every month starts as if it were the first time. Maintenance done for the first time is rushed. Rush skips the backup.

Frequently asked questions

Should automatic updates be on?

They can be on for small security patches. Blind automatic updates of the theme and of the plugin that keeps the site standing are risky. The list of what is automatic is written down. Those items are still reviewed once a month. Automatic does not replace the routine. It becomes part of it.

Does the site stay up without a maintenance contract?

It stays up for a while. Then core, plugins and the PHP version drift apart. The drift can return as a white screen on one update. A contract is not required. The order is required. An in-house team can run the order, or an agency can. Who runs it should be clear.

Is a backup plugin enough?

If it takes a backup and a restore has been tried, it is useful. A plugin that claims to back up and has never been restored is not a backup. If there is no copy of the backup outside the site, the risk remains. The tool does not replace the order. The order chooses the tool.