WordPress powers more than 40% of all websites on the internet, including the majority of small business websites in the UK. It's a powerful, flexible platform — but it requires consistent upkeep to stay secure and perform well.
If your business website runs on WordPress, here's exactly what needs to happen each month — and why each task matters.
Monthly WordPress Maintenance Checklist
1. Update WordPress Core
WordPress releases regular updates, including security patches that address newly discovered vulnerabilities. Core updates should be applied as soon as they're available — but always take a backup first.
Major WordPress releases typically come two or three times a year. Minor security releases come more frequently and should be applied promptly.
2. Update All Plugins
Plugins are the most common entry point for hackers targeting WordPress sites. Each plugin is developed and maintained independently, and security vulnerabilities are discovered and patched regularly.
Every month — ideally more frequently — check your WordPress dashboard for plugin updates and apply them. After updating, test your site to ensure everything still works correctly. Update conflicts can break contact forms, galleries, booking systems, or your entire site layout.
A few things to watch for:
- Plugins that haven't released an update in over a year may be abandoned and should be replaced
- Plugins flagged with a known security vulnerability should be updated immediately, outside your regular schedule
- Deactivated plugins should still be updated — or, better, removed entirely. Inactive plugins can still be exploited
3. Update Your Theme
Your theme — including any parent themes — also needs updating. Theme updates often include security fixes, compatibility improvements with newer versions of WordPress, and performance enhancements.
If you're running a heavily customised child theme, test updates carefully to ensure your customisations haven't been affected.
4. Take and Verify a Backup
You need a reliable backup solution in place and you need to verify that it's actually working. Backup plugins occasionally fail silently — meaning you believe you have backups when you don't.
At minimum, take a manual backup before applying any major updates. Ideally, you have an automated daily backup stored off-site. Monthly, verify that recent backups exist and can actually be restored.
5. Run a Security Scan
Using a security plugin, run a full site scan to check for malware, modified files, and suspicious code. Review the results and address any warnings or alerts.
Check your login logs for unusual activity — particularly failed login attempts or logins from unexpected locations.
6. Check Site Performance
Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights and compare the results to previous months. If your scores are dropping, investigate the cause. Common culprits include new plugins, unoptimised images, or database growth.
Optimise your database monthly to remove post revisions, spam comments, and accumulated transient data that slows down queries.
7. Check for Broken Links
Broken links — ones that point to pages that no longer exist — damage user experience and can harm your search rankings. A crawl tool can identify them so you can fix or remove them.
8. Review and Renew SSL and Domain
Check your SSL certificate expiry date and renew before it lapses. A lapsed SSL certificate causes browsers to display a security warning to all visitors. Check your domain renewal date at the same time.
9. Test Contact Forms and Key Functionality
At least monthly, submit a test enquiry through your contact form and ensure it arrives. Test any booking systems, payment processes, or other critical functionality. Forms that stop working silently are a common and costly problem.
10. Review Google Search Console
Check Google Search Console for crawl errors, security alerts, and any manual actions. It will flag if Google has detected malware on your site or if there are pages returning errors that need addressing.
The Reality of Monthly Maintenance
Going through this checklist consistently every month takes time — and more importantly, it takes follow-through. When a plugin update breaks your booking system or a security scan returns an alert you don't know how to interpret, you need the knowledge to address it promptly.
For many business owners, a website maintenance package makes more sense than managing this themselves. All of the above is handled for you, with professional oversight when something unexpected happens.
Get in touch to find out how we can take maintenance off your plate entirely.
For a comparison of managing this yourself versus using a professional service, see DIY website maintenance vs hiring a professional.