WordPress Maintenance Checklist: What to Do Weekly, Monthly and Yearly

A WordPress website isn't "done" when it launches. Like a car, it needs regular care to stay fast, secure and reliable. Most hacked or broken WordPress sites simply weren't maintained.

Here's a practical checklist you can follow yourself, or hand to your developer.

Weekly

• Check updates. Update WordPress core, plugins and themes, after taking a backup.
• Confirm backups ran. Make sure automatic backups completed and are stored off-site (not only on the same server).
• Test your contact form. Send a test enquiry and make sure it arrives. Broken forms mean lost leads.
• Moderate comments and delete spam.

Monthly

• Run a security scan with your security plugin or host's scanner.
• Review admin users. Remove anyone who no longer needs access.
• Test site speed on PageSpeed Insights and fix any new issues.
• Check for broken links and fix or redirect them.
• Check Google Search Console for indexing errors, security issues or mobile problems.
• Review analytics to see which pages bring visitors and enquiries.
• Clean the database: old revisions, spam and trashed items.

Every 3–6 months

• Test a backup restore on a staging site. A backup you've never tested might not work.
• Audit plugins. Delete unused ones and replace any that are abandoned or no longer updated.
• Update content. Refresh prices, team, services, photos and testimonials.
• Check your PHP version is current and supported by your host.

Yearly

• Renew domain and hosting in advance, and turn on auto-renew to avoid your site going offline.
• Renew premium licences so you keep getting security updates.
• Review your hosting. Is it still fast enough for your traffic?
• Do a full SEO and content review to find pages to improve or merge.
• Consider a design refresh if the site looks dated or isn't converting well.

Golden rules

1. Always back up before updating.
2. Never use pirated ("nulled") themes or plugins.
3. Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication.
4. Fewer, well-maintained plugins are better than many.

Don't have time?

Maintenance only takes a little time each month, but it has to be done consistently. Many business owners hand it to a developer on a monthly plan, so updates, backups, security and small changes are handled by someone who knows the site, and problems are caught before customers notice.

Sameer Gupta

Freelance WordPress developer and founder of Samverse. Builds websites for clinics, manufacturers, agencies and online stores.