Undoubtedly, WordPress is one of the best, flexible, and easy-to-use & update and SEO friendly CMS which comes with thousands of essential WordPress plugins and themes that makes building a WordPress website a breeze.
However, unlike other CMS software’s WordPress too, require daily maintenance in order to work smoothly. Having a well-maintained WordPress website that offers a hassle-free user experience is the key to a successful online business.
Therefore to help you in this, we have come up with useful WordPress website maintenance best practices that will provide you with a comprehensive list for making your WordPress website user-friendly and SEO friendly.
Website Speed Test
Regularly checking website’s page speed and loading time is essential as they help to enhance user experience which result in more traffic and sales.
Look For Broken Links
Broken links can have negative impact on your SEO rankings since it stops search engine robots from effectively indexing your website therefor it is essential to find and fix the broken links immediately.
301 Redirect
Clicking on a link and landing on a 404 page is quite frustrating for a website user. Hence, to avoid this implement 301 redirect to redirect web pages with broken links to other similar pages.
Update WordPress Version
To ensure your website’s security is robust and to not miss out new features, it is necessary that you always upgrade your website to the latest version of WordPress.
Delete Spam Comments
To make sure your website is optimized and clutter-free, it is vital to clear up spam comments from your website.
Delete Unwanted Plugins & Regularly Updated Them
Too many plugins can affect your website speed as well as pose a security treads, therefor it is critical that you remove unnecessary plugins from your website.
Since outdated plugins leave your website open to malicious hacks. Therefore, prevent this, ensure that you always updated plugins to the latest version.
Clear Trash
Clearing out database trash should be a part of your daily maintenance to make sure your website runs and functions smoothly.
Media Files Clean-Up
One of the biggest reasons you run out of storage space on your website is because of redundant and temporary media files. Thus, cleanup those unnecessary junk files from your media library in order to improve the performance of your WordPress website.
Optimize Database Tables
Clearing database table after removing plugin or a theme will help to optimize your database leading to enhance website speed.
Test Browser & Device Compatibility
If your website runs on difference browsers and devices then checking its compatibility on each of them is essential if you don’t want to lose out on potential traffic.
Image Optimization
Using optimized images on site, you are able to deliver content at a faster rate which resulting in improve search engine indexing as well as enhanced user experience.
Check Website Navigation
Unruly navigation can be a major source of frustration for users. Therefore, check all navigation links on your website to deliver smooth and hassle-free user experience.
Remove Post Revisions & Drafts
If you blog on a regular basis, then there are chances that your database clogged with post revisions and drafts. Thus, it is necessary that you review them on a regular basis and delete them to keep your database optimized.
W3C Validation
To make sure website pages are not violating any norms or standards of W3C organization, it is critical that you validate your website from time to time.
Disable Automatic WordPress Update
With automatic update chances are very high of website break, its best practice to update WP core and plugins locally first and then apply it on the live site.
Database Backup
Backing up your website database is of utmost importance in order to ensure that your business doesn’t suffer a major setback in the event of a server failure or hacking.
If Database is gone all gone, its best practice to take backup of DB on daily basis or at least weekly. As if server crashes or site gets hacked you have recent version of site which can be used for the restoration. Backup buddy is one of the best plugin for this purpose.
Update Your Content
Keep your website content fresh and updated to avoid hurting your website’s ranking and traffic.
Review On-Page SEO
Make sure all on-page SEO elements are present on a web page or a post is essential for a SEO friendly website.
Check Website Security
Website security should be given a top priority on your daily maintenance checklist to ensure that your website is functioning smoothly and it’s safe from all malware, viruses and other internet security threats.
Disable Trackbacks & Pingbacks
Disabling trackbacks and pingbacks in WordPress is the best way to restrict spams on your website.
Change Passwords
One of the most effective ways to prevent malicious attacks and hack attempts on your site is to change your passwords frequently.
Disable Debug Mode
Disable debug mode in WordPress to prevent error messages from being published on your live site.
Keep Eyes On Web Host Statistics
Checking up on server uptime, bandwidth usage, disk space and CPU throttling is another essential WordPress maintenance task that you should not ignore.
Increase Memory Limit
The memory limit in WordPress is by default set at 32MB. However, as your business grow, it is essential that you review and increase your site’s memory limit (disk space) in order to seamlessly upload images, video and other files.
Run Website Through WP Checkup
From website’s security and performance scanning to SEO and more, running a WP Checkup will help identify any issues on your website in a sec.