Running a WordPress site isn’t just about setting it up and letting it be. Over time, things can slow down, security gaps can appear, and your site’s SEO can suffer if you’re not keeping up with maintenance.
Every little update, be it a blog post, a new page, or even a tiny tweak, contributes to the database. If you don’t clean them out on a regular basis, things can pile up pretty quickly on your site and lead to broken links, slower speeds, and even security risks.
So, when was the last time you actually checked in on your site’s health? If you’re not sure, don’t worry—you’re not alone. The good news? Maintaining a WordPress site doesn’t have to be complicated. In this guide, I’ll break down simple steps to keep your site running smoothly, plus a few ways to automate updates so you don’t have to do everything manually.
Why Regular WordPress Updates & Maintenance Matters?
In simple terms, updates and maintenance are what keeps your WordPress website from offering a great user experience and appearing high in search results.
But here’s the thing, a WordPress site runs on different moving parts like web hosting, theme, plugins, and your own content. All this needs to work in sync, otherwise, one thing will lead to another, and your site will experience slow performance, security risks, and even downtime.
So, if you want a site that loads quickly and performs amazingly on Core Web Vitals, I can’t recommend enough to run daily, weekly, and monthly updates and maintenance tasks.
Before we look into the checklist of 12 of the most critical WordPress site maintenance tasks I’ve complied for you, go ahead and first use this free Google page experience checker to test your website.
12 Critical WordPress Site Maintenance & Update Tasks Checklist
Website maintenance and update tasks should be performed at a set frequency—at least roughly. Broadly speaking, you’ll want to dedicate your maintenance tasks to daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly intervals.
Setting priorities is also important. Randomly performing maintenance tasks wouldn’t be helpful—I’m sure you’d agree. For example, removing spam comments from your site should have less priority than optimizing your WordPress database, which can improve load times.
With that being said, let’s get on with our checklist…
| # | Task | ✅ Done |
| 1 | Check Website Uptime | ☐ |
| 2 | Backup Your Site Periodically | ☐ |
| 3 | Strengthen Your Website’s Security | ☐ |
| 4 | Run a Security Scan for Vulnerabilities | ☐ |
| 5 | Keep WordPress, Plugins, and Themes Updated | ☐ |
| 6 | Clear Your Cache for Better Performance | ☐ |
| 7 | Fix Broken Links to Improve User Experience | ☐ |
| 8 | Fix Broken Images For Better User Experience | ☐ |
| 9 | Delete Unused Themes and Plugins | ☐ |
| 10 | Test Your Site’s Speed | ☐ |
| 11 | Get Rid of Toxic Backlinks | ☐ |
| 12 | Fix 404 Errors and Redirect Dead Links | ☐ |
1. Check Website Uptime
This is the most basic task you should perform pretty much every day. A website that goes down too often can frustrate visitors and hurt your search rankings. You don’t want people clicking away just because your site wasn’t accessible.
Instead of checking manually, use tools that do it for you. Pingdom lets you test your site’s status anytime, while Better Uptime sends instant alerts if your site goes offline. That way, you can fix problems before they affect your visitors.
Source: Better Stack
2. Backup Your Site Periodically
I’ve learned firsthand how unpredictable website issues can be. I once spent hours setting up a WooCommerce store—adding products, images, and SKUs—only to lose everything due to a small mistake.
The best way to prevent this is by automating backups. Tools like UpdraftPlus and BackupBuddy let you schedule backups and store them in the cloud. Some hosting providers, like Cloudways, offer automated offsite backups and on-demand application backups, so you can restore your site in minutes if anything goes wrong.
3. Strengthen Your Website’s Security
Website security isn’t something you can take lightly. I like to consider these mission-critical tasks.
To start, you enable firewalls, run malware scans, and set up two-factor authentication. Regular security reviews help keep defenses up to date.
If you’re using Cloudways, its Cloudflare Enterprise add-on includes an advanced firewall to filter out harmful traffic. There’s also Imunify360’s server-level firewall, which adds protection at the hosting level.
Running periodic security audits and vulnerability scans can also help spot potential weaknesses early, making it easier to fix issues before they become serious threats.
4. Run Daily Vulnerability Scans
Even with WordPress’s security measures, websites remain vulnerable to malware and cyber threats. Running regular scans helps detect and remove malicious files before they cause harm.
You can use plugins like Wordfence Security or Sucuri Security to scan your site for vulnerabilities.
Some hosting providers also offer built-in malware protection. Cloudways, for example, provides a Malware Protection add-on, which not only detects and removes threats automatically but also includes Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) to catch and eliminate malicious code in real time.
5. Keep WordPress, Plugins, and Themes Updated
Regular updates keep your WordPress site running smoothly, but they can also be tricky. Not every update is just a quick click—sometimes, an update can lead to compatibility issues or even break parts of your site.
If you’re managing a large website, manually handling updates can eat up a lot of time. And since backups are a must before making any changes, the process can feel repetitive every few weeks. That’s why automating updates when possible can save time and reduce the risk of missing an important update.
Cloudways SafeUpdates for Automating WordPress, Plugin, and Theme Updates
As I said, updating WordPress, plugins, and themes manually can be tedious, but Cloudways SafeUpdates automates the process. It detects, tests, and applies updates while minimizing risks.
Before updating, it takes an off-site backup and tests updates in a staging environment using Visual Regression Testing (VRT) and performance checks. If an issue is detected, it rolls back automatically and notifies you with details.
You can apply updates instantly or schedule them through the Cloudways Management Platform.
6. Clear Your Cache for Better Performance
A slow-loading website can frustrate visitors and hurt performance. I can’t tell how many times I find myself going through Core Web Vitals in Search Console to identify sluggish pages and optimize them.
WordPress dynamically pulls content from a MySQL database every time someone visits your site, which can cause delays.
Caching stores static versions of your pages, which reduces the number of database requests. As you can imagine, this speeds up load times and improves the user experience.
That said, cached files can become outdated over time, so you should clear your cache to ensure your visitors see the latest version of your pages.
7. Fix Broken Links to Improve User Experience
Broken links ruin user experience. Over time, pages you linked to may get deleted, moved, or updated without redirects, leaving dead ends in your content.
These broken links not only frustrate visitors but also hurt your site’s SEO by signaling poor maintenance to search engines.
This is why as part of your maintenance and update checklist, you should run regular scans using Ahrefs or similar SEO tools to catch and fix broken links before they cause problems.
Source: Ahrefs
8. Fix Broken Images For Better User Experience
Nothing makes a website look more neglected than missing images. Unlike broken links, which lead visitors away from your site, broken images make your own content look incomplete or unprofessional.
This can happen for various reasons…maybe the image URL changed, the file got deleted, or there was a misconfiguration in your WordPress settings.
It’s a good idea to check your pages regularly and replace any broken images to keep your content visually appealing and functional.
9. Delete Unused Themes and Plugins
While keeping inactive themes and plugins around might not seem like a big deal, they can introduce security risks and slow down your site.
Even if deactivated, unused plugins may still have vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. Plus, excessive plugins can clutter your site, making it harder to manage and optimize performance.
Take time to review your installed themes and plugins, keeping only what’s essential. If you no longer need something, it’s best to remove it entirely.
10. Test Your Site’s Speed
Website speed plays a major role in user experience and SEO. A sluggish site can turn visitors away and impact search rankings. Factors like hosting quality, heavy themes, bloated plugins, and large image files all contribute to loading speed.
To pinpoint performance issues, I like to run a quick test using Google PageSpeed Insights. It provides a detailed breakdown of what’s slowing the site down and suggests improvements.
If your site is taking longer than a couple of seconds to load, it’s worth digging deeper to fix the bottlenecks.
11. Get Rid of Toxic Backlinks
Not all backlinks help your website. Some can actually hurt it. Links from spammy or low-quality sites can damage your search rankings, making it harder for your site to attract organic traffic.
These harmful links can come from old black-hat SEO tactics, negative SEO attacks, or even random spam sites. Google’s algorithm may see them as a sign of manipulation, which can negatively impact your rankings.
To prevent this, regularly audit your backlink profile using tools like Google Search Console or Ahrefs. If you find toxic links that could be harming your site, disavow them through Google’s Disavow Tool to tell search engines to ignore them.
12. Fix 404 Errors and Redirect Dead Links
Too many 404 errors can frustrate visitors and hurt SEO. If users keep landing on dead pages, they’re likely to leave instead of exploring your site. To track these errors, use Google Search Console or Ahrefs.
In Search Console, go to Indexing > Pages and check for “Not Found (404)” errors. Ahrefs’ Site Audit feature can also highlight missing pages and show where broken links appear. Once you identify them, set up 301 redirects to relevant content.
Wrapping Up!
Regular WordPress maintenance keeps your website secure, fast, and running smoothly—just like routine check-ups maintain good health. A well-optimized site improves user experience and search rankings, helping you attract more visitors.
One task from your maintenance checklist that you can automate is updating themes, plugins, and WordPress core with Cloudways SafeUpdates. This takes the hassle out of manual updates, saving you time and reducing the risk of errors.
Have any questions? Drop them in the comments below!