Website maintenance checklist: what to do monthly, quarterly and yearly
Keep your website fast, secure and ranking with this maintenance checklist covering updates, backups, security, speed, SEO health and content reviews.
Key takeaways
- Updates, backups and security checks protect your site and your customers.
- Speed and broken-link checks keep visitors and search engines happy.
- Review content, forms and tracking regularly so nothing silently breaks.
- Renew domains, SSL and licences on time; expired ones take sites offline.
A website is never really finished. Software needs updating, content goes out of date and small problems, such as a broken contact form, can quietly cost you enquiries for weeks. A simple maintenance routine prevents most of it.
Every week
- Check backups ran successfully, and that they are stored off the server.
- Monitor uptime with an alerting service so you hear about downtime before customers do.
- Test your main contact form or set up automatic form monitoring.
Every month
- Update WordPress core, themes and plugins, ideally testing on a staging site first. Outdated plugins are one of the most common ways sites are compromised.
- Review security logs for failed logins and unusual activity, and remove unused user accounts.
- Check Google Search Console for crawl errors, indexing problems and security warnings.
- Look at analytics for sudden drops in traffic or conversions, which often point to a technical problem.
Every quarter
- Test page speed and Core Web Vitals on key pages, and optimise new images that have crept in.
- Find and fix broken links and redirect any removed pages.
- Test a restore from backup, because a backup you cannot restore is not a backup.
- Review plugins and remove anything no longer used.
- Check conversion tracking still records forms, calls and sales correctly.
Every year
- Renew your domain, hosting, SSL and premium licences, preferably on auto-renew with up-to-date payment details.
- Review all content: prices, team, services, case studies and legal pages such as privacy and cookies policies.
- Run a full SEO and accessibility audit and plan improvements for the year ahead.
- Check your hosting still fits your traffic and performance needs.
Do it yourself or use a care plan?
If you are comfortable with WordPress and have time each month, you can manage much of this yourself. Many businesses prefer a care plan, so updates are tested, backups are verified and problems are fixed by people who know the site, leaving them to run the business.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a WordPress site be updated?
Security updates should be applied as soon as practical, and routine updates to core, themes and plugins at least monthly, ideally tested on a staging copy first.
What happens if I don't maintain my website?
Unmaintained sites become slower, more vulnerable to hacking and more likely to break after hosting changes. Problems such as broken forms can go unnoticed and cost enquiries.
What is included in a website care plan?
Typically hosting, updates, daily backups, uptime and security monitoring, and a set amount of development time each month. Ours also include regular performance and SEO health checks.
Need a hand?
Let our team handle your care, hosting & support
Updates, backups, security monitoring and ongoing improvements so your site stays quick, safe and current.