What Are the Best Practices for WordPress Updates and Backups? #

Maintaining a well-functioning WordPress site requires regular updates and backups. Keeping your WordPress core, themes, and plugins updated, along with backing up your site, are essential for security and smooth performance. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the best practices for managing updates and backups effectively.

1. Regularly Update Your WordPress Core, Themes, and Plugins #

Updating WordPress regularly is crucial to keeping your site secure. Updates include security patches, bug fixes, and new features. Failing to update could leave your site vulnerable to attacks.

Best Practices for Updating: #

• Enable Automatic Updates: WordPress allows you to enable automatic updates for minor versions of WordPress, themes, and plugins.
• Check for Updates Regularly: Even with automatic updates, it’s essential to manually check for major updates, especially for plugins and themes.
• Test Updates on a Staging Site: Before applying updates on your live site, test them on a staging site to ensure compatibility.
• Keep Everything Updated: Make sure your WordPress core, plugins, themes, and even PHP versions are up to date.

By staying on top of updates, you reduce the risk of running outdated software and enhance your site’s security.

2. Back Up Your WordPress Site Regularly #

Backing up your website ensures that you can restore it in case of data loss or website failure. Whether due to a hack, server failure, or accidental error, a recent backup is your safety net.

Best Backup Practices: #

• Automate Backups: Use plugins like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy to schedule automatic backups at regular intervals (daily or weekly).
• Store Backups in Multiple Locations: Always keep backups in more than one location (e.g., cloud storage, external hard drive, or remote server).
• Backup Both Files and Database: Your backup should include all WordPress files (themes, plugins, media) and your database (posts, pages, comments, settings).
• Test Backups Regularly: Ensure your backups are working by periodically testing them to verify that they can be restored successfully.

Implementing a solid backup strategy will give you peace of mind, knowing you can recover quickly if anything goes wrong.

3. Use a Reliable Hosting Provider #

A good hosting provider plays a key role in keeping your WordPress site up to date and backed up. Many hosting services offer features like automatic updates, backup solutions, and security tools.

What to Look for in a Hosting Provider: #

• Automatic Updates: Choose a host that provides automatic updates for WordPress core, themes, and plugins.
• Daily Backups: Ensure your hosting provider offers daily backups of your site.
• Enhanced Security Features: Look for hosting services that provide SSL certificates, firewalls, and malware scanning.

Choosing a reliable host with built-in update and backup features can simplify site maintenance and reduce manual effort.

4. Manage Plugin and Theme Compatibility #

Sometimes, updating WordPress core or plugins can cause conflicts, leading to functionality issues. Managing plugin and theme compatibility is essential to avoid downtime or broken features.

Best Practices for Managing Compatibility: #

• Update One Plugin at a Time: When updating plugins, do so one at a time. This helps identify if an update causes any issues.
• Choose Well-Supported Plugins: Select plugins and themes that are regularly updated and have good user reviews.
• Deactivate Unused Plugins and Themes: Deactivate and delete any plugins or themes you no longer use to reduce security risks.

By managing compatibility carefully, you minimize the risk of disruptions after updates.

5. Set Up a Maintenance Mode Plugin #

When updating your WordPress site, consider using a maintenance mode plugin. This lets you display a “site under maintenance” message to visitors while you work on updates or backups.

Maintenance Mode Tips: #

• Inform Visitors: Use a clear message explaining that the site is temporarily down for updates or maintenance.
• Limit Access to Admin Only: Allow only admins to access the site during updates to prevent user interaction.
• Automate the Process: Some maintenance plugins allow you to schedule the maintenance period automatically.

This ensures that your visitors won’t encounter errors or a broken site during updates.

6. Monitor Your Site After Updates and Backups #

After updating your site or performing a backup, it’s essential to monitor its performance. Regular monitoring helps you identify issues early and avoid major disruptions.

Post-Update Monitoring Checklist: #

• Check Site Speed: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to monitor loading times and performance after updates.
• Test Functionalities: Ensure that all features, like forms, e-commerce functionalities, and links, are working properly.
• Review Backups: Check that your recent backups are intact and can be restored without issues.

By monitoring your site, you can catch any problems before they affect your users.

Conclusion: Keep Your Site Secure and Running Smoothly #

To ensure your WordPress site remains secure, functional, and free from issues, following best practices for updates and backups is crucial. Regular updates, automated backups, and careful monitoring will help prevent issues and protect your data.

Here’s a recap of key practices:

• Keep WordPress, themes, and plugins updated.
• Automate regular backups and store them safely.
• Choose a reliable hosting provider with built-in security.
• Test updates and monitor the site post-update.

Need help maintaining your WordPress site? Email Ikonik Digital at [email protected] for expert support and assistance with your site’s updates and backups.

Mario Frith

Mario Frith is the Technical Director and Co-Founder of Ikonik Digital. With over a decade of experience in web development, API integrations, and scalable backend systems, Mario leads the technical strategy behind the digital solutions that power our clients’ success. Whether he’s engineering custom platforms or optimizing infrastructure for performance and security, Mario brings precision, innovation, and clean code to every project.

When he’s not building the web behind the scenes, he’s exploring the latest in cloud architecture, automation, and emerging dev stacks.