In recent years we have seen the popularization of WordPress as a blog platform or even as a content manager. Currently the websites in WordPress they account for 24.8% of all sites globally, and 58.8% of CMS-based websites. Among the keys to its success is its free, open license, ease of installation, versatility, low level of requirements and plugin-based modularity. However, behind this success lies its Achilles’ heel: being such a widespread system, it becomes a very juicy prey for crackers who try to take advantage of any security flaw.
Launching a website in WordPress is only the beginning of the project, which will require maintenance so that we can get the best of the system without being victims of crackers, broken links or loss of functionality derived from an incorrect update policy.
We are going to review all the tasks that are necessary to keep our WordPress website in good health:
Backups
Backups are an essential element in any maintenance plan for a WordPress website. If someone infects our website or an update of the engine or plugins goes wrong, we need to have a backup in case manual repair is not possible or would take too long.
The frequency of updates will depend on how often the web content is updated. In E-Commerce sites or with daily updates, it will be necessary to make a daily backup. In projects with few updates, backup copies can be made weekly or fortnightly.
On the other hand, it is always advisable to keep several backup copies, for example the last 5 or 10, and in sites with many updates, additionally a monthly backup of the last 3 months. The reason is that sometimes we do not realize an error on the web until days or weeks have passed since it occurred. If we only keep the latest copies we may not have a bug free version of the site.
Making backup copies in WordPress is not very difficult. There are several plugins that will allow us to perform them periodically and automatically. They also make it possible to save these backup copies on a different server than the one we use to host the web, since if the hosting fails or the site is cracked, the backup copies can also be compromised. A good alternative is to use external online storage services, such as DropBox, Amazon S3 or Glazier.
Free WordPress Backup Plugins
Updraft Plus
BackWPUp
Both plugins also have paid versions that increase the options of use.
Paid Plugins for WordPress Backups
BlogVault
VaultPress
Security scanner
Cracks in WordPress can be difficult to detect. They can also cause Google penalties, damage SEO positioning, etc… To solve this problem we have several plugins that allow us to scan our files and detect changes associated with intrusions.
All In One Security is a scanner that scans files for modifications or new file inclusions. In this way, the administrator can decide if any of these modifications could constitute an intrusion.
Wordfence it also scans the site’s files, but looks specifically for malicious code, although it consumes more resources.
It’s a good idea to scan your site for intrusions at least a couple of times a month.
Database optimization
Databases can become overloaded with unnecessary information over time, such as spam comments or reviews. This overload causes slowness on the web, and in addition to being annoying for the user and the administrator, it affects, among other things, search engine positioning. A good strategy is to perform a database optimization at least once a month.
WP Optimize is a good solution to optimize WordPress database.
WordPress Core Update
Keeping the core of WordPress updated is a fundamental task in the management of our CMS. The developers update the core approximately every six months, releasing minor updates in between.
Updates must be done by hand, but for minor updates you can turn on WordPress auto-updates. In theory, these updates should not affect the operation of the website, but in any case, it never hurts to check everything, especially the compatibility of the installed plugins with the new version of WordPress.
Plugin Update
Plugins are one of the most sensitive parts of WordPress maintenance, since they are usually updated more frequently and their obsolescence leads to numerous security problems. For this reason it is recommended to update the plugins at least once a week.
Template Updates
Templates are usually updated less than plugins, although it is important to be up to date, especially for security reasons. It is recommended to delete all the templates that are not used and always work with Child Themes that allow updating the templates without ‘breaking’ the style changes that we have made.
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