Website maintenance: a 10-task checklist to keep your site running

Launching your website is the beginning, not the end. A site without maintenance gets slow, loses Google rankings and becomes an easy target for attacks. Here’s the task list we recommend, with a suggested frequency for each.

Security

1. Update platform, plugins and dependencies (weekly or monthly)

Most hacked sites run outdated versions of their CMS or plugins. Apply security updates as soon as they’re released, and the rest after testing them in a staging environment.

2. Review access and passwords (quarterly)

Remove users who no longer work with you, enable two-factor authentication and use unique passwords for hosting, domain and site admin.

3. Check the SSL certificate (monthly)

If the certificate expires, browsers will show a “not secure” warning and you’ll lose visitors instantly. Ideally, it renews automatically.

Backups and uptime

4. Automatic backups (daily or weekly)

Back up files and database, store copies off the main server and, above all, test restoring them from time to time. A backup that was never tested isn’t a backup.

5. Uptime monitoring (24/7)

A monitoring service alerts you when your site goes down, before you hear it from a customer. For an online store, every hour offline is lost sales.

Performance

6. Measure speed (monthly)

Check your Core Web Vitals with tools like PageSpeed Insights. The most common causes of slowness are heavy images, too many plugins and underpowered hosting.

7. Clean up the database and files (quarterly)

Drafts, spam comments, old revisions and unused files take up space and slow down queries.

SEO and content

8. Review errors in Google Search Console (monthly)

Find pages that aren’t indexed, broken links (404 errors) and mobile usability issues. Fixing them early protects your rankings.

9. Update content (monthly)

Prices, services, hours, team photos and contact details should always be current. Publishing new blog content signals to Google that your site is alive.

10. Test forms and contact buttons (monthly)

Send a test message through every form and every WhatsApp button. It’s surprising how many businesses lose clients to a form that silently stopped working.

Do it yourself or delegate?

If you have the time and technical know-how, use this list as your guide. If you’d rather focus on your business, a maintenance plan takes care of all of this for you, with regular reports so you know the state of your site.

At Uxum Technology we offer tailored maintenance and support plans, including for sites we didn’t build. Get in touch and we’ll review your site.