I use a checklist to remind myself of the various tasks to perform during periodic WP site maintenance. For me monthly seems about right for these tasks. A very active site would benefit from more frequent maintenance.
- From my website: Send a test email from my Contact form
- From my Admin Dashboard:
- Backup the site. I use UpdraftPlus, set to auto-backup once per month to Google Drive.
- Update WP, Themes, and Plugins if updates are available, and if auto-update did not already take place.
- In cPanel:
- Run the virus scanner
- Check resource use
- Check the error log
- Check for broken links using brokenlinkcheck.com
- Check for malware using the free online services sucuri sitecheck and quttera
- For trend analysis:
- Check and record pingdom site speed test results
- Check and record number of pageviews in the last 30 days, using Google Analytics
Additional annual tasks (I do these around my birthday each year):
- Optimize the database (LiteSpeed Cache plugin includes this functionality. The very popular WP-Optimize works great too.)
- Update authentication keys and salts
- Change all my passwords associated with the site.
- If any plugin has not been updated for about 18 months or more, look for a replacement
