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How to Update WordPress Website

Updating your WordPress website regularly is crucial for maintaining a fast, secure, and well-functioning site. However, updating WordPress can sometimes cause issues if not done properly. This article provides a step-by-step guide to safely updating a WordPress website without losing traffic or rankings.

Back Up Your Website

Before updating anything on your WordPress site, it’s essential to back up your files and database. This allows you to restore your site if something goes wrong during the update process.

To back up WordPress:

  • Use a backup plugin like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy. These plugins allow you to easily backup your entire site with a single click.
  • Manually backup WordPress database and files. You can export the database via phpMyAdmin and download the wp-content folder using FTP.
  • Schedule daily or weekly automated backups through your web host.

Update WordPress Core

The WordPress core files get updated frequently with bug fixes, security patches, and new features. That’s why it’s important to keep your site updated to the latest version.

To update WordPress core:

  • Go to Dashboard → Updates
  • Click on Update Now button next to the WordPress core update notice.
  • WordPress will automatically download and install the latest updates.

Or you can update WordPress core manually:

  • Download the latest WordPress zip file from wordpress.org.
  • Use FTP to replace WordPress core files on your server with the newly downloaded files.

Update Plugins

Outdated plugins can slow down your site or pose security threats. That’s why you should always keep plugins up-to-date.

To update plugins:

  • Go to Dashboard → Plugins
  • Check plugins that have updates available
  • Click Update Plugins
  • Click Update on each plugin’s page to update them individually

Check plugin compatibility before updating to avoid conflicts.

Update Themes

Like plugins, themes also need to be updated to fix bugs, security issues and add new features.

To update themes:

  • Go to Dashboard → Appearance → Themes
  • Click Update button next to the theme

Or update via FTP by replacing theme files manually.

Tips for Updating without Affecting SEO

  • Update your staging site first, test everything, and then push changes to production.
  • Enable maintenance mode during updates to avoid site errors being indexed.
  • After updating, check SEO related things like meta titles, descriptions, schema markup etc.
  • Use redirects if you change your URL structure to avoid losing rankings.
  • Clear caches after updating to show changes immediately.

Conclusion

Updating WordPress doesn’t have to be scary if you take proper backups and necessary precautions. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can seamlessly update your website without affecting traffic, rankings or user experience. Be sure to maintain a regular update schedule for better site security and performance.

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