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How to Keep Your WordPress Website Updated and Secure

Why Update Your Plugins and WordPress Software?

The number one reason to keep your plugins and WordPress software updated is to keep your website secure. Outdated software can increase your risk for a malware attack.

Overview of Where Your Updates Are

You can access all of your updates by clicking “updates” in the left-hand menu or by clicking the update icon on the top navigation. If you just want to update your plugins, you can access that using the left-hand menu.

How to update WordPress


Step 1: Backup Your Website

You always want to make sure your website is backed up first! Even if your host already provides this service, there are some excellent plugins that can help you backup your website to an off-server location. This is highly recommended! If your host were to ever be attacked, you’d loose your site and your back up all at once.

Step 2: Updating Your Plugins

Update your plugins first. To do this, go to the Dashboard menu and press “Plugins”. Any plugin that needs to be updated will be highlighted in a peach color.

Click the “update now” link. Once it is done, it will say “√ Update Complete”. f you get an error, contact your webmaster. Otherwise, check your site to double check it looks good.

How to update WordPress plugins

Step 3: Updating WordPress Software

After you update your plugins, you can update WordPress. The update warning is usually automatically listed at the top of each page, but if not, you can access it via the update icon on the top.

Just press “Please update now”. It will take you to a second screen where you can check the “update wordpress” box and complete the process. Once it is done, it will say “Update successful”. Check your site and contact your webmaster if you have any issues.

How to update WordPress software

Step 4: Security Checklist

  • Back up your website
  • Always keep plugins, software, and themes updated
  • Use a strong username and password
  • Hire a developer to protect certain files and hide your admin login url
  • Install a security plugin to protect against brute force attack and scan your site
  • If you can, use a premium security service to block referral traffic and add extra protection

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