If you think that website maintenance is all about just about fixing bugs or updating content, think again.

Your website should have no performance, usability, or security issues as well. In fact, you can only say that you have a successful website when it directly helps you stay ahead of the competition and establish your brand in the industry. 

Here we will discuss the importance of website maintenance and the reason you should not hesitate to invest in ensuring smooth web performance all year round. 

What is Website Maintenance?

Website maintenance is all about keeping your website updated and operating smoothly at all times. Otherwise, you’ll have many issues that’ll give the visitors a poor and negative experience across different platforms (like web browsers and mobile devices).

Here are key things you should look out for and fix through your website maintenance:

• Search engine optimization (SEO) issues
• Missing software and plugins
• Poor readable content 
• Conversion obstacles
• Not updated content
• No backup files
• Slow site speed
• Security gaps
• Broken links
• Misspellings

Importance of Website Maintenance 

Website maintenance is important for several reasons; the most obvious being that it keeps your website functioning properly.

However, there are other reasons to maintain your website regularly, let’s explore…

Positive First Impression

Ever heard the saying, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression?” 

It takes less than 50 milliseconds (or 0.05 seconds) for a user to form an impression about your website.

Another study by Google even suggests that users start to form their opinions within 17 milliseconds (0.017 seconds) – that’s how long you have to make your first impression and so you wanna make it count.

When your site is well-maintained, it looks professional and inviting from the very beginning. Think about it – when you visit a website that’s outdated or messy, you’re more likely to leave, right?
Look at the two sites in the image above. Which one gives you a positive first impression?

Trust & Credibility

A poorly maintained site will naturally look polished and trustworthy. On the other hand, we can agree that an outdated site full of broken links is not a good look.

53% of users state that typos and grammatical errors make a website less trustworthy.   

Regular maintenance and fixing issues such as typos and grammatical errors show visitors that you care about your site, your brand, and most importantly, your audience. It helps create an environment of trust and reliability. 

Long-term Success 

Website maintenance is essential for maintaining a secure, high-performing online presence. Not only does it preserve your site’s performance and reputation but also contributes to sustained growth and long-term success.

It involves regular monitoring, updating, and optimization to ensure your site remains functional, secure, and user-friendly. 

By addressing issues quickly, and keeping updated content with best SEO practices, you can build trust with your audience over time. Earning the trust of your audiences is key to long-term success.

Boosted Brand Image 

Maintenance of your website is only to fix bugs and update content, it allows you to update your branding image. During maintenance, you can update your logos, fix broken links, and change other elements that could potentially strengthen your brand image.

When visitors land on your site they see all information is updated and running smoothly and on point. They’re like, “Wow, these guys must know what they’re doing!” 

Take this image above as an example, they have taken the opportunity of website maintenance and have changed their website to add elements that make their brand image stronger.

Enhanced SEO 

Remember that you want to be on Google’s good side if you want to rank and Google just loves updated content.

Regular maintenance means keeping your content fresh and clean, and your meta tags (Meta tags are areas in HTML code that contain information about a website) optimized.

This also allows you to fix technical issues (such as dead links, delayed page loading, unoptimized keywords, and mobile responsive issues). Fixing all these issues gives you an opportunity to rank higher.

Better User Experience

Users get frustrated when they go to a website and find links that don’t work and information that is backdated and takes very long to load. 83% of users expect sites to load within 3 seconds and 40% leave if it takes more.

Maintenance of your website allows you to pay attention to your shortcomings (such as loading speed and dead links) and fix them so that your users have an error-free and seamless browsing experience for your users.

Stay Up-to-Date 

Remember that Google makes constant updates to its policies. 72% of web visitors expect fresh and up-to-date content that is relevant.

Websites with outdated content experience a 23% drop in organic traffic after Google algorithm updates.

Utilizing tools like Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools can provide valuable insights that help you stay on top of the updates. 

Additionally, staying connected with online communities, forums, and resources can help you stay informed about the latest developments and strategies in website maintenance. Use Google Search Central and subscribe to stay on alert.

Cost & Time-Saving 

Did you know that 60% of businesses experience data loss at least once a year while data breaches cost a global average of $3.92 million? Imagine the loss you might be potentially facing!

Regularly checking for and fixing issues that waste your resources will help prevent potential problems before they cause massive issues later on. Additionally, maintaining your site’s security through updates and backups reduces the risk of costly security breaches or data losses; which saves you resources on costly repairs.

Furthermore, keeping your site optimized for smooth navigation, loading time, and access to updated information, not only gives users a good experience but also saves their respected time (spent searching for content or dealing with technical issues). 

Remember, when you help save the users’ time – you save your money as well!

Better Security

When you neglect your website maintenance, you’re inviting hackers, malware, and all sorts of cyber frauds.

Regular maintenance means staying up-to-date with security patches, running malware scans, and boosting your defenses against any potential threats.

When your visitors see that little padlock in the address bar – they know they can trust you with their sensitive info.

Amplified Conversion

Think about it: if your site has broken links, slow loading times, or confusing navigation – nobody has time to wait for that! 

But when you keep everything running smoothly and efficiently, you’re making it super easy for people to find what they’re looking for and take action – whether that’s making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, or getting in touch with you. 

When you make it easy for people to do business with you, you’re more likely to turn those visitors into paying customers (conversions).

Preventing Downtime  H3

In this context, downtime is when a website is not available online or doesn’t function well enough for end users to complete a task

Let’s face it: not every website is perfect and has to be constantly updated to improve.

It is not fun for a user when your website is full of bugs or doesn’t take the user to their desired page. 

But with regular maintenance, you can significantly save the users’ time. 

How? By simply staying on top of updates, backups, and performance monitoring, you can identify potential problems and keep your site up and running smoothly.

Mobile Optimization

Your website should look and work just as great on mobile devices as it does on desktop computers. An 85% of users expect a website to look as good on mobile as it looks on desktop.

When you neglect mobile optimization, your site might look disproportional on smaller screens, buttons might be too tiny to tap, and page loading might take a long time – not exactly the best user experience, is it?

But when you prioritize mobile optimization as part of your website maintenance routine, you’re ensuring that your site is responsive (response to optimize itself to fit different-sized screens and devices) and easy to navigate on any device.

What Happens When You Neglect Website Maintenance

We now know and understand the value and importance of proper website maintenance.
It’s only fair we look at the other side of the coin and look at what disasters can happen when you don’t maintain your website properly…

Outdated Content

Without regular maintenance, your content management system (CMS) and plugins may become outdated. As a result, new features and functionalities may not apply to you. This leads to further compatibility issues.

Moreover, your website will not reflect current trends, news, or industry developments. Visitors will be discouraged for future visits.

Over time, changes in products, services, or business operations may occur, but if these updates are not reflected on your website, visitors may receive inaccurate information.

Vulnerable to Threats

Neglecting website maintenance means failing to apply crucial security updates to your CMS, plugins, and other software. 

Vulnerabilities in outdated software and security measures create opportunities for cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to your website.

Without regular maintenance to update and enhance security measures, your website’s defenses may fail to protect against threats such as cyber-attacks and ransomware (when hackers block your access to your important personal files unless you pay them a ransom).

Lost Rankings 

Search engines prioritize websites that provide fresh, relevant content and offer a smooth user experience. Neglecting website maintenance can result in slow page loading speed and outdated information.

Moreover, Google may penalize websites with outdated content, poor performance, or security vulnerabilities. Without regular updates and optimization, your website may fall behind competitors in rankings.

Search engines aim to provide users with the best possible experience by prioritizing websites that are well-maintained, user-friendly, and regularly updated. Ignoring maintenance can result in making it harder for potential customers to find your website online.

Lost Customers

Visitors expect a seamless browsing experience and may become frustrated or discouraged if they face irrelevant and outdated information on your website. Such poor user experiences can lead to lost opportunities for conversion.

You will be surprised to know that almost 88% of online users do not return to a site after a negative user experience.

A poorly maintained website reflects negatively on your brand and can push potential customers away from engaging with your website or making purchases.

But wait! It doesn’t stop there as dissatisfied visitors are more likely to share their negative experiences with others, both online and offline.

Regular upkeep and optimization are essential for maintaining a positive online presence and drawing in more potential customers.

Broken Links 

Over time, changes to your website’s structure, content, or external links can result in broken links. 

Updating your website’s links can lead to a poor user experience, as visitors encounter dead ends and are unable to access the information they need.

When users find broken links, they may abandon their browsing session or try a different site. A huge 46% of web visitors say that encountering broken links makes them trust the site less.

Regularly checking and updating your website’s links is essential for maintaining a positive user experience.

Error 404

Error 404 pages occur when visitors want to access a page that no longer exists or has been moved.

When visitors encounter error 404 pages, they may perceive your website as unreliable or poorly maintained. Frustrated visitors are very less likely to continue exploring your website or engage with your content, resulting in so many lost opportunities you can’t even account for!

Regularly monitoring and fixing broken links is essential for maintaining a positive and professional online presence.

Poor Brand Image

A poorly maintained website reflects poorly on your brand’s professionalism and credibility. Visitors may perceive outdated content as a sign of neglect or laziness.

A neglected website can damage trust and confidence in your brand, leading to negative associations and perceptions among visitors. Users may question the reliability and authenticity of your business if they encounter issues related to negligence of site maintenance.

This can seriously harm your brand’s reputation and efforts. Once your brand gets associated with being careless about site maintenance – it will be very difficult to turn around the negative public perception.

So, if you don’t want a poor brand image with a damaged reputation, and lost trust – regular upkeep and optimization are essential for preserving and enhancing your brand’s credibility, professionalism, and reputation.

Failed Business 

In today’s digital age, neglected websites are at a disadvantage compared to competitors who prioritize regular maintenance and optimization. In other words, your business may struggle to attract and retain customers.

A poorly maintained website may not be able to capitalize on emerging trends, opportunities, or customer demands. This can limit your ability to grow and expand your business over time. Without the new updates, improvements, and optimizations, your website may fail to effectively change to the market conditions.

Prioritizing regular website maintenance and optimization is essential for ensuring the long-term success and sustainability of your business.

11 Types of Website Maintenance

1. Updates in Security

Web development companies release security patches to close any security gaps in the software.
Patches are crucial to keep your site hacker-free so installing them whenever the new patches are available is important.

2. Updates in Plugins & Themes

Plugins and themes enhance the functionality of your site. However, they need to be updated to make sure they are compatible with the latest security patches and web browsers.

3. Content Updates 

Your website’s content should updated to make sure that remains accurate and relevant.

This means the addition of blog posts, updating descriptions of products, and removing content that is outdated. Doing so makes your site look professional and attracts more potential customers.

4. Disaster Recovery & Backup

It is always a good idea to have a backup of your site just in case anything goes wrong.

Having a backup and recovery plan can help you get your website running again in case of a major problem.

You can also prevent data loss with a backup plan and ensure that you can get your site back if it’s ever corrupted or hacked.

5. Security Scanning 

Regularly scanning the website can identify and fix security vulnerabilities before causing any damage.

This helps to protect both the website and its users from potential threats.

Scanning your website regularly to identify and fix gaps in security can help enhance the user experience.

Your users can be assured that their personal information is safe when they visit your site.

6. Optimization & Performance Monitoring

Keeping an eye on your website’s performance helps you identify potential issues and keep your website smoothly running.

Optimizing your website’s performance can improve your site’s responsiveness and speed. It means improving the loading time of web pages and optimizing the sizes of images and codes.

7. Management of Users 

You’ll need to manage the accounts of your website users.

This means creating and deleting accounts, managing permissions, and resetting passwords. This also means cleaning the users’ list by removing any bot accounts.

8. Testing Accessibility 

Testing the accessibility of your website is important to make sure that your site can be used by everyone. (disabled people,  people with slow internet, and mobile users.)

9.  Monitoring Uptime 

Uptime (the time that a website is available to users in a period of given time) monitoring ensures that your website is available to people when they want to access it.

The goal is to keep your website’s uptime near 100%. When your site is down, you will want to know as soon as possible so you can take appropriate steps to get it running again.

10.  Monitoring SEO

Monitoring your SEO is important to enhance search engine visibility. 

This can include tracking your website’s backlinks, ranking, and web traffic – enhancing your SEO. 

SEO monitoring tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Google Search Console help you to identify potential problems for you to fix and track your progress to measure success.

11. Maintenance & Support Plans

Sign up for a Maintenance and support plan to make sure that your website is always updated.

It usually includes maintenance of all the above-mentioned services and other services like web hosting, email support, and SSL certification.

Website Maintenance Checklist

Websites today are never really ‘done’ to the point of perfection – they require consistent maintenance to perform at their best. 

It’s important to monitor the following continuously to maintain an excellent website:

1. Update Your (Content Management System) CMS, Scripts, Plugins, & Add-ons

Outdated security patches and software are a hacker’s best friend. 

To maintain a secure website, you must always run the most up-to-date version of your CMS.

This ensures the latest security patches, plugins, and scripts are installed on your site and prevents your website from becoming an easy target for cyber-attacks.

2. Repair Broken Links 

Encountering a broken link can be frustrating for users, especially on important pages. 

Not only does it disrupt their browsing experience, but it can also harm your SEO.

Broken link finders tools like Dead Link Checker or Broken Link Checker can help you quickly identify and fix these issues before they impact your visitors.

3. Eliminate Links to Unsafe Domains 

Linking to unsafe domains makes your website seem untrustworthy, which damages your brand reputation.

To protect both your visitors and your brand, regularly check for and remove links to unsafe domains from your site. 

By doing so, you prevent your visitors from being exposed to scams, malware, or other harmful software.

4. Improve Readability

Web users prefer content that’s easy to read and understand. If your text is too heavy, visitors may leave your site quickly. 

To keep them engaged and interested, use readability checks to identify and simplify complex language. 

This helps reduce the chance of visitors bouncing away from your site.

5. Correct Misspellings

Typos and grammar mistakes can make your website look unprofessional and drive visitors away.

By finding and fixing misspellings, you ensure that your brand maintains a professional and credible image.

Moreover, having typos in your website or blog is simply embarrassing. Use spell check and grammar tools to avoid them.

6. Perform Regular Backups

Preparing for the worst-case scenario is wise – I mean just imagine the disaster of losing all your website data and having to start over. 

Regularly backing up your website’s code (like CSS, themes, plugins, JavaScript) and content (like media files, and text) lowers the risk of losing data due to unexpected issues like domain problems, cyber-attacks, or accidental deletion.

How often should you perform backup?

You can back up manually or use automated backup services tools. For larger websites, frequent backups are crucial, while smaller ones can be managed with monthly backups.

7. Freshen Up Your Content

Your website should never be static. Your website should always evolve. 

Outdated content can leave a bad impression and disappoint users. 

Regular maintenance helps spot old or irrelevant content, allowing you to replace it with fresh, relevant information that keeps visitors engaged. 

Plus, search engines prefer fresh content, so updating regularly can boost your rankings.

Oh! Remember to check your content for plagiarism. 

8. SEO Compatibility

Every page on your website should be visible to search engines and follow SEO rules. 

Regular maintenance ensures that all your pages, old and new, meet current SEO standards and adapt to changing search algorithms, helping them climb higher in search results.

Here are some SEO tools that will help you analyze different aspects of SEO.

9. Speed Up Your Website 

Speed matters! Most visitors won’t wait long for a slow website to load, and slow sites can hurt your search engine rankings.

Aim to make your site interactive within five seconds to meet visitor expectations. Use performance monitoring tools to track your progress and ensure your site loads quickly on all devices.

Check out some of the speed checker tools that will help you check your page speed.

Tools for Website Maintenance

Once you have some idea about the importance of website maintenance, you will find that this is a tough job to handle on a regular basis.

Here are some website maintenance tools that just might make your lives a whole lot easier:

Broken Links Checkers 

1. Google Search Console

Google Search Console (GSC) provides website owners with tools and reports to assess and enhance their site’s performance in search engine results. 

It’s particularly useful for addressing Google penalties.

GSC offers a free feature to identify broken links on your website, presenting a summary of your site’s pages categorized by index status (e.g., ‘valid’ or ‘error’) and description (e.g., ‘soft 404’).

2. Dead Link Checker 

Dead Link Checker provides a quick and user-friendly broken link checker to scan websites or pages for errors. It identifies common issues such as ‘page not found,’ ‘timeout,’ or ‘server error.’ 

Dead Link Checker offers an easy way to pull up error codes for web pages to locate the links in your HTML code. 

Additionally, you can get broken link reports for multiple sites at once or run an auto-check for your site regularly. 

3. Broken Link Checker 

Broken Link Checker is a top-notch WordPress plugin designed to identify and fix broken internal and external links on your website. 

It notifies you via email or dashboard alerts whenever broken links are detected, allowing you to prevent search engines from tracking them. 

A notable feature of Broken Link Checker is its report tab, which provides actionable insights on how to address broken links as they appear.

Tools To Check Readability 

1. Readable 

Readable is a powerful tool for assessing the readability of your text. Readable uses its grading system (A through E) to evaluate your content. 

It provides metrics to assess how easily your audience can understand the text. With its website readability feature, Readable scans, scores, and continuously monitors all aspects of your website content, including headers, footers, and non-content text. 

Moreover, it offers a keyword density checker to help you steer clear of Google penalties for keyword stuffing.

2. Hemingway 

The Hemingway App is a tool inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s (Considered one of the greatest American writers) straightforward writing style. 

It helps content creators improve the clarity of their work, ensuring that information is easily understood by readers. 

By analyzing text and providing a readability score, the app identifies areas for improvement (such as excessive adverbs, passive constructions, and complex sentences). This valuable feedback empowers writers to refine their content, making it more accessible and impactful for their audience.

After entering your text, it provides a grade-level score and highlights areas in which it could improve.

Tools to Check Spelling & Grammar

1. Quillbot/Scribbr 

QuillBot is a powerful writing assistant that stands out for its ability to enhance written content.

It works excellently in identifying and correcting errors, making it a valuable tool for writers, students, and professionals. 

With its intuitive interface, users can quickly improve their writing by simply copying and pasting text into the platform. QuillBot’s “Fix All Errors” makes the editing process easy, saving time and effort, particularly when you are dealing with numerous corrections.

Additionally, QuillBot offers various features beyond error correction, such as rephrasing sentences, paraphrasing text, and expanding vocabulary. 

2. LanguageTool

LanguageTool is an effective proofreading and grammar-checking tool designed to enrich written content. 

It stands out for its complex error detection capabilities, ensuring that users can address various grammatical, spelling, and style issues in their text.

With its user-friendly interface, LanguageTool offers a seamless experience so users can easily input their text and receive detailed feedback on potential errors and suggested corrections.

Website Backup Tools

1. DropMySite

DropMySite is a cloud-based monitoring and backup service offering automated backups and monitoring of uptime for both managed and shared web hosting (WordPress).

As a Backup as a Service (BaaS) tool, it integrates with MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB. 

2. Ottomatik

It is a disaster and backup recovery solution for all types of businesses.

Their backups for databases and files are automated which simplifies data protection. Users can also schedule backups and optimize storage space to reduce backup duration with Ottomatik

SEO Tools 

1. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

With Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, users can sign up and verify their website to conduct SEO audits, covering over 100 technical SEO issues. 

The tool provides suggestions to fix identified issues. 

Additionally, it offers insights into improving internal linking structures. 

Users can also track organic keyword rankings and monitor backlinks to their sites through this tool.

Tons of SEO tools can help you out with different aspects of SEO – find the ones that suit you best.

Tools for Speed Testing

1. Google PageSpeed Insights 

Enter a URL, and it will test the performance and loading time for that URL on mobile and desktop. 

It assigns a performance score ranging from 0 to 100 and provides details on various metrics, along with suggestions for improvement.

These PageSpeed Insights offer actionable recommendations tailored to address specific performance issues. 

For instance, it may suggest image compression to optimize file load times or identify unused JavaScript that may be slowing down the website.

One of its key features is evaluating whether a website meets Google’s Web Core Vitals, helping users pinpoint performance issues and areas for enhancement.

2. GTmetrix

GTmetrix is a reliable website monitoring tool that offers page-loading speed reports when you enter your website URL. It also provides insights into various aspects of website performance, including critical issues requiring attention and resource usage.

One notable feature of GTmetrix is its ability to highlight top issues affecting website performance, such as excessive network payloads, along with a detailed list of URLs requiring fixes. 

Similar to PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix evaluates compliance with Google’s Web Core Vitals and will also show if you’re passing or failing them.

GTmetrix can test websites across different devices and browsers.

You’ll be able to see your site’s full load time, top issues that need to be addressed, and what resources are consuming the most server load.

For example, GTmetrix might say that a top issue to fix on your website would be to avoid enormous network payloads, and it will give you a full list of URLs on your website that need to be fixed.

FAQs

Q. How often should I do website maintenance?  

Ans: The frequency of website maintenance depends on the size, needs, and complexity of your site. A general recommendation is to perform routine maintenance tasks regularly, such as weekly, monthly, or quarterly – it should follow a consistent schedule.

Q. Will my site be “down” while it is being revamped?
Ans: During website maintenance, whether your site experiences downtime depends on the nature of the updates. Small tweaks or optimizations can often be done without any interruption to your site’s availability. However, larger changes, like a complete redesign or changing server, may require temporary downtime.