5 Reasons Why WordPress Updates Are Essential

If you have a WordPress website, congratulations. You’re already using one of the most robust and feature-rich website and content management systems in the world. To get the very best that WordPress has to offer and to keep your data, design, and visitors secure, it’s essential that you keep WordPress up to date.

In this article, we’ll take a look at five reasons why WordPress updates are essential and the easiest way to maintain your website and keep it looking and performing at its best.

So, What Exactly Are WordPress Updates?

Just like any other software, WordPress needs to be able to adapt to an ever-changing world. Without WordPress updates, you could soon find yourself on the end of a security breach or find that certain elements of your site stop working. From security updates to plugin enhancements, it’s so important to keep your WordPress website well-maintained and working at its best.

So, when we talk about WordPress updates, we could be talking about updating any of these three components:

• The WordPress Core – updates are developed and managed by the WordPress core leadership team
• Plugins – updates are developed and maintained by third-party companies and developers
• Themes – developed and maintained by third-party companies and developers

WordPress updates are released for lots of different reasons. In the case of security updates, this might be in response to a new security flaw or a bug that has been found in the software. Plugin developers may also release improvements or new features that help you to get the best from their plugins. How you choose to respond to updates is up to you. You could choose for all updates to install automatically (we generally don’t recommend this as it’s hard to keep track of what’s been installed), install them yourself manually, or ask your web company to manage your updates for you.

1. Security

According to the latest WordPress statistics, there are close to 90,000 attacks on WordPress websites every minute. 61% of these attacks occur due to outdated software. Hackers are always on the hunt for vulnerable websites. They are also highly skilled at what they do and could take your website down in mere moments. WordPress is a very secure system but it needs to be kept up-to-date with the latest security patches and updates.

2. Enhanced Website Performance and Speed

WordPress and plugin developers are always looking at ways to make improvements. Newer versions of the WordPress core system often offer enhanced performance capabilities. This helps to keep your website performing efficiently and gives your users the best possible experience. Updates to plugins may include security, functionality, or feature updates that help you to get the best from that particular plugin. Poorly coded plugins that receive updates may also help your website to load faster than before.

3. Keeping Up With the Internet

The technical framework of the internet is a constantly evolving and growing environment. To ensure your website can keep up with the latest technology, such as Google search technology and internet-wide security capabilities, you need to keep WordPress up to speed. Your website is the public face of your company. The more you can do to enhance the user experience, the more your visitors will want to come back. Did you know that by keeping up with the latest updates, you can also improve your search engine ranking? That’s because a site that’s more user-friendly and fast to load will provide a better user experience, and that’s what Google and other major search engines love to see.

4. Compatibility

Make sure your visitors can view your website on any browser or device by keeping up to date with the latest compatibility updates. With new devices and browsers being released regularly, it’s important you don’t lose visitors just because your website wasn’t up to date. An out of date website may not load properly on a new browser or device, or it might not load at all. Fortunately, WordPress does all the hard work for you, keeping an eye on the latest tech releases and updates and responding to them.

5. New Features

Updates aren’t just for the worrying things like thwarting hackers or keeping your website from sliding to the bottom of the search engine rankings. They can be for exciting things like a brand new plugin feature or stunning design updates for your website theme. WordPress and plugins are constantly being developed, tested, and improved. If you never apply these WordPress updates, you could be missing out on some very powerful functionality and features.

I’m So Busy! How Can I Keep My Website Up To Date?

As you can see, keeping WordPress and your plugins happy is good for your website, good for your business, and good for your visitors. The problem is that it can be a challenge to stay on top of website maintenance and the updates that will improve security, performance, and functionality. That’s where we come in.

At Northsouth Design, we make life easy with our website maintenance plans. Starting from just £20 a month, we’ll ensure your website and WordPress stay up to date and working flawlessly. From updating your software and backing up your website to monitoring for hackers and fixing broken links, we have you covered. We’ll even check your contact form is working correctly so that you don’t miss out on orders or enquiries.

Get in touch with us today to find out more about our maintenance plans and how we can help you and your visitors to get the best from your website.