14 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools That You Should Use

Often we’re asked about what are the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools that we recommend.

That’s because search engines are a major source of traffic for most websites on the internet. Optimizing your website for search engines can help you rank higher in search results and significantly grow your business.

In this article, we will share the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools that you should use. Some of these tools offer similar functionalities, so we will also highlight which ones are the best for specific use-cases.

Things You Must Know About WordPress SEO Plugins & Tools

When reading SEO tips or searching for “best free WordPress SEO plugins”, you will come across articles that feature several dozen tools.

This can be quite overwhelming for beginners and non-techy users.

The truth is that you don’t need dozens of top SEO tools to get higher search rankings.

While most blog posts (including ours) will share the top most popular SEO plugins, it is extremely important for you to understand the use-cases of each tool.

For example, you never want to use more than one WordPress SEO plugin on your website. We will mention All in One SEO, Yoast SEO, SEOPress, and Rank Math. You need to pick only one to avoid plugin conflict.

We’ll mention SEMRush, Ahrefs, and few other powerful tools, but you don’t need them all when you’re first starting out since they have a similar feature set. We will share what tools we use in our business, and which features are the best among each tool.

With that said, let’s take a look at our expert pick of the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools.

1. All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO)

All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO) is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market. Used by over 2+ million users, it is the most comprehensive SEO toolkit that helps you improve search rankings without learning any complicated SEO jargon.

It comes with the easiest setup wizard that automatically helps you choose the best SEO settings for your business. AIOSEO shows you TruSEO on-page analysis with an actionable checklist to optimize your posts and pages.

The on-page SEO checklist includes a smart meta tag generator where you can use dynamic values (current year, month, day, custom fields, author info, and much more) in your SEO title and descriptions. This means you don’t need to update a post just to change SEO titles.

AIOSEO also comes with Rich snippet schema markup, smart XML sitemaps (with advanced controls), SEO health check, and other useful features to grow your search engine visibility.

There is a built-in social media integration to add Open Graph metadata as well. This means you can choose which image or thumbnail you want to show when your pages are shared on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.

AIOSEO also comes with built-in WooCommerce SEO tools for eCommerce sites. This include features like dynamic optimizations, individual product page optimizations, product image SEO, and other handy features to bring more organic traffic to your online store.

For more SEO savvy users, it includes full control of RSS feeds, Robots.txt editor, local SEO, Google News sitemaps, video SEO, and more.

For business owners, it comes with SEO user roles, so you can manage access to important SEO features without handing over control of your website.

Overall, All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the most beginner-friendly and comprehensive WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It eliminates the need to install multiple plugins to do things on your website and works perfectly for all types of businesses, eCommerce, blogs, news, and other websites.

2. SEMRush

SEMRush is the best overall SEO tool on the market. Used by professional SEO experts, marketers, bloggers, and businesses of all sizes, it provides a comprehensive set of tools to grow your traffic.

You can use it to find organic keywords and search terms that you can easily rank for. It also allows you to do competitive research and see which keywords your competitors rank for, and how you can beat them.

SEMRush SEO Writing Assistant tool helps you improve your website content to beat the top 10 results for your focus keyword. It integrates with WordPress, and this will help you write more SEO friendly content.

To learn more, see our complete guide on how to do keyword research for your website.

We use SEMRush for our websites because of their competitive intelligence and SEO rank tracker features.

3. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google to help website owners monitor and maintain their site’s presence in Google search results.

It alerts you when Google is unable to crawl and index pages on your website. You also get helpful tips on how to fix those crawl errors.

Most importantly, it shows which keywords your website is ranking for, anchor texts, average position, impressions, and more. You can use this data to find keywords where you can easily rank higher by simply optimizing your content. You can also use this keyword data to come up with new blog post ideas.

For more details, see our comprehensive Google Search Console guide for beginners.

Tip: You can use MonsterInsights to track your keyword rankings inside WordPress admin area using Google Seach Console data.

MonsterInsights, another tool we’ll mention later, helps you bring the Search Console reports right inside your WordPress dashboard for easy access.

4. Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is a popular WordPress SEO plugin that allows you to optimize your WordPRess website for search engines.

It lets you easily add SEO titles and descriptions to all posts and pages on your website. You can also use it to add Open Graph metadata and social media images to your articles.

Yoast SEO automatically generates an XML sitemap for all your website content which makes it easier for search engines to crawl your website. It also helps you easily import your SEO data if you have been using another SEO plugin.

For more details, see our complete guide on how to install and setup Yoast SEO plugin in WordPress.

5. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner tool helps you generate your own keyword ideas from Google itself.

No one on the planet has more insights into what people are searching for than the search giant Google. This free tool is offered to Google’s advertisers for free and anyone can use it. Its main purpose is to show advertisers the keywords they can bid on for their advertising campaigns.

It also helps advertisers choose the right keywords by showing them an estimate of search volume, number of results, and difficulty level.

As a content marketer or blogger, you can use this data to find keywords with high search volume, high advertiser interest, and more importantly keywords where you can easily outrank all other sites.

Bonus: See these 103 Blog Post Ideas that your Readers will Love (Cheat Sheet).

6. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO tool for marketers, bloggers, and businesses. It is a popular alternative to SEMRush and offers a lot of similar tools and features.

It allows you to do keyword research, competition analysis, backlink research, monitor keyword rankings, and more.

It also offers a detailed content analysis tool that helps you improve content while targeting specific keywords.

While there’s a huge feature overlap, what Ahrefs does really well is backlink analysis. We can use it to see which sites are linking to multiple competitors, but not us. This helps us get more backlinks and build more partnerships.

They also help us identify which content multiple of our competitors are ranking for that we aren’t, so we can create content on those subjects to get more exposure.

Last but not least, Ahrefs helps us better identify duplicate content and keyword cannibalization which helps us merge and upgrade the right content to boost our rankings.

For the reasons above, we pay for both SEMRush and Ahrefs because they’re both good for specific use-cases.

7. SEOPress

SEOPress is another simple yet powerful WordPress SEO plugin. It includes all the features you would expect from an SEO plugin like meta title, description, open graph support, image and content XML sitemaps, redirects, and more.

It comes with a straightforward setup for beginners and advanced controls for more experienced users. It is comparable to other top WordPress SEO plugins on the market in terms of features and options.

The paid version of the plugin is cheaper than some other premium WordPress SEO plugins on the market.

Note: SEOPress is a WordPress SEO plugin. Remember, you only need one WordPress SEO plugin on your site.

8. Rank Math

Rank Math is a fast-growing user-friendly WordPress SEO plugin that allows you to optimize your website for search engines and social media. It comes with a setup wizard and allows you to import data from other SEO plugins during the setup.

You can use it to easily add meta title, description, and Open Graph metadata to your blog posts. The plugin also allows you to generate an XML sitemap, connect Google Search Console, and control access to plugin features based on user roles.

Note: Rank Math is a Yoast SEO alternative. Remember, you only need one WordPress SEO plugin on your site.

9. Schema Pro

Schema Pro allows you to add rich snippets to your website which makes it stand out in search results.

Rich Snippets allow you to make your website stand out in search results by showing star ratings below a review, prices below a product, image or video next to the description, and so on.

Top WordPress SEO plugins, like All in One SEO (AIOSEO) already add structured rich snippets data to your website. However, if you need more schema types or want to extend the functionality of your existing WordPress SEO plugin then Schema Pro is the way to go.

Schema Pro also allows you to use it alongside your existing WordPress SEO plugin by mapping the plugin data to Schema Pro fields.

10. KeywordTool.io

KeywordTool.io is one of the best free keyword research tools available right now. It allows you to simply generate keyword ideas by typing in a keyword. These keyword suggestions are gathered from Google’s autosuggest feature. It also shows you keyword suggestions from Bing, YouTube, Amazon, and more.

These keyword suggestions are a treasure of information. You can also get search volume, cost per click, and other data for each keyword by upgrading to their paid plan.

11. Redirection

Redirection helps you set up SEO friendly redirects in WordPress. It is one of the most handy WordPress plugins that helps you easily fix 404 errors in WordPress by setting up redirects.

Broken links can affect your site’s SEO and create a bad experience for your users. If you have been running a blog for some time, then you should check your site from time to time for broken links and fix them.

There are multiple ways to easily find broken links in WordPress. Once you find a broken link, you may need to fix it by pointing users to the correct link or removing the incorrect link.

For more details, see our step by step guide on how to find and fix broken links in WordPress.

12. SEOquake

SEOQuake is a useful SEO tool for website owners. It is available as a browser add-on for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Safari web browsers.

It provides SEO related information for any website. This data includes page health, age, last updated, Alexa rank, and many other parameters. It is one of the most downloaded browser addons by SEO professionals.

Apart from that, the SEOquake toolbar can show you all the same data search results when you type in a keyword. This information can be extremely useful if you are gauging competition for different keywords. You can even download search results in CSV format and prepare your own excel sheets of search data.

Alternative: Ahrefs SEO Toolbar

Bonus Plugins for WordPress Website Owners

These tools give you the additional advantage when optimizing your website for SEO. They do not advertise themselves as SEO tools but they are essential for every website and play a significant role in your website’s search performance.

13. WP Rocket

Site speed is a major factor in search rankings. That’s why you need to monitor your website speed & performance to make sure it’s not affecting your SEO.

The easiest way to boost your website speed is by enabling caching. WP Rocket is the best WordPress caching plugin on the market, which allows you to set up caching without diving into any technical stuff.

Alternative: WP Super Cache

14. MonsterInsights

Many beginners rely on their best guess to make their marketing decisions. You don’t need to do that when you can easily get the insights you need to improve your website’s SEO strategy.

MonsterInsights is the bets Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It allows you to easily install Google Analytics in WordPress and shows human-readable reports inside your WordPress dashboard.

It tells you where your users are coming from, your top content, what users do on your website, and more. It also allows you to track your eCommerce SEO by seeing which products are popular and where you are losing customers.

Bonus tip: See what other marketing data you must track on your website to grow your business.

Other Powerful Growth Tools:

Aside from the above plugins, we also recommend the following tools to increase your traffic and conversions from SEO visitors:

• PushEngage – connect and engage with SEO visitors after they leave your website with web push notifications.
• OptinMonster – convert abandoning visitors into email subscribers & customers.
• Constant Contact – stay in touch with SEO visitors through email marketing.
• WPForms – get more leads from your SEO traffic with #1 WordPress form builder.
• SeedProd – create SEO friendly custom landing pages with drag & drop WordPress page builder (no coding needed).

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools for your website. You may also want to see our proven tips to easily increase your website traffic, and our comparison of best chatbot software to boost conversions.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 14 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools That You Should Use appeared first on WPBeginner.

December 04, 2020 at 06:00PM

How to Easily Change Domain Nameservers (and Point to a New Host)

Do you need to change nameservers and point your domain to a new WordPress hosting provider?

Nameservers tell the global domain name system where to look for a particular website. This may sound a bit technical, but changing nameservers is actually a fairly straightforward process.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily change domain nameservers and point to a different host or firewall, step by step.

What Are Nameservers?

Nameservers are part of the global database of domain name system. Their job is to tell other computers where to find a domain name.

If your web hosting account is the house where your website files live, then the domain name is the street address of that house.

Nameservers tell the internet where to locate the website address associated with a domain name.

When you enter a domain name in your web browser, it first sends a request to a global network of servers that form the Domain Name System (DNS).

These servers then search for the respective nameservers associated with the domain and forward the request accordingly.

For example, if your website is hosted on Bluehost, then its nameserver information will be like this:

ns1.bluehost.com
ns2.bluehost.com

These name servers are computers managed by your website hosting service provider. Your hosting company will forward the user’s request to the computer, also known as server, where your website is stored.

Why and When Do You Need to Change Domain Nameservers?

There are two primary reasons why you would need to change your nameservers:

1. You’re switching your web hosting providers
2. You’re adding a web application firewall like Sucuri or Cloudflare to protect your website

When you move your website to a new hosting company, you will need to change the nameserver information for your domain name, so that it points to the new hosting location.

This is extremely important because often your old hosting company will delete your files after your plan expires. If you don’t change the nameserver, then your users will not be able to find your website.

When you’re implementing a web application firewall (WAF), the WordPress WAF plugins will ask you to point your nameserver to them.

This is a required step for all web application firewall like Sucuri or Cloudflare because it helps them protect your website server from attacks by blocking it at the DNS level.

Aside from these two common reasons, you will rarely ever have to change your nameservers. Although, you may need to add DNS records such as changing MX records for your professional email address, etc.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily change your domain’s nameservers and point them to your new host.

How to Change Your Domain’s Nameservers

Changing your nameserver is quite simple and easy. The process may look a little different to you depending on your domain name registrar, but the basic steps are the same.

We will cover the instructions for changing your nameservers on several popular domain registrars and web hosting companies. You can use the quick links to jump to the section for your host.

• Changing Your Nameservers with Domain.com
• Changing Your Nameservers with Bluehost
• Changing Your Nameservers with SiteGround
• Changing Your Nameservers with HostGator
• Changing Your Nameservers with GoDaddy
• Changing Your Nameservers with Namecheap

Before editing your nameservers, you need to know the new nameserver records to use. Your new web host should be able to tell you this.

Nameservers will usually look like ns1.bluehost.com and ns2.bluehost.com. Some web hosts use IP addresses instead.

Tip: It can take a few hours for nameserver changes to take effect. Please be patient, if your website isn’t showing up at your domain right away.

Changing Your Nameservers with Domain.com

Domain.com is one of the most popular domain registrar. It’s easy to register a domain with Domain.com and host it elsewhere.

Bonus: If you need to register a new domain name, then you can use our exclusive Domain.com coupon to get a 25% discount.

To change your nameservers, you first need to log in to your Domain.com account. After that, you must click the ‘DNS & Nameservers’ link in the left hand sidebar.

This will take you to a page where you can see your DNS records.

Before you start, make sure the correct domain is selected at the top of the screen in the breadcrumb navigation.

Once you have verified the domain is correct, simply scroll down until you reach the NS records. There should be 2 of these, ns1.domain.com and ns2.domain.com.

First, click the 3 vertical dots next to ns1.domain.com then select Edit.

You will see a popup where you need to edit the nameserver record. Simply type the new nameserver in the ‘Content’ box then click the ‘Update DNS’ button. Here, we’re using Bluehost’s nameservers:

Repeat the same process for the ns2.domain.com nameserver record too.

You will see your updated nameservers in the list.

That’s all you need to do to point your website domain to your new host.

Changing Your Nameservers with Bluehost

Bluehost is a popular WordPress web hosting company. They are also a domain registrar. If you have a domain registered at Bluehost, it’s easy to change your nameservers.

First, you need to log in to your Bluehost account. Next, click the Domains tab on the left-hand side. You should see your website domain(s) in a list. Simply click the dropdown next to your domain then select DNS.

You will now see the DNS details for your domain in Bluehost. Go ahead and click the Edit button next to these.

Now, you need to click the ‘Custom’ option and enter the nameservers for your new web host. Next, click the Save button.

You will then see the updated nameservers in the list:

That’s all you need to do. Your website domain is now pointing to your new web host.

Congratulations, you have successfully changed name servers on Bluehost.

Changing Your Nameservers with SiteGround

SiteGround is a well-known premium WordPress hosting company. We use them to host WPBeginner website.

They also offer domain name registration as part of their web hosting platform.

To change your nameservers in SiteGround, you first need to log in to your SiteGround account.

Next, click go to the Services » Domains page and click the ‘Manage nameservers’ link for your chosen domain.

In the popup window, simply delete the existing SiteGround nameservers and enter the new ones you want to use. Optionally, you can add a third and fourth nameserver.

Once you’re ready, go ahead and click the Confirm button.

Your new nameservers will now display next to your domain name.

Bonus: Want to host your website on SiteGround just like WPBeginner? They’re offering our users 63% off their web hosting with our exclusive SiteGround coupon. Discount is auto-applied when you click our Coupon link.

Congratulations, you’ve now changed your domain name servers on SiteGround.

Changing Your Nameservers with HostGator

HostGator is another popular web hosting company and domain registrar.

To change your nameservers on HostGator, you need to log in to your HostGator account.

Next, you need to click the Domains tab, and then click the name of your chosen domain to see further details.

You will now see an expanded details section below your domain name. Here, you just need to click on the ‘Change’ link below your nameserver details.

You will now see two new boxes will appear for the nameservers. You simply need to enter your nameservers in these boxes and press the ‘Save Name Servers’ button.

The boxes will then turn green to indicate that the nameserver change has been saved. If you return to the domain overview, you will see your new nameservers in the list:

Congratulations, you have successfully changed name servers on HostGator.

Bonus: Want to register a free domain name on HostGator? You can use our HostGator coupon to get 62% off HostGator’s hosting, plus a free domain name and SSL certificate.

Changing Your Nameservers with GoDaddy

GoDaddy is one of the best-known hosting and domain name companies.

To change your nameservers, you first need to log in to your GoDaddy account.

You should see your domains listed on the home page. Simply click the 3 vertical dots for your chosen domain and select the ‘Manage DNS’ option.

Next, you need to click the ‘I’ll use my own nameservers’ option and enter the nameservers that you want to use. You can add more than 2 by using the ‘Add Nameserver’ button.

Once you’re done, just click the Save button.

GoDaddy may bring up a warning prompt to confirm. Just check the box, and then go ahead and click the Continue button. Your nameservers have now been changed.

Bonus: You can get a huge 89.9% off GoDaddy hosting and get a free domain. For more details, check out our GoDaddy coupon page.

Congratulations, you have successfully changed name servers on GoDaddy.

Changing Your Nameservers with Namecheap

Namecheap is another top-rated domain name company that offers great value domains.

To change your nameservers, you first need to log in to your Namecheap account. Next, click the ‘Domain List’ tab and then click the Manage button next to your chosen domain.

After that, you need to scroll down to the Nameservers section of the page. Here, you need to click on the dropdown list and select the ‘Custom DNS’ option.

Simply add in your nameservers here, then click the check button.

Your new nameservers will now display in the list.

Congratulations, you have successfully changed name servers on Namecheap.

Final Steps After Setting Up Your Domain Nameservers

Any domain nameserver changes can take a few hours to take in effect worldwide. That’s because it requires each internet service provider to clear their cache history and update the IP address to new records.

If this is your first time changing nameservers, then it’s important that you exercise patience because often the changes will not reflect right away.

If it’s been a few hours, and your nameserver changes are still not showing up, then you can try to flush your DNS cache on your computer.

We hope this article helped you learn how to change nameservers and point a domain to another host. You may also want to see our list of must have WordPress plugins for all websites, and our comparison of the best email marketing services to grow your business.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Easily Change Domain Nameservers (and Point to a New Host) appeared first on WPBeginner.

December 03, 2020 at 06:00PM

How to Add the WordPress Logout Link to Navigation Menu?

Do you want to add a WordPress logout link to your site?

If you run a membership site, bbPress forum, eCommerce store, or a learning management system (LMS) using WordPress, having a prominent logout link is helpful for your users.

In this article, we will show you how to add the WordPress logout link to your navigation menu, as well as to other areas of your site.

The Logout Link for WordPress

Normally you can log out of your WordPress site by clicking on the logout link. This link is located below your profile picture in the top right corner of the WordPress admin bar.

All you have to do is take your mouse over to your username, and it will appear in the dropdown menu.

In case you or your site administrator have disabled the WordPress admin bar, then you will not be able to see the WordPress logout link.

The good thing is that the WordPress logout link can be directly accessed to log out of your current WordPress session.

The logout link for your WordPress site looks like this:

http://example.com/wp-login.php?action=logout

Don’t forget to replace example.com with your own domain name.

You can access this link directly in your browser window to log out of your WordPress site.

When you visit the WordPress logout link, it will take you to a warning page. You will need to click on the logout link to confirm that you really want to log out.

You can also manually add this logout link anywhere on your WordPress site. Let’s take a look at how to do that.

Video Tutorial

If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.

Adding the Logout Link in WordPress Navigation Menus

Adding the WordPress logout link in your site’s navigation menu will make it easily accessible from any page on your website.

Simply head over to the Appearance » Menus page in your WordPress admin. After that, you need to click on the custom links tab to expand it and add the logout link in the URL field.

Once you are done, click on the ‘Add to menu’ button, and you will notice the link appear in the right column. You can adjust its position by simply dragging it up or down.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Menu’ button to store your changes.

You can now visit your website to see the logout link in your navigation menu.

The problem with adding the logout link in the menu is that it is visible to all users (both logged-in and logged-out). It only makes sense to show the logout link to users who are actually logged in.

You can do that by following our instructions on how to show different menus to logged in users.

Add WordPress Logout Link in the Sidebar Widget

WordPress comes with a default widget called Meta. This widget shows a bunch of useful links including a logout or login link to users.

Some people find the other links in the Meta widget are not quite as useful.

As an alternate, you can also add a plain text or custom HTML widget with the logout link in plain HTML. Here is the HTML code you’ll need to add:

<a href="http://example.com/wp-login.php?action=logout">Logout</a>

Adding a Dynamic Login / Logout Link in WordPress

If you manually add a logout link in WordPress, then the problem is that it does not change based on the user’s login status.

To fix that, you can use a plugin to dynamically display the login or logout link based on the user’s session.

First, you’ll need to install the Login or Logout Menu Item plugin. For details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After you install and activate the plugin, you’ll go to Appearance » Menus in your WordPress admin and add the Login/Logout link to your menu.

After you hit ‘Save Menu’ and check your WordPress website, you’ll see the link in your menu.

When you click on it, it’ll take you to a page to login, or if you’re already logged in, it will log you out.

This method also works with WooCommerce, MemberPress, and other WordPress eCommerce platforms.

We hope this article helped you find the direct WordPress logout link and add it to your navigation menu. You may also want to see our guide on how to add a call button in WordPress, and how to track link / button clicks in WordPress to make data-driven decisions.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add the WordPress Logout Link to Navigation Menu? appeared first on WPBeginner.

December 02, 2020 at 05:00PM

13 Crucial WordPress Maintenance Tasks to Perform Regularly

Ever wondered which important maintenance tasks you should perform regularly on your WordPress site?

Routine WordPress maintenance tasks take very little time, but they ensure that your site is secure, safe, and running at peak performance.

In this article, we will share the most crucial WordPress maintenance tasks to perform regularly, and how to do each one of them.

Why and When to Perform WordPress Maintenance Tasks

Your WordPress site is a powerful system made of several parts. This includes your WordPress hosting, the WordPress software itself, plugins, and themes.

On top of that, you add your own content with text and images. Together, all of these make a website that is loved by your visitors and customers.

After starting a blog or website, many website owners do not perform maintenance checks unless something breaks.

However, if you want optimal performance, then you need to perform simple maintenance tasks on a regular basis. These maintenance tasks ensure that your website is always in the best shape.

How often should you perform WordPress maintenance tasks?

If you run a busy website with a lot of traffic, then you should go through this maintenance checklist every three months. For smaller websites with low traffic and content, you need to do these maintenance tasks every six months.

Let’s take a look at the essential WordPress maintenance tasks you need to perform and how to do them. You can use these quick links to jump straight to each task.

1. Change All Your WordPress Passwords
2. Create a Complete Backup of Your Website
3. Check and Update All WordPress Files
4. Check and Delete Spam Comments
5. Test All Your WordPress Forms
6. Optimize Your WordPress Database
7. Run Performance Tests
8. Find and Fix 404 Errors
9. Find and Fix Broken Links
10. Perform a Thorough Content and SEO Audit
11. Optimize Images on Your WordPress Site
12. Review WordPress Security Logs
13. Troubleshoot Maintenance Tasks

1. Change All Your WordPress Passwords

Passwords are your first defense against unauthorized access to your website. You should always use strong unique passwords for all your online accounts. These include your WordPress website, FTP accounts, and database.

However, even if you are using strong passwords, they could be compromised without you even knowing.

That’s why WordPress security experts recommend changing your WordPress passwords regularly. This includes passwords for your WordPress admin area, FTP or SSH accounts, and your WordPress database password.

For more help, check out out our beginner’s guide to changing your password in WordPress.

The problem with strong passwords is that they are harder to remember. This is why we recommend using password manager apps like LastPass to securely store and easily fill passwords without having to type them.

For details, see our guide on the best ways to manage WordPress passwords.

2. Create a Complete Backup of Your Website

Backups are one of the most important WordPress plugins in your arsenal.

There are plenty of great WordPress backup plugins like UpdraftPlus or BackupBuddy. These can help you completely automate the WordPress backup process.

However, sometimes your backup solution may suddenly stop working without you even noticing.

Once in a while, you need to manually run your backup plugin to create a complete backup of your website. After running the backup, check that your backup files are properly stored at the remote location of your choice (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc).

3. Check and Update All WordPress Files

WordPress comes with a built-in system to manage updates for WordPress core, plugins, and themes. You should always update WordPress to use the latest version as well as keeping all your plugins and themes updated.

With that said, there are some situations when you may miss an update. For example, when a premium plugin or theme’s license expires, it may fail to check for an update.

Go to the WordPress Updates page to manually check for updates. Review all your installed plugins and themes to make sure that they are running the latest version. If they’re not, then make sure to document a reason why you’re choosing not to update.

4. Check and Delete Spam Comments

Many website owners use Akismet to combat comment spam in WordPress. It automatically keeps spam away from your comment moderation queue.

However, sometimes Akismet may end up marking a legitimate comment as spam. Once in a while, you need to take a quick look at the spam comments to ensure that there are no real comments incorrectly marked as spam.

Once you are done, you can safely delete all spam comments from your website. If you have thousands of spam comments, then you should batch delete all spam comments in WordPress.

It will not necessarily improve performance, but it will ensure that you don’t miss genuine comments.

5. Test All Your WordPress Forms

WordPress form builder plugins like WPForms make it super easy to create beautiful forms on your website.

However due to misconfiguration on your WordPress hosting server or your email service provider, sometimes these forms may suddenly stop sending emails.

You need to check all forms on your website to make sure that they are working properly. If a form is not working, then see our guide on fixing the WordPress not sending email issue.

As a best practice, we recommend using WP Mail SMTP plugin because it has email logging, and it will alert you when an email fails to send.

6. Optimize Your WordPress Database

WordPress stores most data in your WordPress database. It contains all your content, comments, users, and settings.

Over time, your database may gather a lot of unnecessary data. This increases your WordPress backup sizes which may affect uploading, downloading, and restoring backups.

Optimizing your WordPress database allows you to clean up clutter, defragment tables, and improve database performance.

For step by step instructions, see our guide on how to optimize your WordPress database with one click.

7. Run Performance Tests

Many users optimize their WordPress performance when they first start their website, and then forget about it.

As time goes by, you add new content, install new plugins, or may even change the theme. All of these items may affect the performance of your WordPress site.

Faster websites are not just good for user experience, but they also improve your SEO rankings. This is why you need to regularly do a thorough performance review of your website.

When reviewing your site’s performance, don’t just limit it to improving your homepage. Also test your most popular content and all your important pages.

For best results, follow our step by step guide to boost WordPress speed and performance.

8. Find and Fix 404 Errors

When a user requests a page that doesn’t exist on your website, then WordPress will show them a 404 error page.

404 errors that occur because a user mistyped an address are normal and nothing to be worried about. However, 404 errors that occur because a page is no longer available are frustrating for users and create a bad user experience.

If you are not already tracking 404 error pages, then see our guide on how to easily track 404 error pages in WordPress and redirect them.

9. Find and Fix Broken Links

As your website grows, you will realize that some external websites that you linked to in your older articles do not exist anymore. Some may have moved to new locations, while others may just disappear.

The broken links issue is not just limited to external links. You might accidentally add broken images, poorly formatted links, or misspell your own links. This can be frustrating for your visitors and harms your site’s user engagement.

You need to check your website for broken links as part of your WordPress maintenance routine. For instructions, see our guide on how to find and fix broken links in WordPress.

10. Perform a Thorough Content and SEO Audit

The next thing you need to include in your regular maintenance tasks is a thorough in-depth review of your content. This is where the data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics comes in.

Google Analytics shows you where your visitors are coming from and what they are doing on your website. This data allows you to discover content on your website where you have lots of traffic but your conversion rate is low.

Google Search Console’s Search Performance page can help you find search keywords where your site appears in the results. You can sort it to show you keywords where your site can easily rank higher by updating those articles.

If you are using All in One SEO, then you can set a particular keyword as your focus keyphrase. All in One SEO will give you a True SEO Score plus specific optimization tips.

Even with an excellent SEO score, you can still further improve your content. Try adding new information, adding images, and linking to it from other pages on your website.

For more SEO tips, follow our ultimate step by step WordPress SEO guide for beginners.

Pro Tip: You can use a tool like SEMRush to run automatic website audits. This is what we use on WPBeginner.

11. Optimize Images on Your WordPress Site

Images take longer to load than text. This means they decrease your page load speed. You will discover some overly large images during the performance checkup of your site.

However, you will likely miss those in your less popular articles. If you run a multi-author WordPress site, then some of your authors may not be as careful about image sizes as you are.

Reviewing your images and media library allows you to stay on top of the issue. You can perform this check to find images that can be reduced in size or images that are just too large.

For more information, see our guide on how to save images optimized for the Web.

12. Review WordPress Security Logs

Some WordPress users don’t realize that their site is under attack until it slows down or their search rankings drop.

We have already mentioned some security precautions like changing passwords, and creating manual backups as proactive measures. You also need to review your site’s access and error logs to see if there is any unusual activity on your site.

Another good option is to add a security audit plugin to your site.

We also recommend using Sucuri. It is a website security company that offers a website firewall to protect your website against common threats.

For a complete security audit of your WordPress site, follow the instructions in our step by step ultimate WordPress security guide.

13. Troubleshoot Maintenance Tasks

Most WordPress website maintenance tasks are quite harmless and will not affect your website’s normal functioning. However, some may slow down your site, like checking for broken links or running an image optimizer plugin.

If you run a staging site, then you can perform your maintenance tasks on your staging site and then push them live.

However, most WordPress users don’t run a staging site. In that case, you will have to expect a temporary slow site and some unexpected errors.

One way to deal with this is by putting your WordPress site in maintenance mode. Alternatively, you can perform these tasks during your low traffic hours.

If you run across an issue, then see our guide on how to fix common WordPress errors. If the error you are seeing is not listed there, then follow the steps in our WordPress troubleshooting guide. It will help you locate the problem and find a solution.

We hope this article helped you learn crucial WordPress maintenance tasks to perform regularly on your website. You may also want to see our tips on how to increase your blog traffic and our comparison of best WordPress page builders to create custom design layouts without any code.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 13 Crucial WordPress Maintenance Tasks to Perform Regularly appeared first on WPBeginner.

December 01, 2020 at 05:30PM