If you’ve ever managed a WordPress website, you’ve seen the notifications: “A new version of WordPress is available.”
Keeping your site updated is the single most important action you can take for security, speed, and unlocking new features. But what exactly happens when you click that “Update Now” button?
In this post, we’ll break down what WordPress updates are, the difference between major and minor releases, and the best practices for keeping your site running on the latest, safest version.
WordPress updates explained
Every few weeks, the folks behind WordPress drop a fresh batch of code changes. These releases come in two main flavors:
- Major Releases (e.g., 6.6, 6.7, 6.8) introduce new features like a revamped block editor or sitewide design tools.
- Minor releases (e.g., 6.8.1, 6.8.2) that are all about squashing bugs and patching up any security holes that pop up. On most sites, these minor security/maintenance releases are configured to install automatically by default.
Each one swaps out or tweaks the PHP, JavaScript, CSS, and translation files that make your site tick. When your admin dashboard flashes “Update Available,” it’s signaling that your production files no longer match the source code recommended by the WordPress core team.
Technically, updating is simple: WordPress grabs files from https://downloads.wordpress.org, checks them to be sure, and then swaps the old ones for the new. But the real benefit of updating goes way beyond the code. Keeping things current protects your income and brand, cuts down on support headaches, and makes sure your site stays speedy.
Think about a WooCommerce store that skips three minor updates. Hackers often study those security patches to figure out what was fixed, then hunt for sites that are still vulnerable. A single compromised checkout page can mean weeks of dealing with chargebacks and compliance nightmares. A quick, 30-second update would have slammed the door on that exploit.
Staying on the latest WordPress version is cheaper than dealing with a crisis, ransom demands, or emergency consultants. Even for simple brochure sites, search engines love a fast, solid code base. WordPress updates often include performance boosts that can shave milliseconds off your site’s loading time. Even small performance gains add up: shaving off a second of delay can significantly reduce abandonment and lost conversions. Fewer milliseconds means a better Core Web Vitals score, which gives your organic rankings and conversions a nice little nudge.
Bottom line? WordPress updates keep your business safe and set up for growth.
Why you can’t ignore WordPress updates
Running old code is a huge security risk. Even if things are fine right now, a future security breach or system failure is going to cost you. System updates are a must.
Better performance
New releases clean up code, use faster PHP functions, and support modern browser features. Sites that skip these upgrades watch their load times creep up and end up paying more for extra resources.
Traffic surges from ad campaigns or holiday rushes will expose slow code. Depending on the audience, even a one-second delay can eat into your conversions.
WordPress security
If your business needs to comply with frameworks like PCI DSS, HIPAA, or state privacy laws, assessors generally expect you to run supported, patched software. Running outdated WordPress or PHP is often treated as a serious finding.
Beyond that, exploiting known weaknesses in older versions is a common tactic for malicious actors. Hackers target easy vulnerabilities, and outdated WordPress installations fit the bill.
Everything plays nice
Plugin developers build their new features to work with the latest WordPress version. Falling behind means you can’t use the newest marketing tools or CRM integrations, which slows down your experiments and growth.
Browsers and assistive technologies are always changing. Updates keep your site working smoothly with new standards, protecting your accessibility scores.
Easier support
Simply put, maintaining older WordPress versions is costly due to increased support time, complex debugging, compatibility issues, and significant security risks. Modernization saves money by streamlining troubleshooting, providing access to current resources, and enabling low-cost proactive security updates instead of expensive breach cleanups.
Your brand’s reputation
Customers may not see your version number, but they feel the side effects through downtime, error messages, and weird redirects. A single public incident can blow up on social media for days and destroy trust you’ve built over years.
Treat WordPress updates as essential preventive care. Setting aside a few developer hours a month costs way less than trying to fix your reputation after a public security mess.
Getting ready for updates
Backing up your WordPress site
No matter how perfect an update is, things like custom plugins, weird file permissions, or a deployment gone wrong can break your site. Backing up your site is your safety net.
1. Grab everything:
- Files: Your wp-content folder, any custom mu-plugins, and anything outside the main core files. You should also include
wp-config.php,.htaccessorweb.config, and any other bootstrap files your site depends on. - Database: All tables, including those created by your plugins.
- Server stuff: Your Apache or Nginx config files and any custom scheduled tasks (cron jobs). If you’re on managed hosting and don’t control the web server directly, make sure your provider is backing up or versioning these for you instead of trying to copy them manually.
2. Store copies away from the site
A backup on the same server won’t help if the disk fails. Use services like S3, a configuration available through our off-site backup feature.
3. Set up an automatic schedule
Daily small (incremental) backups with a full weekly snapshot is a good balance between cost and having a clear recovery point. If you run a mission-critical WooCommerce store, you might want hourly backups.
4. Test your recovery
Once a month, pick a random backup and try restoring it on a staging site. A backup you can’t restore is useless.
For more detailed steps, check out the Pagely Knowledge Base.
Testing updates in a staging environment
Pushing updates straight to your live site is asking for downtime. A staging site catches problems before your customers see them.
On Pagely, you typically create a staging app in the Atomic control panel and then use the sync or clone tool (or WP-CLI plus search/replace) to copy your production database, media, and code into that private sandbox. All domain names are automatically switched to a staging URL.
Update WordPress core, themes, and plugins on staging, just as you would on the live site. Because your staging environment is a mirror of your live setup, successful testing there provides the necessary confidence to deploy changes to production.
Run sanity checks:
- Log in and make sure the admin dashboard loads without any PHP warnings.
- Test key actions like completing a purchase, submitting a lead-gen form, and verifying any third-party API calls.
- Check your browser console for JavaScript errors.
- See how it handles traffic using simple tools like k6 or Siege to simulate a burst of visitors. If you see your response times jump, figure out why before moving forward.
If you’re dealing with trickier setups like WooCommerce, membership sites, or multisite networks, you’ll need a bigger, more detailed testing plan. Make sure that plan includes checking things like subscription renewals, scheduled tasks, and background jobs, since those are the elements that might not show any problems until hours after an update.
Once staging passes, give it the green light and deploy and push the changes live. This disciplined approach turns updates from a gamble into a reliable routine.
Time to update WordPress
Updating the main WordPress software (Core)
Core updates are handled via the built-in updater under Dashboard > Updates.
Note: When you trigger an update from the admin screen, WordPress automatically puts the site into maintenance mode for the duration of the file swap and takes it out again when it’s done.
If you prefer using the command line, wp core update does the same job.
Our suggested steps:
- Double-check that your backup is confirmed.
- If you’re using WP-CLI or a custom deployment workflow, optionally enable maintenance mode before touching the database or core files (for example with
wp maintenance-mode activate) so no one can change content mid-update. - Run the update. This process replaces files but leaves your wp-config.php and wp-content folder alone.
- After a core update via WP-CLI, visit your admin dashboard or run
wp core update-dbto apply any necessary database structure changes that the new version requires. - Turn off maintenance mode. WordPress will do this automatically for dashboard-initiated updates. With CLI or custom scripts, remember to deactivate maintenance mode yourself.
If you’re a Pagely customer, you can just rely on our managed core updates, which frees your team up to work on stuff that actually makes money.
Updating themes and plugins
Themes and plugins are a bit more unpredictable than core, so handle them with extra care.
- Always prioritize security fixes. A security-only patch should jump the queue, even if a feature update is waiting.
- Get premium plugins straight from the developer, not shady third-party sites.
- After every update, clear your object cache and CDN to prevent users from seeing old or broken files.
- Treat any plugin that hasn’t been updated in the past year as high risk: Review its support forum, changelog, and recent PHP/WordPress compatibility notes. If the project looks abandoned or has unresolved security advisories, plan a replacement. Unsupported code is a performance drag and an easy target for attacks.
Bulk update commands like wp plugin update --all speed things up, but always watch the results. If a plugin fails its integrity check or throws a major error, stop and investigate before moving on.
What to do after the update
Testing your site once it’s live
Deploying the update is only half the battle. You need to validate everything to protect your user experience and search rankings.
- Quick visual check: Open your homepage, a key landing page, and your checkout/contact page in a couple of different browsers. Look for things that look off, like shifted layouts, missing images, or CSS issues.
- Run automated checks to confirm that your login, search, and shopping cart processes still work.
- Verify tracking pixels: Your marketing budget relies on good data. Use your browser’s network tools to confirm that Google Tag Manager, Meta Pixel, and any server-side analytics are firing correctly.
Keeping an eye on things
Some issues only appear when real users start hitting the site. Constant monitoring catches these before your customers complain on Twitter.
- Application logs: Send PHP errors and warnings to a central spot like AWS CloudWatch. Set up alerts for any new fatal errors.
- Uptime checks: Ping monitors that check your site every minute will tell you about an outage before social media does. On our managed plans, 24/7 uptime and health monitoring are part of the service, so you’ll hear from us quickly if something goes sideways.
- Performance baselines: Compare your response times and server usage before and after the update. Unexpected jumps usually mean a plugin conflict or an unseen code loop.
Being proactive with monitoring turns update day from a stressful event into a total non-issue.
Making WordPress updates automatic
Automation saves your team time and prevents human mistakes, but it needs to be set up wisely.
Pick the right level of auto-magic:
- Minor core releases and security patches: Generally safe to apply automatically during quiet hours, as long as you have reliable backups and monitoring in place.
- Major core versions, themes, and plugins: Schedule them, but still require a human to approve the final push.
Talk to your team. Even perfect automation can cause a surprise if marketing launches a campaign while maintenance mode is active. Publish an update calendar and share alerts via Slack or Teams.
At Pagely, we run automatic core and plugin updates backed by nightly off-server backups, uptime monitoring, and fast rollback assistance from our support team if an update causes problems. That rollback safety net is a must-have for e-commerce or membership sites.
Your next steps
WordPress updates are routine, but absolutely critical, maintenance. Every single release makes your site safer, faster, and keeps all your features running smoothly. Staying on a supported PHP version alongside current WordPress core is just as important. Old PHP runtimes are a favorite target for attackers and can block you from installing newer plugins and themes.
Commit to a solid process: back up, test in staging, update, check everything, and monitor. Automate what you can, and document all your decisions.
Ready to get out of the manual update business entirely? Check out our secure WordPress hosting plans for automatic updates built right in, off-site backups, and real-time monitoring. Compare options or reach out to one of our experts through our contact form. Handling your updates reliably today prevents frantic emergency calls tomorrow.
