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WordPress updates can be a little confusing or seem like something to put on the back-burner, but they’re a crucial piece of keeping your website secure and functional. Learn about the types of updates to expect and how you can make them part of your regular website maintenance.
If you run or manage a website, you’ll know that the process of building and maintaining an online presence is never quite complete. In addition to ensuring that your content, information, products etc are always current, keeping the CMS and code up to date matters just as much in keeping your site running and performing.
With its vast contributing community and bug reporting system WordPress is able to release regular updates for the CMS to maintain security and performance, along with new features. Millions of websites are prompted regularly to update their Core WordPress installations. Update notifications can be easy to dismiss or forget about until you realise how important keeping your website up-to-date is.
There are a few types of updates you’ll see prompts for appearing in your WordPress sites’ backend. Consider this your guide to them, from major releases to everyday maintenance updates.
The first and most important type of WordPress update to consider is the major release. They occur around twice a year and typically include at least a few major changes to the platform. WordPress denotes major releases with integers followed by single fractions such as 1.0, 1.5, 2.7, 5.9, and so on. They also receive names.
For example. WordPress 6.0 was nicknamed “Arturo”. Its core features included:
Arturo provides a perfect example of the type of scope to be expected from a major release. The goal of these updates is to significantly enhance the experience for both site owners and users. That, in turn, makes staying up-to-date with the most recent WordPress version a no-brainer for any business running on the platform.
While major WordPress releases are designed to improve the platform, maintenance releases are built to ensure that its features continue to work as intended. They’re denoted by adding a decimal to the major release to which they’re attached. For example, the first maintenance release for Arturo is 6.0.1.
Maintenance releases focus largely on bug fixes. For example, WordPress release 6.0.1 fixed issues related to video thumbnails, some caching bugs, and CSS priorities to ensure the correct loading of the site for all users.
That, in turn, makes the case for staying on top of WordPress maintenance releases simple. Doing so ensures that your website will have a greater likelihood of functioning as intended, minimising potential bugs both for anyone managing the website and for users visiting the website.
Think of this type of WordPress update as similar to the Maintenance Releases, except with added security patches that add to their urgency. Security and Maintenance releases include basic bug fixes just like regular maintenance releases, but they also add security fixes for any potential vulnerabilities discovered through the continuous testing and reporting process.
WordPress denotes Security and Maintenance releases on the same level as ‘regular’ maintenance releases, with an added decimal behind the major release number to which they’re attached. For example, WordPress release 6.0.2 is a security and maintenance release that was published after the regular maintenance release 6.0.1.
Because this release type includes security updates, WordPress and most experts recommend updating websites immediately after a new release.
In addition to the above three release type, you’ll also find a few other update types that are worth outlining:
Most websites don’t need to worry about these types of updates. They’re designed for developers who play an active part in the community and dedicate time to testing updates before they go live.
Whether Version, Maintenance or Security, every WordPress update matters. Staying on top of keeping your WordPress website updated is crucial to maintaining a secure, functioning and accessible website.
Keep in mind that even though WordPress is a secure platform when properly maintained, its popularity still makes it a popular target for hackers. A site left on an out-of-date and unsupported version leaves it open to vulnerabilities. Keeping your version current with the latest updates ensures that your website and its data remain safe and secure, along with new features and bug fixes.
Of course, the why behind WordPress updates matters only if the how is also in place. These four considerations can help you keep things simple:
On the WordPress dashboard, you can check your current version through the Update section right under the Home button in the navigation. That makes it easy to see whether or not you need to perform an update.
Regular backups are an incredibly important part of website maintenance. You should also ensure to take backups of your website before making any updates. This means that you have an up-to-date copy of all of your website’s files so that if anything goes drastically awry, you will be able to recover your site.
Your hosting company or web development partner may already carry out regular updates on your website. But if that’s not the case, check at least once a month whether a new update is ready for implementation.
We tend not to recommend auto updates as they can sometimes cause things to break or worse. Installing them on a staging site first allows you to do some testing for issues before updating your live website. If anything does pop up, you can resolve the issue or wait for a bug fix in a future maintenance update before updating your live site.
Keeping your WordPress website updated is a core part of maintaining the site, optimising performance, and keeping it secure. If you’re not a developer or particularly experienced in managing a website, it can get a little confusing or overwhelming. That’s where we come in.
Our WordPress Support plans include all regular WordPress updates alongside plugin updates, which is perfect if you’re struggling to stay on top of them. We’ll help you get it done right, with backups and initial testing on a staging version of your site to make sure nothing breaks.
If you’d like to learn more about our WordPress & WooCommerce Support & Maintenance plans, drop us an email or give James a call.
Our plans provide a holistic solution to your website’s performance, reliability and security, and are inclusive of premium tools and services.
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