6 Steps to Update WordPress Checklist 2024: Ensure Efficiency and Security!

tran.travis
April 29, 2024
8 min read
backup,optimization,security,SEO,WordPress

WordPress Checklist 2014

Ensuring your WordPress website is both effective and secure in 2024 requires an updated annual checklist. Below are the updated steps for the WordPress checklist 2024, helping you maintain your stride and prepare for new technological challenges.

SETUP

Aimed at establishing a basic and initial setup for a WordPress website, this ensures that the website is built on a solid foundation, ready for further steps in advanced setup, security, and optimization. The goal is to help you start with a website that has a clear identity, stable performance, and robust security right from the start.

Purchase a domain name Establishing your brand on the internet. Buying a domain name helps build recognition and makes it easy to be remembered, an important first step in building an online brand.
Buy WordPress hosting from a reputable provider A solid foundation for the website, ensuring speed and stability. Choosing a reputable hosting provider helps the website operate smoothly, minimizes issues, and provides good support when needed.
Install the latest version of WordPress core Leverage the latest features and improve security. Installing the latest version of WordPress ensures your website can utilize improvements in features and security, maintaining information safety and high performance.

BASIC SETUP

Set up the necessary technical elements to ensure the website operates stably and efficiently. Tasks in this section include installing and configuring the domain, database, and other core components of the website. The goal is to ensure that these components are set up accurately, facilitating a smooth and secure operation of the website platform.

SECURITY

Focus on protecting the website from cybersecurity threats such as hackers and bots. The goal is to reinforce layers of protection, from hardware to software, ensuring that the website operates safely, secures user information, and maintains stable activity.

BACKUP

Ensure data safety for the website by establishing reliable backup methods. Backing up helps quickly and efficiently recover data in case of an incident, minimizing damage and ensuring continuity of online operations.

Install backup plugins (UpdraftPlus, BackupBuddy...) Backup plugins automate the backup process and ensure data is not lost in case of incidents.
Set up regular backups Regular backups protect important data by updating the backup copy as scheduled, including the database and all files in WordPress.
Store backups on the cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox, AWS S3...) Storing the backup on cloud environments ensures data can be accessed from anywhere and is more secure than on-site storage.

SEO

Optimize the website to improve its ranking on search engines, thereby increasing traffic and the website’s reach. Tasks in this section include installing and configuring SEO tools, creating a sitemap, and ensuring the website content is optimized for easy indexing and high evaluation by search engines.

Install SEO plugins (Yoast SEO, Rank Math) SEO plugins help optimize on-page SEO, supporting improved rankings on search engines.
Ensure titles and meta descriptions are not duplicated Avoids internal competition among pages, preventing ranking penalties due to duplicate content.
Update the sitemap to search engines A sitemap helps search engines easily index and understand the structure of the website, thereby improving visibility.
Use both internal & external links in posts Internal links enhance user experience and time on site, while external links build credibility and authority for the website.
Connect Google Analytics Tracks traffic and user behavior on the website, providing crucial data to optimize the SEO strategy.
Apply custom static URLs Static URLs make the URL more user-friendly and search engine-friendly, thereby improving SEO.
Ensure there is only one H1 tag per page containing the keyword The H1 tag emphasizes the main title of the page and is an important element in on-page SEO.
Confirm all images have the "alt" attribute The "alt" attribute improves accessibility and is used by search engines to understand images, thus supporting image SEO.

SPEED OPTIMIZATION

Improve the loading speed of the website to enhance user experience and boost SEO rankings. Reducing page load time helps decrease bounce rates and increase conversion rates, which are critical factors in building and maintaining a successful website.