Website software behind on updates
Your website software is well behind on security updates.
How to see it yourself, in a minute
- View the page source and search for “generator”.
- A version a few releases behind the current one is this fault.
- In the dashboard, the Updates page will show a number in a red circle.
Or paste your address into the free audit, which checks this and seventeen other faults in ten seconds.
Why it matters
Each missed update is a published list of holes an attacker can read. Sites that fall a year behind rarely catch up on their own, because each jump gets riskier.
Each missed release is a published list of security holes. A site a year behind rarely catches up on its own because every jump gets riskier, and it ends up as the fault above. The direct cost today is small; the cost of waiting is the whole site.
How we fix it
We update everything on a staging copy, check the site still works, switch over, and put it on a care plan so it never falls behind again.
- Backup, update on a staging copy, test, switch over.
- Remove unused plugins and themes, which are the usual way in.
- Enable automatic minor updates and put the major ones on a monthly schedule under a care plan.
How long: A half day.
This is one of the eighteen on the fix one thing list. How a fix is quoted, staged and signed off is on how it works; the site we run ourselves, with none of these faults, is on the proof page.
Who it costs most
On a site that carries stock, this fault is paid for on every item page, not just the homepage. It is one of the first things we check for:
- Websites for builders merchants · Products on your own site
- Websites for wholesalers and distributors · Product lines on your own site
- Websites for electrical and plumbing wholesalers · Products on your own site
Questions people ask about this
- How often should it be updated?
- Security releases within a week; everything else monthly. That is what the care plans do.
- Can we do it ourselves?
- Yes, if someone takes a backup first and knows how to restore it. Most of the sites we see with this fault had someone who meant to.
People usually find this page by searching
- “how often update wordpress”
- “website maintenance plan”
- “keep website software updated”
Has your site got it?
Paste your address. This and seventeen other faults, checked in seconds.
Free, no call. The first findings come up in a few seconds and the full result in about half a minute. We load your site in a real mobile browser the way Google measures it, read your inner pages, your DNS, certificate, email records and sitemap, follow your stock list to the pages for the things you actually sell, and show you the three worst things on screen.
Or fix the lot at once
If the audit finds five or more, a rebuild is usually cheaper than five fixes. Prices are on the page.