Website Maintenance Checklist – 10 things to do weekly
Much like having a car or a house, your website needs regular attention in order for it to work well for you.
Below, we provide a short checklist for you:
1. Check your Google Analytics report to see how many visitors you are getting. And see where do people enter and leave your website – work out why they leave that page. This Google Analytics 4 tool is FREE.
2. Add useful, fresh, relevant content, written or graphic, to keep your website interesting and show authority in your subject area.
3. Curate your existing content, to keep it up to date and useful and attracting the right audience. Read it and update it continually.
4. Check for 404s – dead links, empty pages etc, as they will affect your Google ranking and performance, as well as annoy visitors. Use a FREE tool such as Screaming Frog, Ahrefs or Broken Link Check. In order to visualizs a 404 page, imagine walking through the front door of a shop and finding yourself outside the back door immediately – nothing there and no engagement.
5. Apply any website platform software updates, such as WordPress to maintain security and website uptime – check any warning messages or emails from your website.
6. Apply any design theme updates, to avoid conflict between the design theme and other plugins, such as the Contact Form or your SEO tool.
7. Carry out any updates for any plugins to ensure that they all work and do not cause any conflict. Delete any that are not being used. Otherwise they will slow down your website.
8. Test your website load speed – a slow site will rank poorly and lose visitors. Aim for under 3 seconds. We recommend trying a FREE tool such as Pingdom, Web Page Test or preferably Google Speed Insights. After all it is Google that will determine where you will rank in its search engine. You want to rank in the 90s for mobile and for desktop.
9. Check your contact form, to see what happens if someone tries to contact you – send yourself a test enquiry every week.
10. Find out where your website ranks in Google search for your key terms and continually tweak your SEO until you get to the top of page 1 in organic results. Check this using an Incognito Window. Then work to stay there. If you are not number 1 or 2 on page 1, then you have some work to do. To help with this, we recommend you check out our blog on What is SEO?
Remember: Check how the website looks on a mobile view – use this FREE Google Tool.
What do I need to do weekly to ensure my website is effective?
Just like having a bricks and mortar shop you will need to maintain your website and its content, to ensure that it works well, performs well and delivers results. Do measure your progress towards your targets. Also, aim for top of page 1 in organic search for your key words or key terms. Check this using an Incognito Window. And test in other search engines in AI platforms such as ChatGPT Search. Ireland is dominated by Google, but Bing does have its followers. And some AI platforms use Bing for search.
This does take time, but with continuous momentum you will get there. As a result, we recommend that every month or ideally every week, you put a note in your diary to review your website performance. If someone else is doing all the work on the list, ask to see the results of that investment, get a regular monthly report and plan how to make improvements.
In the current post covid climate, the website is your window to the world. Consequently, people will be visiting your website in higher numbers now. Or they should be doing so. Otherwise they will be visiting somebody else in higher numbers. If your website is not working smoothly, these visitors will go elsewhere.
Obviously, the website reflects on you as a business.
Does it look professional?
Is it fast?
How good is the design?
Is it easy to navigate and get answers to logical questions?
Do you clearly state which problems you solve and for whom?
Does your website look like it is up to your own personal standards?
Does it actually generate any enquiries?
Does it actually generate any ‘good‘ enquiries?
5 FAQs on Effective Weekly Website Management
What are the essential weekly tasks for maintaining my business website in Ireland?
To ensure your website performs well in the Irish market, it is vital to carry out several key tasks each week. A consistent routine will help attract and retain visitors. Your weekly checklist should involve the following actions
- Checking your Google Analytics to understand visitor numbers and their behaviour.
- Adding fresh, relevant content and also curating your existing pages to keep them up to date.
- Running a scan for broken links (404 errors) and fixing any you find immediately.
- Applying all software updates for your platform, design theme and plugins to maintain security.
- Testing your site’s load speed and checking that your contact forms are working correctly.
- Monitoring your Google search ranking for your main keywords using a private browser window.
How can I check if my website is fast enough and what is a good speed?
A sluggish or slow website will drive away visitors and hurt your Google rating. You should aim for your website to load in under 3 seconds. For a more detailed look, use a free tool such as Google PageSpeed Insights. The goal is a performance score in the 90s for both mobile and desktop versions of your site. As Google dominates the search market in Ireland, using its own tool gives you the best indication of how it judges your site’s speed.
What simple, weekly SEO checks can I do to improve my Google ranking in Dublin?
To improve your local search visibility in Dublin, the most important weekly SEO task is to monitor and work on your rankings. Each week, open an ‘Incognito’ or private browser window and search on Google.ie for your most important key terms. See where your website appears in the results. If you are not in the top one or two positions on the first page, you need to continue adjusting your website’s content and technical setup until you get there. Consistent effort will improve your visibility to potential customers.
Why are broken links (404 errors) bad for my website and how do I find them?
Broken links, also known as 404 errors, are damaging to your website for two significant reasons. Firstly, they create a poor user experience that frustrates visitors and makes your business look unprofessional. Secondly, Google views them as a sign of a poorly maintained site, which can harm your search engine ranking. You can find these broken links for free using tools like Screaming Frog, Ahrefs’ Free Broken Link Checker or the Broken Link Check website.
Why is it important to update my website's software, theme and plugins weekly?
Regularly updating your website’s core software (like WordPress), design theme and plugins is a critical weekly task. There are several key reasons for this. These updates provide vital security patches that protect your site from being hacked. They also prevent conflicts between your theme and various plugins, ensuring all parts of your site work together smoothly. Finally, keeping plugins updated and removing any you no longer use helps maintain your site’s performance and speed.
