How to Update WordPress
If you’re using WordPress then you need to make sure you stay current with updates. WordPress makes it super easy to upgrade and you can do so by logging in to your WP Admin Dashboard and then clicking the Upgrade button at the top. It’s important to backup your files and database before updating! Updating WordPress is simply good practice and should be completed each time WordPress releases a new update.
One of the most overlooked aspects of managing a website is keeping all of your scripts, plugins, apps, and software up to date. To minimize your risk of being affected by software bugs, or having to deal with malware and hackers, consider the following effects:
WordPress Security:
WordPress now powers over 25% of all websites online today, and like all other common web scripts and software, it’s important to take security very seriously.
WordPress is a free open-source project created by a community of developers who are always enhancing features and options to stay up to date with industry standards and best practices. This means updates are very common, and if you don’t install them (especially “security” updates), you risk missing out on new features, improvements, and risk the safety and availability of your website. And this doesn’t just apply to WordPress, but all web scripts on the market today.
Security is arguably the most important reason to update your plugins, addons, scripts, themes, and web apps. If you’re using WordPress, or any of the common content-management-systems, you’re actually at higher risk of being targeted by hackers (data thieves, malicious scripts, intruders, your competitors, etc), simply because there are so many targets available, if they find a vulnerability in the core system or a common plugin. And since it’s open-source, anyone can study the code and learn to “improve” it or take advantage of it.
If you’re not using the latest software versions, then you’re knowingly and willingly running software with known security vulnerabilities, and you become responsible for any damage caused by this. Fortunately, most platforms run security updates automatically on WordPress instances.
Speed & Performance:
The other primary reason to keep your website up to date is for speed and performance. As new web technology becomes available, web browsers (the programs used to view websites) are constantly updated with new features and performance improvements. If your website does not keep up, you’ll run into compatibility issues leading to a decrease in page loading speeds.
Check out our blog post on improving your website speed.
Each version of WordPress, for example, includes improvements to performance and is optimized for using the least server resources possible to speed up scripts and plugins.
