Website Maintenance Checklist: What to Check Every Month

A website needs a handful of things checked every month to keep working properly: software and plugin updates, a security scan, a backup check, a speed check, a broken-link check, and a test that contact forms are still actually delivering messages. Skip these for a few months and small problems turn into bigger, more expensive ones.

None of these take long individually — the whole check takes maybe twenty minutes if you know what you’re looking for. The problem for most small business owners isn’t difficulty, it’s remembering to do it at all in between everything else running the business.

The six-item monthly checklist

1. Software and plugin updates. Outdated software is the single biggest security risk on most small business websites. If you’re on WordPress or a similar platform, plugins and the core software need updating regularly, not just when something visibly breaks.
2. A security scan. A quick scan catches malware or vulnerabilities before they turn into a defaced site or a Google warning.
3. Backup verification. Having backups isn’t the same as having backups that actually restore. Check that the most recent one is complete and dated correctly.
4. A speed check. Sites slow down over time as images pile up and plugins accumulate. A once-a-month check catches this before it costs you visitors.
5. A broken-link check. Old blog posts, discontinued products, and renamed pages all create dead links. Each one is a small dead end for both visitors and Google.
6. A contact form test. Submit your own form once a month. Spam filters, expired API keys, and email changes can silently break form delivery — you often don’t find out until a customer mentions they tried to reach you and never heard back.

Why this is worth doing even if nothing looks broken

Most of what goes wrong with a website doesn’t announce itself. A contact form can silently stop delivering for weeks before anyone notices. An out-of-date plugin can sit there as a known vulnerability long before it’s actually exploited. None of it shows up by just looking at the site — it shows up by checking.

If you’d rather not check it yourself

That’s exactly what Care Plans exist for: monthly updates, a security check, and someone actually testing that the site still works — not just glancing at it. Get in touch if you’d like someone else keeping an eye on it.