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What Is Website Maintenance? What It Includes

By Jeremy Kenerson, Founder and CEO at DeskTeam360

Last updated . The WordPress, Google and Shopify guidance was checked October 1, 2026. DeskTeam360's details were checked September 25, 2026.

Website maintenance is the upkeep a live site needs, like the updates, security monitoring, speed work, backups and uptime monitoring that one provider, DeskTeam360, lists in its maintenance. For WordPress sites, WordPress.org says to back up the database regularly, and always before an upgrade.

What does website maintenance include?

Each kind of upkeep comes down to a question you can ask about any site.

Kind of upkeep What to ask
Updates Is the platform current, and are plugins, apps or themes waiting?
Backups When did the last one run, and has anyone tested a restore?
Security monitoring Who watches for malware and out-of-date software?
Speed work How fast does the home page load on a phone?
Uptime monitoring Who gets told when the site goes down?

Other platforms need care too. Shopify says each feature you add to a store, like apps, images and videos, can slow the site.

For the step-by-step WordPress list and how often to run it, see WordPress maintenance.

Why is website maintenance necessary?

Two reasons are security and speed. Older versions of WordPress don't get security updates. Google says a good page shows its main content (Largest Contentful Paint) within 2.5 seconds.

If your pages load slowly, see website speed optimization for what to fix first.

To sort which upkeep jobs you'll keep and which you'll pass on, you can get DeskTeam360's Task Delegation Template.

Get the Task Delegation Template

What does website maintenance entail from week to week?

It's a routine: a set day, a backup before anything changes, the updates, and a look at the site after. Here's a plain routine you can copy.

  1. Pick one day. Put it on the calendar for each site you look after.
  2. Make a backup first. Check that it finished before you change anything.
  3. Run the updates. Do the platform, then the plugins and theme.
  4. Open the key pages. Look at the home page, a form and the checkout, if the site has one.
  5. Write down what changed. Note the date, what you updated and anything that broke.

For a site you sell upkeep on, see website care plans for how to turn this routine into a monthly offer.

If you look after many client sites, see WordPress maintenance tips for busy agency owners.

How can you tell a site is overdue for maintenance?

Look for an old version number, slow pages, and error messages visitors can see. Ask these questions.

  • Is the platform behind? Compare the version on the site with the latest release.
  • Are plugins waiting for updates? Count how many show an update notice.
  • Is the home page slow? Time it on a phone and write the number down.
  • Is the site stuck on a maintenance message after an update? Open it in a private window and check.
  • When did the last backup run? If nobody knows, make one today.

If the fixes keep piling up, ask whether a rebuild makes more sense. See website redesign for that choice.

Which website maintenance tasks can you delegate?

You can hand off the routine jobs, like updates, backups and the checks after, and keep the client talks. Make a list of each task, how often it runs, and who checks it.

Take DeskTeam360 as one example. Every DeskTeam360 plan comes with the full team and all 8 services, and you pick a plan by how many tasks you want running side by side. A North American account manager assigns each task, manages it, and checks the work before the client sees it.

More on WordPress and website maintenance

Get DeskTeam360's Task Delegation Template to write down the upkeep you'd pass on first. Before you pass anything on, read how to outsource, step by step.

Get the Task Delegation Template

Sources

All checked October 1, 2026. DeskTeam360's pages were checked September 25, 2026.

What changed

  • October 19, 2026: First version of this page.