Transcript
Introduction
Did you know that WordPress offers a diagnosis of your site health? In this session, we will explore ensuring that your site is in tip-top shape. The site health widget can be found on the Dashboard, or you can go to Tools and click on Site Health. As you will notice, my site’s health needs to be improved.
Status and info tabs
The site health page has two tabs: status and info. The status tab lets you see critical information about your WordPress configuration and anything else that requires your attention. The info tab provides a granular view of the technical aspects of your WordPress website. You can see detailed information about every aspect of your site, such as themes, plugins, and server setup. There is also a useful export feature that allows you to copy all the information about your site to the clipboard.
Critical issues
When we go back to the status tab, you will notice the two main categories are security or performance-related issues. Critical issues refer to parts of your website that can be potential security vulnerabilities or serious performance issues. The critical issue that is coming up for me at the moment is that my site is running an outdated version of PHP. As the PHP version is set at the server level by your hosting company, updating involves either going to your host’s Dashboard and changing the settings there or, if that’s not an option, asking them to do it. Please back up your site before updating WordPress or the PHP version you use. Other critical issues you may encounter include missing one or more required modules. You have plugins waiting to be updated. Your site could not complete a loopback request etc. When you open the accordion, you will learn more about which steps to take to solve a specific problem.
Recommended improvements
Next, we can talk about recommended improvements. This section lists all the items that are not critical for your website but should be modified for better security and performance. In my case, I should first update the version of WordPress that I am using and then remove any inactive plugins and themes. To update WordPress, you can click on Please update now at the top of the page, and this will take you to updates. Now, you can merely click on Update to the new version and remember to back up your database and files. To remove an inactive theme, navigate to Appearance, open up the inactive theme, and click on Delete at the bottom right. Now, we will move on to inactive plugins. Make your way to plugins, and this time, we can use the bulk select option by selecting all the inactive plugins and deleting them simultaneously.
Let’s make our way back to the Site Health page, as there is one more recommended improvement that we need to discuss. The last recommended improvement suggests that I install two optional PHP modules that have not been installed. You could install these in CPanel, Plesk, or similar software if your web host provides that access. But if your hosting company has not provided you with a way to install these yourself, you can contact your host and ask them to do it for you. Lastly, the tests passed are all the other items tested by the site health tool and show no issues.
Conclusion
Learn more about this tool on the Site Health support page. Remember, Lee Hunt said, “The groundwork for all happiness is good health.”
Practical
- Open your own website and investigate its health status below Tools > Site Health.
- Address any recommended improvements