You have a new sustainable website. But how do you ensure that it continues to function properly and remains energy-efficient? Of course, you want your website to keep working. Prevent your website from slowing down or crashing, and handle website maintenance yourself. Discover how to keep your own WordPress website in top sustainable condition.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- How to keep your site energy-efficient
- How to prevent your website from slowing down or crashing
- How to keep your website visible and findable
- How to keep your website secure and up to date
Why is eco-friendly WordPress website maintenance necessary?
Congratulations, your new WordPress website is ready! You’ve put a lot of time into building it. Or maybe your web designer did it for you. For you, as a green entrepreneur, it’s very important that it continues to function properly. Just like your electric car or bike, a website also needs regular maintenance.
This can happen if you don’t maintain your website:
- Findability: Search engines and AI tools are less likely to display your site in search results.
- Performance: Your website may slow down, and that’s exactly what visitors, search engines, and AI tools don’t like. Because let’s be honest: how long do you stick around on a slow site?
- High server load: A slow website can consume more energy than a fast one. Slow websites sometimes have a larger carbon footprint than fast ones.
- Compatibility: Outdated plugins can cause problems, which might result in your online store no longer working, for example.
- Security: An outdated website can be hacked, with all the consequences that entails. Think, for example, of data theft and loss (of your own data and that of your customers), or your website being used for malicious activities, such as sending spam. There goes your good reputation!
- Downtime: Your website may go offline (temporarily). This will negatively impact your online visibility and searchability. And that, in turn, can lead to fewer customers and lower revenue.
Of course, you’d like nothing more than to prevent this from happening. To ensure that your website remains functional, visible, and easy to find, it’s best to perform regular website maintenance.
How to perform energy-efficient WordPress website maintenance yourself in 9 steps
As a brand-new website owner, the following things are absolutely essential. If you follow these steps, you’ll definitely be in good hands!
1. Financial: Pay for your domain name, hosting, theme, and plugins
Sometimes, as a sustainable entrepreneur, you’re so busy that you might forget to pay an invoice, it can happen to anyone. But did you know that this can have consequences? If you don’t pay for your domain name or sustainable hosting, it can be deactivated, that is, placed in quarantine, and you can reactivate it for a fee.
Want to avoid this? If possible, set up automatic payments with your hosting provider and WordPress vendor. Or schedule a payment reminder in your calendar.
2. Technical: Keep your PHP version up to date
PHP is a back-end programming language used for websites. It’s important to use the latest version. You can check which version you’re running with your hosting provider. As of August 2026, PHP version 8.5 is the most recent release. In many cases, you can update it yourself, whether or not your host provides a step-by-step guide. If you prefer, you can also ask your host to handle the update for you.
If you don’t do this, your website may slow down or become more vulnerable to security breaches.
3. Technical: Update your WordPress version, plugins, and theme
The incredibly fascinating world of WordPress web design is changing so rapidly that updates are often released every month for WordPress itself, as well as for the plugins and theme you use.
You can easily do this yourself by going to the WordPress dashboard > updates. This is the best practice: update WordPress itself, your theme, and your plugins one by one, and keep track of which plugin you’ve updated. That way, you’ll know what to restore if something goes wrong. Of course, you can also update manually in bulk or set up automatic updates.
These are the risks of not updating your website: your website may slow down, develop security vulnerabilities, or experience compatibility issues with other components.
Updates usually go smoothly, but sometimes things can go wrong. When that happens, you’ll see a “white screen of death” with an error message. This means your website is temporarily inaccessible. Are you seeing an error message and want to make your website accessible again? Follow this step-by-step guide to get rid of the white screen of death.
4. Technical: Make backups
It’s always a good idea to back up your WordPress website. That way, you can restore it if your website ever crashes. Many hosting providers do this automatically for you, while others don’t. If your hosting provider doesn’t do this for you, you can use a free plugin, such as Updraft Plus.
Want to know if your host does that for you? Go to your control panel and check the options. You can also ask your host’s help desk. Many high-quality hosts create daily backups, but this varies by provider. So be sure to check this carefully. Want to restore a backup? Ask your host for the step-by-step instructions so you can do it yourself. You can also ask your host if they’d be willing to do it for you.
Does your host not provide backups? Then use the Updraft Plus plugin mentioned earlier. The downside is that this creates extra data and server load, but this is essentially your own Plan B in case things go wrong. After all, restoring a backup takes far less effort, time, and money than rebuilding a website from scratch. This is the most sustainable choice.
5. Content management: Edit your images, text, products, and appointments
A website doesn’t change on its own, it requires your input. Once your website is ready, it’s your job to make sure your images and text stay up to date. Do you have an online store? Then make sure your inventory management is accurate. Do you have a booking system? Then manage your appointments. Online stores and booking systems don’t do everything automatically. Want to know how that works? Consult your web designer or the company that developed your online store or booking system.
If you forget to do this, there’s a risk that your content will become outdated and that you’ll be less visible in search engines like Ecosia or Google. And that, in turn, can lead to a loss of revenue.
And, importantly: optimize your photos before you upload them for online use. Photos that aren’t too large will keep your site running fast. Read here to learn how to reduce the file size of your photos in a way that preserves quality.
6. Content management: keeping track of comments on your blog
If you have a blog, you may receive comments. These aren’t just nice comments from readers, sometimes they’re spam, too. It’s up to you, as the website owner, to keep track of this. You can do so via the dashboard > posts > comments.
Here’s what can happen if you don’t moderate your comments: spam appears under your articles, potential customers take you less seriously, and search engines may be less likely to show your site in search results. Spam also increases the energy consumption of the server hosting your website, which isn’t exactly sustainable.
Are you bothered by a lot of spam? Find out here how to get rid of spam comments once and for all.
7. Content management: review your statistics and adjust your strategy accordingly
Your website may be connected to a analytics program such as Matomo. Or perhaps you’re using Burst Statistics, the European, privacy-friendly, and sustainable alternative to Google Analytics. All of these tools can tell you a lot about which pages are frequently visited and which aren’t. Are certain pages and articles outdated and no longer receiving any traffic? Feel free to remove them, it’s better for the environment.
Or do you have pages or blog posts that don’t get many visitors? If so, you might want to consider either deleting them or further optimizing them for search engine visibility. And a website that’s easy to find will appear higher in search engine results.
If you don’t do this, there’s a chance that search engines and chatbots will be less likely to display your website in search results and prompts.
Are you planning to delete pages or articles? If so, set up redirects. A redirect ensures that deleted links direct users to existing content, so search engines won’t penalize you. Find out here how to practice sustainable content management and set up redirects.
8. Security: Strong password management and two-factor authentication (2FA)
To properly protect your website, it’s best to choose a strong password. This is often a combination of many letters and characters, one that only you or a password manager knows. Also, choose a password that you don’t use for anything else, in other words, a unique password.
It’s also advisable to use two-factor authentication, or 2FA. You can do this using the 2FA features of standard plugins such as Really Simple Security or Wordfence. You’ll find these in the WordPress dashboard. You use these in combination with an authenticator, such as the sustainable and European Proton Authenticator.
Don’t want to do this? Then you’re increasing the risk of hacking attempts by human and automated attackers. And you’ll want to avoid that at all costs.
9. Security: Check and follow up on site diagnostics
WordPress itself offers a convenient tool for monitoring the health of your web pages: Site Health. You can find it under Dashboard > > home. Just click on the “Site Health” tab, and you’ll see what’s going well, what could be improved, and what you definitely need to address.
If you forget to do this, you run the risk of not noticing performance, security, or compatibility issues in a timely manner.
Green WordPress website maintenance: Do it yourself or outsource It?
Many WordPress owners maintain their websites themselves. This usually goes well. But if an update fails (which can always happen), you might need the help of a web designer or developer. Otherwise, you can basically do it all on your own. Set aside a specific time at least once a month to maintain your sustainable website. Do you have an online store or a booking system? If so, it’s best to do this weekly.
Are you not very tech-savvy, or do you lack the time or desire to maintain a website? If so, you can always sign up for a maintenance plan from an eco-conscious web designer.
Are you looking for a web designer who can ensure your WordPress website continues to function perfectly? As an experienced and sustainable web designer, I offer website maintenance on a monthly basis for sustainable entrepreneurs in Belgium, the Netherlands, and beyond. Find out here how I keep your WordPress website secure, fast, and up to date. Or get in touch.
Conclusion
Once your sustainable WordPress website goes live, you’ll have a new responsibility: keeping your website secure, fast, and up to date. This includes updating the site, creating backups, managing your content, and monitoring your site’s health. In principle, you can do this yourself, but if you encounter any problems, you can always turn to a web designer or developer. Of course, you can also outsource these tasks through a subscription plan with a web designer.
This page contains several affiliate links. Click here for more information.