Keeping your WordPress website updated with the latest version is one of the most important things you can do as a website owner. With WordPress now powering over 43% of all websites, hackers view it as a prime target. Over 25 million WordPress sites were exploited in 2021 alone. That‘s why staying updated is crucial.
In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through everything you need to know about checking your WordPress version and safely updating to the newest release. With over 15 years of experience managing WordPress sites, we‘ve seen how proper updates can prevent disaster while upgrades gone wrong can cripple sites.
Here‘s what we‘ll cover:
- Why you should always run the latest version
- How to check your current version
- Checking for WordPress updates
- Safely updating WordPress
- Enabling automatic background updates
- Testing major updates on staging sites
- Troubleshooting common update errors
Let‘s get started!
Contents
Why You Should Always Use the Latest WordPress Version
We strongly recommend always running the newest version of WordPress available. Here are the key reasons why:
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Improved security – With each release, developers fix vulnerabilities and security flaws identified in older versions. Outdated WordPress installs leave you vulnerable to hacks and malware.
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New features and enhancements – WordPress continuously adds new features, many suggested by the community. Keeping updated lets you leverage these to improve your site.
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Better performance – Updates can significantly speed up and optimize your site by enhancing the codebase.
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Maximum compatibility – The latest WordPress version offers the best compatibility with plugins and themes. Developers ensure their products integrate properly with new versions.
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Bug and error fixes – Bugs inevitably get discovered and resolved with each subsequent release. Updating avoids headaches down the road.
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Adherence to web standards – WordPress aims to follow the latest web standards set by groups like the W3C. Outdated WordPress versions can cause conflicts.
For example, migrating from WordPress 5.4 to 5.5 alone netted significant security enhancements, site speed boosts, and improvements to the content editor. Updating brings tangible benefits.
We always recommend running the latest version of WordPress if possible. Next, let‘s look at how to check your current version.
How to Check Your Current WordPress Version
You have a couple easy options to check your current WordPress version:
1. Check on Your WordPress Dashboard
Once logged into your WordPress dashboard, look at the bottom left corner of the left-hand menu. You will see text like "Thank you for creating with WordPress 5.4.2". The number indicates your version.
2. Check Your Site‘s Front-end
Add /wp-admin/ to your WordPress site‘s URL and look for the "Thank you" message at the bottom of the page. For example, if your site is yourdomain.com, you would visit yourdomain.com/wp-admin/ to view the version number.
There are a couple advanced ways to check as well, like using php scripts or inspecting your database version. But the two options above are the simplest and fastest.
Now let‘s go over how to check for available WordPress updates.
Checking Your Site for WordPress Updates
WordPress includes a built-in update checker that runs automatically behind the scenes. It will detect when new versions are available.
However, you can also manually check for updates:
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Updates > Check Again
- If any updates are available, they will appear at the top of the page.
For minor updates, you‘ll see an "Update Now" button to update with 1-click.
For major updates like 5.7 to 5.8, the process requires a few more steps as we‘ll cover next.
Based on our experience, we recommend checking for updates at least weekly. This ensures you stay on top of the latest releases.
How to Safely Update WordPress
When you‘re ready to update WordPress, use these best practices to ensure everything goes smoothly:
1. Back Up Your Site
Before any update, it‘s wise to back up your site. This gives you a way to restore quickly if anything goes wrong. Use a trusted plugin like UpdraftPlus which allows one-click backups and restoration.
2. Update Plugins and Themes
Make sure any installed plugins and themes are updated to their latest versions first. Updates may include optimizations for the newest WordPress release. Outdated plugins/themes often cause update conflicts.
3. Perform Site Maintenance
Deactivate and remove unused plugins, clean up your database, check for any errors, and perform other standard WordPress maintenance. This minimizes potential update conflicts.
4. Update on a Staging Site First
If possible, test the update on a staging site before updating your production site. Many managed WordPress hosts offer staging capabilities. You can also use a plugin like WP StageCoach.
5. Update at a Low-Traffic Time
For major updates, update when fewer visitors will be impacted if any issues arise. Late nights and weekends tend to be safest.
Once you‘ve done the prep work above, you can update:
- Go to Dashboard > Updates in WordPress and click "Update Now".
- WordPress will put your site in maintenance mode, download the files, and install the update automatically.
- When done, check that your site is functioning properly as expected.
If you encounter functionality issues or errors after updating, you may need to troubleshoot or restore from your backup. Let‘s look at some common problems and fixes.
Troubleshooting Common WordPress Update Errors
While most updates go smoothly, occasionally things can go wrong. Based on managing thousands of WordPress sites, these are some of the most common issues we‘ve seen:
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White screen after updating – Often caused by an incompatible plugin or theme. Rename plugins/themes folder via FTP to deactivate temporarily.
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Site down or 500 error after update – Double check FTP settings if using FTP mirroring. Temporarily switch to Direct file access in Settings.
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Pages not loading correctly – Try clearing your browser cache and reloading. Test with a different browser as well.
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Content spacing/formatting issues – An outdated theme or plugin CSS can sometimes cause this. Update active theme and plugins.
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Features not working – Make sure any functionality plugins have been updated and check for compatibility issues.
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Can‘t log in to dashboard – A core file got corrupted. Restore via FTP and redo the update.
We have an in-depth guide on troubleshooting WordPress update errors if you run into any problems after upgrading your site.
Enabling Automatic Background Updates
By default, WordPress will install minor security and maintenance updates automatically in the background. However, major version updates still need to be initiated manually.
You can enable automatic background updates for all releases – including major versions:
- Go to Dashboard > Updates
- Click the link to "Enable automatic updates for all new versions of WordPress".
This will ensure your site stays continuously updated without any effort. However, we recommend testing major updates on a staging site first before deploying automatically to production.
Testing Major Updates on a Staging Site
For major WordPress updates, we strongly suggest first testing on a staging site, which is an exact copy of your live site.
Many managed WordPress hosts like WP Engine offer simple 1-click staging sites. You can also use a plugin like WP StageCoach to create one.
The process is straightforward:
- Create a staging site, ideally using your production site‘s same server environment.
- Install the major WordPress update on staging first.
- Thoroughly test your staging site.
- If everything checks out, deploy the update to your live site.
Testing major updates first on a staging site gives you the safety net to catch any issues before they impact real visitors. We consider this a best practice.
Conclusion
We hope this guide provided an expert-level overview of checking your current WordPress version and safely updating to the latest release.
Keeping your website fully updated has tremendous security, performance, and compatibility benefits. It also avoids many headaches down the road.
Be sure to backup your site, test major updates on staging first, and enable auto background updates for minor releases. Let us know if you have any other questions!
