Website

Review your WordPress Site Health

Definitions

WordPress Site Health is a tool in your admin dashboard that offers recommendations for your website.

Before you start

🚨 WordPress Site Health is only a suggestions box and not a direct indicator of your website performance, security, or functionality.

⚠️ Ideally, you should review your WordPress Site Health alongside a website developer.

ℹ️ Each WordPress Site Health will differ, this guide provides a general overview.

Step by step

General

The WordPress Site Health Status box shows scores, issues, and recommended improvements, focusing on Security and Performance.

You will see two tabs on the WordPress Site Health box:

  • Status: This tab displays the overall health of your website.
  • Info: This tab provides info about your WordPress configuration.

The status tab will provide a suggestion box of recommendations – the action steps will vary depending on your website, and the steps below are general guidelines.

Security

1. Update all plugins and themes, consider activating WordPress automatic updates

2. Remove inactive plugins

3. Remove inactive themes

4. Use the latest version of PHP compatible with your WordPress

5. Activate any recommended PHP module extensions

  • Here is an example of the security tabs. You’d click the down arrow V on each one to view details:

Performance

1. Remove inactive plugins and themes

2. Check your website is using the latest version of WordPress (to check, go to Dashboard > Updates)

3. Run an X-ray report for your website

4. You may see a notice saying You should use a persistent object cache as a performance recommendation – you can ignore this notice, however consider: Cache plugins for WordPress websites

  • Here is an example of the performance tabs. You’d click the down arrow V on each one to view details:

Direct items

The Site Health Status box will often list specific actionable items with direct links. If you see any listed, you can:

1. Click on the provided link or button to go directly to the issue

2. Follow the on-screen instructions to resolve the issue

3. Recheck Site Health Status to check on the issue status

Some problems may require advanced steps that require delving into code, website configuration and settings. In these cases – please consult with a website developer.