A monthly website maintenance checklist.
Websites go wrong quietly. A link breaks, a special ends, a certificate lapses, and nobody tells you. Half an hour a month catches most of it. Here's what to look at, whichever website builder you use, and which items our free check does for you in about a minute.
Free, no sign-up. Free checks can appear on our home page, with what they found.
Eight things to look at.
- Every link and image worksMenus, buttons, booking links and pictures. Links to other websites break without you changing anything. Free check
- Pages load quicklyOur check counts a page as slow when it takes over three seconds to load, and people give up on slow pages, most of all on phones. Large photos are the usual cause. Free check
- The security certificate is validIf it lapses, browsers show visitors a warning instead of your website. Our check warns you 30 days before it runs out. Free check
- The domain isn't about to expireWhen it does, your website and your email stop working. For .com.au and other .au domains, check the date with your registrar, because the registry doesn't publish it. Free check
- Hours, prices and dates are currentRead your home, contact and pricing pages. Look for specials that have ended, events that have passed and an old phone number.
- Forms and booking buttons workSend yourself a test message through each form and make sure it arrives. Make a test booking if you can cancel it.
- Your listings agree with your websiteYour Google Business Profile, directories and social pages. Customers and AI assistants believe whichever one they find first.
- WordPress only: back up, then updateTake a backup, then update WordPress, your theme and your plugins. Builders like Squarespace, Wix and Shopify do this part for you.
The slower checks.
- Read every page, not just the main ones. Typos, out-of-date wording and pages that contradict each other hide on pages you rarely open.
- Search for your business on Google, and ask ChatGPT about your hours and prices. Our free AI answers check does the asking for you.
- Check the card your domain and hosting renew on. Auto-renew only works while the card on file does.
Once a year.
- Confirm your domain's renewal date, and that your registrar has an email address you still read. That's where renewal reminders go.
- Update the small print: the copyright year in your footer, team members, and photos of things that have changed.
- Reread your privacy policy and terms, and check they still describe what you do.
Or have it checked for you.
A full Useful Work check does the first four items for every page of your website, on a schedule you choose, and emails you a summary. For the fifth, AI agents read every paragraph for typos, dates that have passed and details that disagree between pages, and you only hear about a mistake when two of them agree. It costs about US$3.37 to check a 30-page website in full, then only new or changed text is checked. Credit starts at US$5, with no subscription. Add your website.
About website maintenance
How often should I check my website?
Once a month suits most small business websites. If your website takes bookings, orders or payments, test those every week, because a broken booking button costs you customers straight away.
How long does website maintenance take?
About half an hour a month for a small website on a builder like Squarespace, Wix or Shopify. A WordPress website you host yourself takes longer, because its software, theme and plugins need updating too.
My website builder hosts my site. Do I still need to do this?
Yes. The builder looks after its own software, but the links, details, prices, dates and listings on your website are yours, and they're what customers notice.
What does the free check cover?
One page: up to 60 of its links and images, how long it takes to load and how heavy it is, its title and description in Google, its security certificate, and when its domain expires. Registries for .au domains don't publish expiry dates, so for those ask your registrar. Run it.