WordPress is an open-source platform that’s developed by a community of developers. With every new release, they provide fixes for bugs, performance improvements and new features while improving the existing features to help keep up with new industry standards.
Every time WordPress releases an update, many clients ask us, “Should I update my WordPress website to the latest version?
Our answer always is: “Yes, it’s a good idea to update your WordPress website right away.”
We understand why some of us ask this question. Manually updating your site may be an inconvenience you would rather keep away from. Perhaps, it’s something you have no clue about and must pay a web designer to do it for you. Another inconvenience, to say the least.
The good news is that when you choose a WordPress hosting package from Designweb you won’t ever have to worry about updates. We update your website’s WordPress core automatically whenever new updates are released.
Even if you are already using our WordPress hosting plans, it helps to know the benefits of updating your WordPress core to the latest version.
Let’s dive in!
Experience the latest features
WordPress began its journey as a blogging platform before pivoting to become the world’s most popular CMS platform. And that’s no coincidence. WordPress is loved by web designers and business owners alike for its user-friendly tools and stylish aesthetics.
While WordPress releases minor updates frequently, major updates are released every now and then. And these major updates boast an array of new features and updates.
For instance, WordPress 4.0 brought with it a new and improved plug-in experience while WordPress 5.0 introduced the Gutenberg Editor, which was a transformation over the outdated WordPress editor. Gutenberg changed the way users build WordPress websites.
Known as a block editor, the new editing tool allows you to insert any type of multimedia file into each block. This can be an image, paragraph, quote, text or list. Each piece of content remains within its designated block, so you can edit it to your heart’s content. So, if you are presently using an older version of WordPress, you are missing out on a lot of exciting features that could make your life a lot easier.
Improved security
Security is the biggest reason to ensure your website is updated to the latest WordPress version. Owing to the immense popularity of this CMS platform, hackers and intruders frequently target WordPress websites.
One of every three websites floating on the web is powered by WordPress. Having said that, just about 61.1% of WordPress websites are running on version 5 or higher.
Given that WordPress is open source, anyone can use it and study the source code. This holds for hackers too, who can learn the code to detect ways to break into WordPress websites, especially ones that are not running the latest version.
The good news is that there are a lot more ethical hackers than unethical hackers. The WordPress team constantly comes up with updates and fixes. If you are not running the latest version of WordPress, your website is vulnerable.
Bug fixes
Although major releases undergo rigorous testing, bugs tend to find their way into the WordPress system. That’s why WordPress releases minor updates (those with X.X.X).
If you head to WordPress support forums hoping to find help, most people will advise you to update your WordPress core to the latest version. Likely, that’s one thing that can fix a lot of the problems you are facing. So, if you need one solid reason to update your WordPress website, then this is it
Improved speed and Performance
WordPress developers are constantly looking to improve speed and performance. With every new release comes tons of performance improvements that ensure your website runs faster and more efficiently.
Speed is good for SEO. A fast-loading website has better chance of ranking higher in the search engine results pages compared to a website that takes a lot of time to load. Load time is important not only for SEO but also for conversions. Users today are impatient and expect things to happen in the blink of an eye. If your website takes a long time to load, you risk putting off your visitors, who may simply hit the back button in search of a website that loads faster.
Better compatibility
After a major WordPress update, a lot of plugins also tend to get an update to ensure computability with the new version or to leverage the latest features.
What can go wrong if you don’t update your WordPress core to the latest version?
Do believe that if something’s working well, there’s no need to mess with it? We can tell you from experience that this does not hold for WordPress or software updates in general.
If your WordPress core is not updated regularly, you may face several issues including:
- Website issues
- SEO issues
- issues
- Security vulnerabilities
- Data loss
- Brand reputation
- Webhost suspension
- Blacklisting by Google
- Poor website performance
Keeping your website updated is easy with Designweb’s hosting plans
Why worry about manual updates every now and then when you can take advantage of automatic updates. That’s right. With every WordPress hosting plan from Designweb, we offer automatic updates to your WordPress website, ensuring it’s running the latest version.
Get started here or contact us today for more information.
