Spam on WordPress websites is an enduring part of the internet. It makes up nearly half of all email communications alone and, at one point, comprised around 70 percent of all emails. However, email isn’t the only area where you’ll need to deal with spam
The post “How to Use a WordPress CAPTCHA to Eliminate Website Spam” first appeared on WP Mayor.
WordPress can be hacked in many different ways – hackers can be very creative in going after targets. This makes it impossible and dangerous to list all the ways a WordPress website can get hacked, as it may provide a false sense of security. However, we can look at one example that illustrates the process a hacker might typically take to hack a WordPress website.
The post “WordPress Security Based on Facts and Statistics” first appeared on WP Mayor.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is one of the most time-tested methods for increasing your website’s security. Using a 2FA plugin can make your site more resistant to attacks and help secure user data. The “problem†is that many sites don’t try to improve the WordPress 2FA experience. Improving the 2FA user experience makes it easier to […]
The post How to Improve the 2FA User Experience appeared first on WPExplorer.
In September, WordPress’ Security Team announced it would be dropping support for versions 3.7 through 4.0 by December 1, 2022. Yesterday the final releases for these versions (3.7.41, 3.8.41, 3.9.40, and 4.0.38) were made available to the very small percentage of users who are running ancient versions of WordPress.
As part of the final releases, the upgrade notification now informs users that they are on a version that is no longer receiving security updates. This affects fewer than 1% of total installs. The vast majority of WordPress sites are running 4.1 or later and will continue receiving security updates.
Wherever possible, WordPress users should be running 6.1.1 on PHP 8 or later. (Although PHP 7.4 is the minimum version required to use WordPress, PHP 7.4 reached end of life two days ago and will no longer be receiving security updates. Version 8.0 will reach EOL in 11 months.)
Now that the Security Team is no longer obligated to backport security updates to very old versions, it frees up their time to better support newer versions of WordPress.
When you’re working on a page or post in WordPress, you’ll likely go through several versions or “revisions.†WordPress revisions are the drafts of content you create using the editor. The revisions system works in the background to ensure that you always have previous versions of your work on hand.
In this article, we’ll outline everything you need to know about WordPress post revisions. We’ll discuss how they work, where you can find them, and how to use them.
When you’re creating a page or post — or even making edits to one over time — you probably save every once in a while to make sure you don’t lose your work. Each of these saved drafts, along with any published updates, is stored as a “revision†in WordPress.
WordPress stores multiple revisions for each page or post. However, the exact number depends on how your specific site is configured. By default, there’s no limit to the number of revisions that are saved.
One key benefit of the revisions system is the ability to view and compare different versions of your content. You can see the current page right next to a previous version in order to review changes or decide which one you want to publish. You can also see who made each change and when it occurred, which is helpful if you have multiple users on your site.
It’s important to note that WordPress post revisions show the content using HTML code, which includes information about the blocks you use and your page or post layout. While you won’t need to edit this code, it could be confusing if you’re not familiar with it.
You can find revisions by opening a specific post or page in the WordPress Editor. Once you land on a page, select Settings → Post and click on “_ Revisions.†The blank here will show the number of revisions you have available.
This will launch a new page that includes all available revisions for the post or page you’re working on. You can use the slider near the top of the screen to switch between content versions.
Let’s take a deeper dive into all aspects of the WordPress revisions system, from comparing and restoring versions to even disabling them altogether!
To preview and compare revisions, you need to make sure the post or page you’re currently editing has past drafts saved. You can do this by opening the Block Editor, navigating to the Settings → Post menu, and looking for the Revisions option.
If you don’t see this in the post settings menu, there are no revisions available. This may be because you haven’t saved multiple drafts, the revisions system is disabled, or you deleted the previous revisions.
If the Revisions option is available, click on it. This will launch a new page that enables you to preview existing revisions and compare them.
After selecting a revision, it will appear side by side with the current version of the page or post. Now, you can compare the differences between them.
The previous version of the post will be in the left-hand column, with the newer version on the right. You can use the slider at the top to switch between all available versions.
By default, WordPress displays revisions in succession. If you want to compare two versions that don’t immediately follow one another, check the box next to Compare any two revisions. This allows you to pick any two specific revisions to compare next to one another.
All new content will be highlighted in green, and any content that was removed will be highlighted in red.
Again, note that the page or post content is shown as code, not as blocks like in the WordPress Editor. However, this is relatively straightforward to navigate, even if you’re not a developer, thanks to HTML comments, which explain the code that follows. Let’s look at a couple of examples from the image above.
First, you’ll see this code:
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->This tells you that there’s a Paragraph block here, with the text content, “Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!â€
Then, you’ll see this:
<!-- wp:image {"id":238,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} -->
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://example.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ze-ferrari-careto-v5Px2pav-MM-unsplash-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-238"/></figure>
<!-- /wp:image -->This code tells you the following:
If you run into anything that you’re unsure of, you can use resources like W3Schools to learn what a piece of code means.
If you want to exit the Revisions panel, simply click Go to Editor at the top left. This will take you back to the WordPress Editor for this page or post.
While comparing WordPress revisions, you can select the Restore This Revision option. This will restore the revision in the right-hand column.
It’s always best to thoroughly review the content before restoring a revision, because WordPress doesn’t ask for confirmation first. And once you restore a past version of a post or page, you may not be able to revert to the most current draft you were working on.
By default, WordPress stores an unlimited number of revisions for each page or post. However, some hosts may limit this number. For example, WordPress.com saves 25 revisions for Free, Personal, and Premium plans, and 100 revisions for Business and eCommerce plans.
If you have lots of revisions, they can clog up your database and slow down your site. So, you may want to limit the number that your site saves. You can limit WordPress revisions by manually editing the wp-config.php file. The best way to access this file is by connecting to your site via FTP using a client like FileZilla.
Once you establish an FTP connection, navigate to the WordPress root directory. This might be called public_html or your site name. Open it and look for the wp-config.php file. Right-click on it and select the option to edit the file.
Look for the following line of code. The number at the end will vary because it determines the number of revisions your site can store:
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3 );If you can’t find that line within the file, copy the code above and paste it at the end of the wp-config.php file. You can change the 3 to any value you’d like, depending on the number of revisions you want to store. Here are some other options:
If you don’t feel comfortable editing code, another option is to use a plugin. One of the most user-friendly options is WP Revisions Control.
This plugin allows you to modify the number of revisions stored for different content types. For example, you can disable revisions for pages or products while increasing the number of stored versions for posts.
Although revisions are enabled by default in WordPress, you can easily disable them by taking similar steps to the ones discussed above. To disable WordPress post revisions, you’ll need to modify the wp-config.php file.
You can find instructions on accessing the file in the previous section, where we cover how to limit WordPress revisions. Once you find the file, you’ll need to edit the WP_POST_REVISIONS code to disable them entirely. This is the new line you’ll use:
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', false );Keep in mind that simply deleting the code won’t disable WordPress revisions. Instead, it will reset the system to WordPress’s default configuration.
Alternatively, you can use a plugin to disable post revisions in WordPress. Several tools are designed for this purpose, but one of the most straightforward options is called Disable Post Revision.
The plugin adds new settings to the WordPress dashboard, allowing you to disable revisions for posts, pages, and other types of content, all without touching a single line of code.
Revisions are enabled in WordPress by default. But if you’ve disabled them manually or using a plugin, you may want to enable them down the road. The exact method of doing so depends on how you disabled them to begin with.
If you modified the wp-config.php file manually, you can edit the code and set the number of revisions to a positive value, like in this example:
define( 'WP_POST_REVISIONS', 3 );By using that code, you tell WordPress to store up to three revisions for every post.
If you’re using a plugin to disable WordPress revisions, you’ll need to either edit the settings or deactivate the plugin altogether.
In most cases, “optimizing the database†refers to deleting unnecessary content like revisions, autosaves, leftover data from plugins and themes, etc. While there are a variety of other speed optimization tasks that can make more substantial improvements, deleting revisions from the database can make a small difference.
One popular plugin for optimizing revisions is Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions. With this tool, you can choose which types of revisions you want to delete from the database, then set the tool to do so immediately or on a specific schedule.
Unfortunately, most database optimization plugins don’t let you choose which posts or pages to exclude from the cleanup process. That means you’ll lose access to most, if not all, of your revisions afterwards.
If you still have questions about WordPress revisions, this section will answer them. Let’s start by talking about any potential downsides of the revisions system!
The only potential downside to WordPress revisions is that they take up storage space. Every revision translates to an entry in your WordPress database. If you have a website with hundreds of posts and pages, revisions can contribute to a lot of additional data stored.
This may not necessarily be a problem for websites with a great hosting plan, but it can be limiting for other sites. Depending on your setup, relying on real-time backups that are stored off-site might be a better option. These don’t take up space on your server, and ensure that you always have a copy of your site on hand, even if your host is compromised.
Jetpack Backup is an excellent option here. It automatically saves your site whenever you make a change — updating a page, publishing a post, adding a plugin, etc. And, restoring a previous version of your site only takes a few clicks, even if it’s completely down!
WooCommerce supports the WordPress revisions system, but this feature isn’t turned on by default. To enable revisions for WooCommerce products, you’ll need to edit the functions.php file for the theme you’re currently using.
We always recommend using a child theme when editing theme files, so that your work is saved even when you update the parent theme.
Then, you’ll simply need to add the following code to your child theme’s functions.php file:
add_filter( 'woocommerce_register_post_type_product', 'wpse_modify_product_post_type' );
function wpse_modify_product_post_type( $args ) {
$args['supports'][] = 'revisions';
return $args;
}By default, WordPress only supports revisions for posts and pages. But you can add support for custom post types by editing the functions.php file for the theme that you’re using.
Again, we recommend using a child theme if you decide to edit theme files so you don’t lose your code when you update the parent theme.
The optimal number of revisions will vary depending on your specific site. If you run a busy blog and update your posts regularly, you may want to keep several revisions on hand just in case. However, if your site is relatively stagnant, this feature may not be as important.
Of course, it’s always recommended to have full-site backups on hand in case of a hack or other issue. This is the best way to protect your content and customer data. Learn more about how to back up a WordPress site.
No, unfortunately the WordPress revisions system restores the entire draft of the page or post. You can’t, for example, revert a single paragraph to a previous version.
If you only want to restore part of a revision, you can use the revisions feature to copy the code for a specific block. Then, you can paste the code into the Code Editor of the page or post you’re working on.
You can find this by clicking the three vertical dots at the top right of the WordPress Editor. From there, simply choose Code Editor and make any changes you need to.
Deleting revisions from the database can improve the performance of your website, especially if you have a lot of pages and posts, and accompanying stored versions. However, the potential downside here is that if you delete all the revisions, you won’t have any that you can restore.
Another option is to simply limit the number of revisions that WordPress stores. Following the instructions above, you can configure WordPress to store just one or two versions of each page or post. That way, you’ll always have a revision available in case something goes wrong.
If revisions aren’t showing for a specific post or page, there may not be any available. Perhaps you haven’t saved any drafts of the content. Or, it’s possible that you or another member of your team disabled the revisions system for your site.
You can use the instructions in this article to see if revisions are disabled in your theme’s wp-config.php file. You may also want to check with your hosting provider’s support team to see if they disabled revisions for any reason.
WordPress automatically saves a copy of your work in case the Editor closes due to an unexpected error. These are called autosaves, and only one is stored at a time.
Each individual WordPress revision is a saved draft of a page or post. You can save an unlimited number of these, compare different versions, and restore a previous one if needed.
Revisions are a helpful part of WordPress. You can save multiple drafts of your work, review previous versions, and restore them nearly instantly. The number of revisions you access will depend on your site’s configuration.
Keep in mind that you should also use backups alongside revisions if you want to save the rest of your site’s data.
Jetpack Backup offers you automated backups that are stored off-site. It creates copies of your site whenever you make a change and stores them for up to a year, depending on your plan.
Sometimes, a plugin can cause a fatal or critical error in WordPress that results in loss of access to a site’s web pages or WP Admin area. When a fatal error occurs on a WordPress site, it’s usually due to a bug in a plugin or theme’s code that causes the site’s server to become stuck and unable to respond to requests.
Usually, WordPress displays a critical error message when a bug is preventing the site from working. An email is also sent to the site administrator with more details about the error. If you cannot find that email, the next best step would be to check the PHP error logs in your web hosting account, if those are available.
If you’re unsure about how to access those logs, your web host can help you. You can also put WordPress in debug mode and check the error messages displayed when you attempt to visit your site.
The message should include the name of the plugin, theme folder, or file causing the error. Now, you just need to deactivate the plugin to resolve the issue, which can seem tricky without access to your WP Admin area. Thankfully, there is a straightforward solution.
Here’s how to deactivate a plugin without access to WP-Admin:
Since your site is down, you aren’t able to access your WordPress dashboard, and will need to find another way to deactivate the plugin. SSH (Secure Shell), SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol), FTPS (also known as FTP-SSL, and FTP Secure), and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) are different types of server access protocols/schemes.
These credentials allow you, or a service like Jetpack Backup, to directly access your site’s files on the server powering your website. You can get these from your hosting account dashboard or with the help of your hosting provider’s support team. Note that these server access credentials are unique and different from your WP Admin login details and, in most cases, your host’s control panel or dashboard login.
For the next step, you’ll need to use a file transfer client app/software like FileZilla or Transmit. The file manager option in your hosting control panel (like cPanel) could also be a good option, but it’s typically better to use ftp because of its additional functionality and security.
Once you have your FTP credentials and a file transfer app installed on your device, proceed to connect to your site using the credentials. FileZilla has some usage instructions that should help guide you along the way. Transmit also has a helpful guide on using their Quick Connect feature to connect to your server.
While the exact process depends on the tool you’re using, you’ll typically need to enter information like the server address, username, password, port, and WordPress installation path. Once you’ve done that, click Connect or the equivalent on the file transfer app of your choice to connect to your server. When you have successfully connected, you should see a list of files and directories in the remote path you provided.
Here’s what that looks like in Transmit:
Now that you’re connected and can see your site’s files and folders, navigate to the /wp-content folder. Inside this folder, you’ll see a folder called plugins where WordPress stores the files for all plugins installed on your website.
Open this folder, select the plugin culprit, and right-click to view more options. Click Rename or the equivalent on your chosen file transfer client. Then, set the new name of the folder to something like plugin-name.deactivate. In other words, add .deactivate to the name of the folder.
Here’s what the rename option looks like in Transmit:
Once you rename the plugin, it will be deactivated because WordPress won’t be able to find the plugin folder in that location. If that plugin was the cause of the critical error, you should regain access to your WordPress site and the admin area. If you navigate to WP Admin → Plugins, you should see a notification saying that the plugin has been deactivated because the plugin file does not exist.
That’s it. You can follow the same steps to deactivate a theme if a theme is responsible for the critical error. Only this time, you should navigate to wp-content/themes when you’ve connected to your site via FTP.
Now you know how to easily deactivate a plugin that’s causing an issue on your site!
No matter your experience level, WordPress sites will occasionally run into issues outside of your control.
Jetpack Backup stores a real-time copy of your site on secure, independent servers so that you can quickly fix errors without any complicated problem solving. Even if your site is completely down, you can access and restore a backup 24/7.
It’s part of Jetpack’s entire suite of WordPress security tools that can prevent hacks and issues, alert you of any problems that do occur, and resolve them with as little as a single click.
High CPU usage from your WordPress site is never a good sign. At best, you’ll see loading times drop to a snail’s pace, and at worst, your site can become inaccessible to visitors.Â
Scary stuff, isn’t it? Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to sort out your CPU issues once and for all!
The post “How To Fix High CPU Usage In WordPress” first appeared on WP Mayor.
Your WordPress website’s availability is crucial to its success. If it’s down often, you’re going to miss out on new visitors and probably push away existing supporters as well. To make sure this isn’t happening, you’ll need a reliable way to oversee your page performance.
Luckily, there are plugins and services that can monitor your WordPress website and alert you to any issues that may arise. By keeping track of your site’s uptime, you’ll have a better idea of how it’s performing. That way, you can catch any issues and take action to address them.
In this post, we’ll discuss what uptime monitoring in WordPress is and some reasons downtime occurs. Then, we’ll talk about how to track uptime and suggest some plugins and tools you can use to do so.
When you visit a website, a conversation occurs between your web browser and the site’s server. The website returns an HTTP status that will then determine if you can access the page or not. If everything is functioning correctly, the site you’re trying to access will show up in your browser.
An uptime monitoring service does something similar. It will ping the server and read the HTTP code. It takes no action if your site is up and running, but if it detects that your site is down, it will send you an alert.
The core purpose of an uptime monitoring service is to track whether your website is online or not. Checking your website’s server at a regular frequency allows this service to notify you when your website goes offline for any reason, so you can then take the necessary steps to resolve the problem.
While 100 percent uptime for your page would be the ideal, 99.99 percent is considered to be excellent. Website uptime monitoring is important because it helps keep you in-the-know as to how your site is functioning. Interruption of your page — or downtime — causes a variety of problems that can hinder its success.
The consequences that come with downtime can include:
The good news is that uptime monitoring can help mitigate all of these issues.
There are few things more frustrating than a website that isn’t working. Numerous factors can cause downtime, so it can take some digging to figure out the cause.
One big reason for downtime has to do with your WordPress host. If you use a shared hosting service, there are limitations that come with it.
To put it simply, with shared servers, websites are essentially competing for space. That means servers can go down at times due to too much traffic. Since you don’t know who your server ‘neighbors’ are, you can’t anticipate these surges in traffic, which can take away from your site’s availability and performance.
Downtime can also be caused by updates that go awry. Plugins, themes, and the latest version of WordPress are all aspects of your site that need to be kept up-to-date. And while one-click updates might seem harmless, they can sometimes end up breaking your website.
Another reason could be hacking attempts on your site. This is when someone intentionally tries to break your site, whether through brute force or other malicious tactics such as malware.
One common method is Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS attacks. This involves a hacker overwhelming your web pages with traffic, which can eventually break your site if they’re successful. Other problems include faulty website code, plugin or theme conflicts, and Domain Name System (DNS) issues.
Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to monitor your website’s uptime and prevent downtime. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can do this for your WordPress site.
The best way to monitor your site’s uptime is with a WordPress monitoring plugin. They are simple to install and can notify you immediately when downtime occurs. Here are three options you may want to consider:
Jetpack offers a convenient solution for monitoring your website. It’s easy, fast, automated, and was built specifically for WordPress sites. Many would argue that it’s one of the best WordPress plugins, because you can also add advanced WordPress security, performance, and marketing services — like real-time site backups — from the same install.
Jetpack features:
Additionally, you can access the tool directly in your WordPress dashboard, making it highly beginner friendly. No coding is required, and all of its features can be activated in a few clicks.
Pricing for Jetpack:
The basic plugin, which includes downtime monitoring, is free. You’re also able to upgrade to one of the premium versions, which start at $4.95 per month. This will give you more versatility and features to work with.
ManageWP Worker is a WordPress plugin that features automated updates, cloud backups, client reports, as well as performance and security checks. This management plugin also offers premium add-ons, and you can connect it to multiple Google Analytics accounts to keep track of all your metrics.
ManageWP Worker features:
One advantage of ManageWP Worker is that it provides you with instant downtime alerts and the ability to manage a high volume of sites. Additionally, it’s easy to install and get set up. However, one downside is that the Uptime Monitor is a premium feature, which means you’ll need a paid plan to get it.
ManageWP Worker pricing:
There is a free version of this plugin, but uptime monitoring will cost you $1 per website per month.
Super Monitoring offers around-the-clock scanning and a Google Analytics integration. The software uses multiple locations to prevent false alarms. It can help minimize losses if you’re in the middle of a launch or advertising campaign.
Super Monitoring features:
Multiple location server checks and minute-by-minute scanning make Super Monitoring a solid option. Still, it’s important to note that Super Monitoring is a bit more expensive than most other WordPress monitoring plugins. Furthermore, you’ll have to pay extra for mobile alerts.
Super Monitoring pricing:
Super Monitoring plans start at $5.99 per month plus an additional $7 for mobile alert credits. There is no free version.
There are also third-party tools you can use that will help you track or simply check on your website’s uptime and availability. For example, the IsItWP tool lets you test the availability of your website. You can enter in your URL to have it instantly analyze the status of your page.
You’ll then receive your site’s results:
As you can see, IsItWP gives you minimal information. Still, this can be highly useful when you suspect that your own device is preventing you from accessing your website, but you want to confirm.
Another, slightly more elaborate third-party tool you can take advantage of is Uptime.
Once you enter your URL, Uptime provides you with a detailed description of your website’s availability results. This will include DNS lookups, redirects times, request times, download speeds, and more.
It even offers a map showing you where your site’s servers are located.
Another free tool, Internet Vista, gives you response time, average speed, and a performance score.
It also provides you with a visual display of your results.
These three sites are free to use. They can give you immediate access to your page data so you can see whether or not it’s performing well.
On top of improved security through DDoS mitigation, a Content Delivery Network (CDN) helps promote your site’s uptime by increasing its availability. In a nutshell, a CDN is a network of servers located worldwide which provide cached internet content from the network located closest to the visitor.
The goal of this network is to deliver content as quickly as possible, preventing downtime in the process. There are CDN performance tools that will give you detailed reports of your website. For instance, Uptrends will give you resolve, connection, and download time, as well as display the IP address of your site.
Another solution, Upzilla will give you similar results when you add your IP address.
Both of these solutions offer features that enable you to track uptime through CDNs. While some CDNs come with a more robust set of features, the main purpose of these two is to help ensure that your website doesn’t suffer from downtime. This can be good if you don’t want to overcomplicate things.
Certain WordPress hosting companies come with uptime monitoring built into their plans. Here are a few hosts that include this service:
Bluehost is a quality WordPress hosting service that offers many features — including uptime monitoring. It has a tool called Maestro, which will send you alerts when your site goes down. This lets you address the problem right away. It also gives you the ability to track your site’s uptime percentage, so you know how well it’s performing.
Bluehost pricing:
Bluehost pricing starts at $4.95 per month for a Shared plan.
HostPapa is a Canadian-based WordPress hosting company. In 2021, it acquired the uptime monitoring service UptimeMate. The provider bundled this service into its portfolio of managed plans, including PapaCare+. This lets you be in-the-know about what’s happening with the performance of your WordPress site at all times. Plus, it has a 99.9 percent uptime guarantee for all plans, which means that your website should experience almost no downtime.
HostPapa pricing:
The Starter plan for HostPapa starts at $2.99 per month.
Before you jump into troubleshooting, there are certain steps you can take if you suspect your website is offline. This way, you can be sure that it’s down before you invest any time in resolving the problem.
There are tools you can use to confirm that your website is offline. Sites like isitdownrightnow.com allow you to enter in your website URL.
This will perform a server status check and provide you with data like response time, the last time it was down, and, of course, whether it’s currently online or not now.
This diagnosis will help inform you on the next action you should take. For this step, you could also use any of the other third-party services we mentioned previously in this article.
Downtime could very well be a result of your hosting service, but this isn’t always unplanned. Your provider might have scheduled downtime for maintenance, security, or repair purposes. So, you’ll want to check with them first to see if this is what’s causing the issue.
Downtime could also be a result of the limitations of your hosting plan. If your package doesn’t include unlimited bandwidth and disk space, you might have reached your cap. If you have, you may want to consider upgrading to a larger hosting plan.
If you want to prevent downtime caused by cyber-security issues, you might consider installing a WordPress plugin designed specifically to combat this. Jetpack Security is an excellent choice that allows you to minimize the risk of brute force attacks, take advantage of malware scanning, and implement spam protection.
You can look at Jetpack’s WordPress activity log and latest malware scan results to get a quick indication of whether or not downtime could be the result of a security breach.
Themes and plugins may seem like minor aspects of your site since they aren’t visible on the front-end. Still, they’re often responsible for important functionality and can encounter issues that lead to a down site. Most frequently, outdated and low quality plugins can cause incompatibility issues.
So, when your site is down, it’s a good idea to scan your plugins and theme to ensure that they’re still supported. If you’d like to prevent plugin issues before they happen, it’s always wise to choose WordPress plugins carefully.
Of course, preventing issues in the first place is the best solution. However, some problems are inevitable. That’s why it’s best to safeguard your website in case of emergency.
Luckily, you can easily create and restore a backup of your WordPress site with Jetpack Backup. This allows you to recover both your files and your database if anything goes wrong.
Now that we’ve covered the fundamentals of uptime monitoring and what to do when your site is down, we’re going to go over some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). This way, you hopefully won’t be left with any lingering doubts about WordPress uptime monitoring.
This will depend on the solution you’ve chosen to monitor your site. But the recommended solution, Jetpack, is free to install and use.
Depending on what tool you use to monitor your website, you’ll be able to receive alerts when your site is down. Many tools offer you immediate text and email alerts the moment they detect downtime, so you’ll know when something’s wrong.
There are numerous aspects of your WordPress site to keep an eye on. As an example, if you have numerous WordPress users, an activity log can provide you with a record of changes made to your site. This will then enable you to know who made what modifications to your site (and when).
You’d also be wise to regularly check your WordPress site for malware. Detecting and removing this type of dangerous software is critical if you want to run a successful website.
Preventing downtime on your WordPress website is crucial. If your site is constantly broken, this can have negative effects on its search engine rankings, UX, and more. This will likely keep you from achieving your goals. That’s why it’s important to have the right tools in place to ensure that your site is up and running.
An uptime monitoring plugin, like Jetpack, can notify you when your site is down. While there are other third-party tools such as CDNs and the limited options included with some hosting plans, plugins are the most comprehensive and convenient choice. They can help you ensure that your WordPress site is successful and you can manage them right from your dashboard.
If you have a WordPress website, you might want to be able to track the activity that happens on it. By tracing every single modification on your site (and who completes it), you’ll be better equipped to resolve any problems that may arise.
Fortunately, you can use a WordPress plugin to track user activity on your site. There are many tools available that enable you to monitor changes made to your content.
In this post, we’ll discuss why tracking user activity is important and what kinds of actions to prioritize. Then, we’ll explain how to track and log user activity in WordPress, and list six plugins that get the job done.
The ability to track user activity is important to maintaining a secure and efficient website. It helps improve transparency and streamlines any troubleshooting you may find necessary.
Additionally, it enables you to monitor suspicious activities, like failed login attempts from the same IP address. The activity log will tell you if someone’s trying to log in from an unusual location so that you can stop a WordPress security breach before it’s too late.
But it can also be useful when it comes to keeping track of your team’s activity. You can easily see if a team member is doing their job, as well as identify suspicious behavior. Let’s say a post disappears from your website. You can look back at the list of changes in the activity log, and see exactly who deleted it and when.
And with Jetpack Backup, you can use the Jetpack activity log to identify a specific point in time to which you want to restore a backup — like right before a post was deleted or a plugin update caused an issue.
There are different kinds of activities that you can track on your WordPress site. For security purposes, you might want to monitor plugin additions and changes. If users add or deactivate plugins without your consent, it could put your site at risk.
If you run a blog, you might want to track any changes made to your posts. For instance, you can see when a contributor creates and publishes a new article. You’ll also be able to see who changed the status and content of your posts.
Additionally, you might want to oversee any changes made to your site’s settings. Some people might modify your permalink structures or site title. They might also add new users to your site. These modifications could be fine, or they could signal potential malicious activity. So you’ll want to make sure these actions are only taken by authorized individuals.
Lastly, you may want to monitor your comments. If anyone modifies or deletes a comment without permission, it can cause serious headaches.
By default, WordPress doesn’t enable you to track user activity. Fortunately, Jetpack lets you easily set this up. The plugin’s Activity Log keeps a record of all activities on your site, including plugin and theme updates, user logins, and settings modifications.
Once you install the plugin, you can simply navigate to Jetpack → Activity Log in your WordPress dashboard to start monitoring your changes.
Here, you can see the most recent activities on your site. If you have a premium Jetpack plan, you can filter events by date range and activity type.
Now that you know why it’s important to track activities on your website, let’s take a look at some tools that can help you do this. We’ve rounded up six WordPress user tracking plugins that will help you monitor changes on your site.
Jetpack is a multipurpose plugin that can help you run a safer, faster, and more successful site. One of the features it includes is a WordPress activity log. There’s a free version available, but Jetpack also offers paid plans that not only boost the features of the activity log, but include essentials like real-time backups, one-click restores, malware scanning, and more.
Jetpack logs many types of events, including login attempts, and published or updated posts and pages. You can also monitor plugin installations and updates.
Key features of the Jetpack activity log:
Pros of the Jetpack activity log:
Cons of the Jetpack activity log:
Ease of use:
Jetpack is beginner-friendly and easy to set up. There are also plenty of resources to help you get started.
Pricing:
Each plan comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee. If you’re not satisfied with the plugin’s performance, you can get a full refund.
Activity Log is a solid tool that has basic features to help you track the most important changes on your WordPress site. This plugin lets you see any new modifications right away, so you can act quickly. The setup process is simple, so you won’t need to spend lots of time figuring out how it works.
Key features of Activity Log:
Pros of Activity Log:
Cons of Activity Log:
Ease of use:
Activity Log is very easy to use. The interface is intuitive, and there’s a search feature that helps you find the data you’re looking for more easily.
Pricing:
Activity Log is free to download and use.
This plugin tracks a wide range of activities, including category changes, media uploads, user exports, and menu edits. The premium version lets you select which activities to track and export your log. You’ll also get customizable email notifications.
Key features of User Activity Log:
Pros of User Activity Log:
Cons of User Activity Log:
Ease of use:
User Activity Log is relatively simple. You’ll need to configure some preferences, but it isn’t too complicated to set up.
Pricing:
Stream helps you keep track of all user activity on your site. It displays actions performed by contributors to help trace the source of any issue that may arise. This plugin also supports WordPress multisite networks and provides email alerts.
Key features of Stream:
Pros of Stream:
Cons of Stream:
Ease of use:
Stream is a straightforward plugin to use — all you need to do is upload it to your WordPress site.
Pricing:
Stream is free to use and download.
If you run a blog or a smaller site with less activity, Simple History may be a good choice for you. It keeps track of the most important modifications on your site, including plugin activation, content edits, and changes to user profiles.
Key features of Simple History:
Pros of Simple History:
Cons of Simple History:
Ease of use:
This tool lives up to its name and is easy to use. You can sort through the logs without hassle — they’re displayed on your dashboard’s home page and provide a quick update on any changes that were made since your last login.
Pricing:
Simple History is free to install and use.
WP Activity Log is a comprehensive plugin that offers a robust set of features for WordPress, including multisites. It enables you to turn events on and off, and offers granular details about the time, user, and component that was altered.
Key features of WP Activity Log:
Pros of WP Activity Log:
Cons of WP Activity Log:
Ease of use:
The interface can be a bit complicated to use, but the plugin is quite customizable.
Pricing:
| Jetpack | Activity Log | User Activity Log | Stream | Simple History | WP Activity Log | |
| Login attempts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Core WordPress actions | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email alerts | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| WooCommerce integration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Price | Free – $39.95 per year | Free | $99 | Free | Free | Free – $199 per year |
There are plenty of powerful tools that you can use to track user activity in WordPress, but you might still have some concerns or queries about the process. Let’s address some of the most common questions about monitoring changes on your site.
If you choose a plugin like Jetpack, you won’t need to worry about slow loading times. It’s also important that you only use one activity tracking plugin at a time. Otherwise, you might experience compatibility issues that affect your site’s performance. Additionally, having too many plugins on your site can slow it down.
The amount you’ll pay for tracking user activity will depend on the tool you choose. There are many free plugins available as well as paid options, and they all offer different features.
A more robust plugin will provide you with more security and granular control. Jetpack is one of the best options on the market. It’s free to install and you can use it for detailed tracking of recent events. If you’re ever looking for more features, you can upgrade to a premium Jetpack plan.
There are many actions you can monitor and track on your WordPress site. For example, activity logs provide you with a record of changes made to plugins. This way, you can stay up to date with any modifications made on your site.
Another crucial element to monitor is your password. This is the gateway to your website and should be prioritized when it comes to protecting your data. There are ways to optimize your site’s security, like changing or resetting your password on a regular basis.
Your WordPress login page is another essential feature to keep safe. This page is vulnerable to hackers, so it’s important to monitor any suspicious activity like failed login attempts from the same IP address.
Other ways to keep your website safe include monitoring the uptime of your WordPress website, implementing brute force protection, and running regular WordPress security scans.
Having a secure WordPress website can be a challenge if you have a lot of hands on deck. Using an activity log plugin is one of the most effective ways to track changes in WordPress. The process is simple, and you’ll be able to access this data if needed.
You can use a plugin like Jetpack to track user activity on your WordPress site. The Activity Log feature helps you monitor and store events like login attempts. It also enables you to get to the root of any issues that come up on your site.
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