Websites don't usually go down suddenly. They usually warn beforehand, for days or weeks, with small signals that are ignored because they do not seem urgent.
These are the seven most frequent. If you recognize two or more on your website, it is worth looking at it before it becomes a real problem.
1. The desktop is getting slower and slower
Not the public website: the administration panel. Saving an entry takes forever, the order list loads late, the editor gets stuck.
What it usually means: the database is growing out of control (revisions, orphaned tables, autoload options), or some plugin makes very heavy queries on each load.
It's a good early sign, because the desktop degrades before the public part.
2. Emails that stop arriving
A client tells you that they filled out the form and you never answered them. You didn't receive anything.
What it usually means: Sending mail from the server has stopped working, or messages are falling into spam because the domain does not have SPF and DKIM records configured correctly.
This failure is especially treacherous because it is invisible: the website works, the form says “thank you,” and messages are lost along the way. You can spend weeks losing clients without knowing it.
Check: fill out your own form once a month. That's enough.
3. Cumulative update notices
You enter the desktop and the red circle marks 14 pending updates. You've been putting them off for months just in case.
What it usually means: Every pending update could be a known, unpatched vulnerability. And furthermore, the more time passes, the riskier it is to update: the version jumps are greater and the probability of incompatibilities grows.
It's a snowball. Updating is scary because you haven't done it for a long time, and that's why you postpone it more.
4. Intermittent errors that “fix themselves”
From time to time the website gives an error, or a page takes ten seconds, or an image does not load. You recharge and it's fine. You don't give it importance.
What it usually means: It's usually resource exhaustion (PHP memory or server limits) at peak visits. It works until it doesn't, and it usually stops working just as more people enter.
The intermittent is no less serious. It's the same, but not quite yet.
5. Administrator users appear that you do not recognize
This is different from the others: if it happens to you, it is not a warning, it is an emergency.
Go to Users on your desktop and review the list. If there is an administrator that you have not created, your website is already compromised. It is the first thing an attacker does to secure entry even if you close the original hole.
Don't delete anything yet: seek technical help first, because you have to figure out where it came in.
6. Google warns you (or you disappear from the results)
If you have Search Console set up, check it from time to time. Security notices or indexed pages that you do not recognize are a clear sign of injected content.
Another thirty-second check: Google site:yourdomain.com. It will show you everything that Google has indexed about your website. If pages appear that you did not create - especially in other languages or with strange topics - you have injected spam.
7. SSL certificate is about to expire
The browser lock. If the certificate expires, visitors see a red warning screen saying the site is not secure. Most leave.
Almost all current certificates renew themselves, but automatic renewal fails more than it should, especially after configuration changes or migrations.
Check: click on the browser lock and look at the expiration date.
The Ten Minute Monthly Checkup
If you don't want to keep an eye on it daily, checking this once a month covers almost everything:
- Go to the desktop and see how many updates are pending
- Review the list of administrator users
- Submit your own contact form and see if it arrives
- Search site:yourdomain.com on Google
- Check the date of the SSL certificate
- Open the website in incognito from your mobile and browse a little
Ten minutes a month. It is very little compared to what it costs to fix any of these problems when it has already exploded.
And if you prefer not to remember
The problem with monthly routines is that they are completed for two months and then forgotten. Not because of laziness: because when business is going well, checking the website is never the most urgent thing of the day.
That is exactly what solves a maintenance service: that these verifications occur yes or yes, whether you have them in your head or not, and that if something appears you find out from a notice from us and not from a client who could not contact you.
Would you prefer us to review it? Take a look at our WordPress maintenance service either tell us what your website needs and we will respond to you in less than 24 hours.