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What to Do Before You Update WordPress

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Updates are one of the most common ways owners break their own site. What to check before you click update, and what to do if it goes wrong.

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Before you click anything

Update in a way that keeps you safe

Check it actually worked

If something breaks

Updates are necessary — skipping them is one of the main ways sites get hacked — but they're also one of the most common ways an owner breaks their own site. If you'd rather this just happened quietly in the background, that's what a care plan does: we test updates on a staging copy first, apply them, and check the site afterward, so nothing lands on your live site untested.