Whether you’re a beginner blogger or an entrepreneur building your very first website, you might stumble through some of the common WordPress mistakes that tend to trip new users up time and time again.

But don’t worry. As easy as the mistakes are to make, they’re also very easy to fix. Let’s review the most frequent errors new users make.

Accidentally Blocking Search Indexing

WordPress has a setting to block search engines from crawling your website. Many website owners will turn this option on to prevent pages from being indexed while the site is still under construction. And while that is a great best practice to implement, you need to make sure you don’t forget to turn if off.

This issue is very prevalent during a redesign. The WordPress developer will transfer the new and improved website to the hosting account, not realizing he forgot to open the new website up to indexing.

As the website owner, the due diligence falls to you. Always make sure fresh or redesigned websites are accessible to search engines. You can verify this by quickly looking at your settings to check that “Search Engine Visibility” is not disabled.

Setting the Wrong Type of Permalinks

The default permalink structure in WordPress is not very search engine friendly, nor is it great for those humans visiting your website or blog. If you want to make your posts more appealing, use the permalink structure “Post name” so your URLs have real words and doesn’t show odd characters.

If you have an existing website and you want to update your permalink structure, make sure you implement 301 redirects at the time of the change so you preserve any SEO value and you don’t break any incoming links to the website.

Using Insecure User Names and Passwords

There is nothing like a fresh new WordPress install with endless possibilities. Some hosting companies will default the first user account to a name of “admin” and allow the user to establish their password. In haste, users move forward with that admin account, and they throw in a quick password like “pass123” or something similar.

The issue is hackers know this and they take advantage of it, which means they take advantage of you and your website. Before you know it, this minor mistake will open you up to having malware installed, no access to your data, and you’ll be scrambling to find someone to clean everything up.

Don’t be in a rush. Make sure you remove any users labeled as admin and use a robust password that is something only you know. Preferably this password will include letters, numbers, and characters.

Installing Too Many Plugins

One of the most appealing aspects of using WordPress is the 50,000+ plugin options that allow you to augment the core functionality of WordPress. This is especially true if you’ve migrated to WordPress from an outdated or restrictive CMS.

But here’s the problem – installing too many plugins will degrade performance and they can cause unnecessary conflicts. And if the plugin is outdated and not updated on a regular basis, you can have unnecessary security breaches.

As a best practice, always make sure you only install plugins you need, vet plugins before you install them to make sure they are created by a reputable developer and delete any plugins you’re not actively using.

Choosing Out-of-Date Plugins or Themes

While being open source is a great thing for individuals wanting a choice, it’s also a bane for developers. While there are literally thousands of options for plugins and themes available to you, not all plugins are created equal. Some are developed by WordPress gurus who have been around since the beginning of the platform. They’re constantly updating their plugin, ensuring it’s secure and stable.

Others create plugins or themes and never update them again. Keep an eye out for these orphan plugins or themes, as using one could mean extreme security vulnerability for your site. It could also mean your site is more prone to breaking than one that uses updated and maintained plugins.

Opting for Low Cost Website Hosting

Low cost is already best right? Not in the case of website hosting. There are many companies who will promise free or super cheap hosting in an effort to court new website owners onto their platform. It sounds too good to be true because it is. Free hosting is anything but free and there are a lot of hidden costs associated with it.

A free or super low cost hosting provider generally has bandwidth constraints, slow website speeds, downtime, limited backups, poor security, and very little technical support. That is not who you want to trust your data with.

With WordPress hosting you get what you pay for, and you need to explore all options before opting for the lowest hosting plan you discover.

Not Creating Backups

Backing up your WordPress site could save you from disaster in the event that something goes wrong. If you don’t have a WordPress backup system already in place, the easiest way to safely export a copy of your website is to set automatic backups. There are many different plugins that you can use for this. Some of the most popular plugins for backups are Jetpack Security, UpdraftPlus, and BlogVault.

If you’re current hosting provider doesn’t have a strong backup protocol in place, consider setting up your own system to automate the process and protect your data. You can learn more about this process with our post How to Backup WordPress Files and Databases.

Ignoring WordPress Core and Plugin Updates

Sometimes a reminder to update the WordPress core software and plugins can pop up at an inconvenient time and it just seems easier to just put it off. While the simple cancellation of an update notice might seem harmless, it can be a mistake that causes major issues.

Never, ever ignore WordPress software updates. Any lapse in WordPress updates can result in compromised security, opening your website up to threats from malware or hackers.

Automatic software updates are one of the primary reasons website owners have migrated to managed WordPress hosting providers. Using a managed hosting plan ensures updates occur for you and your website is operating at optimal performance.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of managed WordPress hosting, you can read more about Pressable’s offering to see what you’ve been missing.

Using Too Many Categories and Tags

It’s easy to get confused by the category and tag options for WordPress blogs. A lot of people assume the more they add, the better their outcomes in search. Well, it’s just the opposite.

When you use a lot of categories and tags per post you start to create thin content and duplicate keyword focus, while also degrading the user experience. This means you confuse search engines, and you frustrate humans.

A good rule of thumb to use is this:

• Every category or tag should be a unique topic and it should not duplicate or be similar to existing categories or tags.
• If you want to add a new category or tag, make sure you have at least five different posts to assign to it. If you don’t, that is a good signal you don’t need it.

Loading Unoptimized Images

You have to have images on your website. What would a webpage be without a header image? A logo? Even social media sharing icons? But before uploading all of these images to your site, it’s important to ensure they’re optimized for their purpose. You want to ensure that each and every image is only using the bare minimum resources necessary to load and function on your site. This means your site will load and perform faster for users.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been involved in the WordPress community for over fifteen years, and I’ve helped a lot of people navigate through their first few steps in building and managing websites. No matter how much time passes or how advanced WordPress functionality becomes, the common WordPress mistakes remain the same.

If you have a WordPress website and you need a dedicated team of experienced professional managing your hosting and providing technical support, Pressable is here to help. Schedule a demonstration today!