Decluttering Your WordPress Site

If your website feels slow, or you know that you have too many outdated files it might be time for a digital decluttering, to help streamline your website for optimal performance and security. And the beauty of it? It’s not just about your website’s wellbeing; it’s also about your peace of mind- your website security! 

It’s important to regularly review the space your website uses up- not just for your website speed but also it means less things to have to update and keep an eye on! Sometimes if a theme or plugin is really outdated it won’t be supported by the developers- this means that new updates with bug and security fixes will no longer come out. If you continue to use an unsupported theme or plugin you risk a security issue, hack or malware or just the theme/plugin no longer being compatible with your site. This is when you might see the dreaded WordPress screen of death! 

To clear out old themes: 

Go to Appearance- Themes and then click on any old themes you won’t be using. In the bottom right you can click ‘Delete’ to remove it. 

To remove old plugins: 

Go to Plugins- Installed Plugins and have a look at the list. If any aren’t being used or they are very outdated consider removing them to free up space and keep your site secure. 

You can deactivate each plugin and then delete from your website. 

Check your user permissions:

Check your users. Do you have an old VA or tech person who had access to your site? If they no longer need access, consider removing their user access or downgrading their access if they are an admin of your website. Ensure you only have people you trust with admin position! You can check on your users by going to Users- All Users. 

Tidy up your media folder:

Check your site images. Do you have old branding or photos you won’t be using anymore? Go through your media folder and clear some space- Media, then Library to go through them. If you want to go a step further download the Smush plugin. This helps to optimise your images and reduce the space taken up by images on your website. 

Check on your comments:

If you have comments enabled you are likely to have some spam comments. Go to Comments in your WordPress Dashboard to review them. Consider setting up Akismet Anti Spam or if you don’t want comments on your website you can turn them off at Settings- Discussion.