Website maintenance checklist
Maintaining client sites well is mostly about doing the same checks consistently. This is the monthly checklist agencies use to keep a portfolio healthy — and the ones worth automating so nothing slips.
Availability & performance
Confirm every site is up and responding quickly, the SSL certificate is valid and not near expiry, and the domain isn't about to lapse. Check Core Web Vitals so a slow deploy doesn't quietly hurt rankings and conversions.
Security
Review the security posture — HTTPS enforced, security headers present, no exposed files, not on any blocklist — and watch for unexpected visual changes that could signal a defacement. Keep any CMS and plugins current if you manage them.
Functionality & leads
Test that contact and booking forms actually submit and deliver — a silently broken form loses leads for weeks. Scan for broken links across key pages so visitors and search engines don't hit dead ends.
SEO & compliance
Check on-page SEO basics (titles, meta, canonical, robots/sitemap), track keyword rankings for drops, and audit accessibility against WCAG — increasingly a legal requirement. Automating these checks turns a long manual list into a monthly report you send the client.
Frequently asked questions
How often should I run this checklist?
Continuous monitoring for the critical items (uptime, SSL, security, forms) and a monthly review for the rest, delivered as a client report.
Can this be automated?
Most of it. A monitoring tool runs the checks on a schedule, alerts you to problems, and generates the report — so the checklist becomes oversight rather than manual work.
Uptime, SSL, domain, performance, SEO and links — with white-label client reports.
Start with a free check