According to WordPress’s technical requirements page, the recommended hosting plan to run WordPress should include a modern version of PHP, MySQL or MariaDB, and HTTPS support. It is possible to work with older server software, but that is not recommended. If you check your Site Health, you can see the technical details of your installation. In addition, if you open your hosting provider’s dashboard, you should be able to see what type of plan you are on.
Remember, paying for good WordPress hosting pays dividends. Upgrading your hosting plan is one of the easiest improvements you can make.
1.1.2. Upgrade to a recent version of PHP
While the numbers are going down quickly, many WordPress sites still run on outdated versions of PHP. One look at the WordPress stats reveals that some sites still run on a PHP version in the five series, while PHP 8.0 and up have been available for years. These old PHP versions don’t receive any more security fixes and are thus increasingly vulnerable to attacks.
Luckily, the WordPress team has dropped support for anything older than PHP 5.6.20. Today, the project recommends running WordPress on at least PHP 7.4.
So, one of the most important things you can do to improve the performance and security of your site — and thus, your WordPress SEO –, is to upgrade your hosting environment to a modern version of PHP. There are a lot of benefits to this:
- PHP 7+ offers an incredible speed boost.
- It runs a lot more efficiently, meaning less stress on your server.
- Bring loads of modern development features.
- It’s a much safer and more secure environment.
- It’s future-proof.
Now, this is something we all want. If you’ve checked your current hosting set-up in the previous section, you have an idea of what your site runs on now. If this shows outdated server software like PHP 5.5, it is good to update this. However, take special care before doing so. Ask for help if you’re not sure what you are doing — especially if you are a beginner working on your WordPress SEO.
Here are some steps to take:
- (Always!) Back up your website.
- Make a local staging environment based on a modern version of PHP.
- Install the backup of your site on that server.
- Test thoroughly to see if everything works properly.
- Upgrade your live site — most of the time, your hosting provider can do this for you.
We have a post that shows you how to set up a test environment for your WordPress site. WordPress.org has a post on the advantages of updating your PHP version and what to consider when doing that.
1.1.3. Make sure you’re using SSL and HTTPS
Adopting SSL (getting an HTTPS URL and a green padlock icon in the browser URL bar) was an optional tactic in the past. Many sites, arguably, didn’t need the extra level of security that SSL provides.
Today, having a valid SSL certificate installed is mandatory — search engines may ‘penalize’ sites without valid SSL certificates and setups (and/or show warnings next to their search results). Google has mentioned that HTTPS is a ranking signal. In addition, it’s generally good practice for all websites to use SSL to prevent hackers and third parties from intercepting requests and data.
Many modern site speed and performance techniques require a valid SSL/HTTPS setup. To take advantage of faster web technologies like HTTP/2 and the upcoming HTTP/3, browsers like Google Chrome and Firefox need the website to have a valid SSL certificate.
If you want to move to SSL and ensure that your site is served correctly over HTTPS, we have a handy guide with tips & tricks for moving to HTTPS. Since version 5.7, WordPress comes with a basic tool to make the detection of and moving to HTTPS easier.
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