A large group of WordPress users is hesitant in updating their WordPress to the latest version. They may be used to or satisfied with the version of WordPress they are currently using. If you belong to the group, you should know that this is not a good practice. You should always use the latest version of WordPress. Updating WordPress whenever there is an update available is very crucial for your website. In this article, we will tell you the importance and benefits of using the latest version.
1. Security
WordPress is currently the most popular CMS and powers about a quarter of all the websites. Due to its growing popularity, WordPress has always been a target for hackers.
Moreover, as you might already know, WordPress is open source. As a result, anyone can have access to its code. The main purpose for this was to allow users to constantly try to improve WordPress. However, since hackers too can get access to the code, they can search for ways to break into WordPress websites.
But WordPress has consistently tried to improve its security; the WordPress core is very secure. Security experts around the world study the code and report security bugs / fixes. WordPress takes these security reports very seriously and core WordPress team works quickly to release an update that fixes the issue.
WordPress does its part, but it’s worth nothing if you don’t use the latest version of WordPress. If you are using an older version, then chances are that you may be a victim of a hacker.
Hackers exploit the vulnerabilities of themes and plugins as well. So it’s a wise choice to update the themes and plugins as well.
You can read more about WordPress security.
2. Speed
WordPress developers always try to improve the speed of WordPress. With a new release you get many improvements in the performance of WordPress that make it run faster. This in turn will improve your website load time and maximize your SEO efforts.
3. New Features
WordPress comes with new and / or improved features with new releases. These features will enhance your experience and can also help you manage your website in a much efficient way. For example, WordPress 4.8 came with media widgets, visual editor in text widget, etc.
4. Compatibility (Sometimes Not)
Majority of the theme and plugin developers coordinate their updates with the major WordPress releases. This is done to take the advantage of the newly available features. As a result, without updating your core WordPress, your updated themes and plugins may not work effectively.
However in some cases, an update can break your existing WordPress plugins if they weren’t following the best practices and coding standards. For this reason, it is crucial to backup your website before updating WordPress.
5. Bug Fixes
In spite of the meticulous testing done before major WordPress releases, there always is chance of bugs. That’s why WordPress releases minor updates fixing the known bugs. If you don’t update WordPress then you will have to live with the bugs.
In Conclusion
These were the 5 reasons why you should always use the latest version of WordPress. If you know some other reasons then please let us know in the comment section below.