To update WordPress without breaking your site, take a backup you know you can restore, try the updates on a staging copy first, apply them one at a time, check the pages that matter after each one, and keep a way to roll back. It takes longer than pressing "Update all", but an update that fails then fails on the test copy, where no visitor sees it.
Why updates break sites
Sites usually break on a combination, not on WordPress itself: a plugin that was not ready for the new version of WordPress or PHP, two plugins that load the same library, a theme that overrides something a plugin just changed. The more plugins a site has, the more combinations there are to go wrong.
Outdated plugins are also the most common way into a WordPress site, so skipping updates trades one risk for a worse one. The goal is to update often, safely.
1. Take a backup you can actually restore
A backup is the files and the database, stored somewhere other than the same server. Before a big update, take a fresh one and make sure you know how to restore it. Until you have restored one, you do not know whether it works.
2. Try it on a staging copy first
A staging site is a private copy of your site where you can update and test without visitors seeing anything. Most good hosts create one in a click. Update there first, check that everything still works, and only then repeat on the live site.
3. Update one thing at a time
- Read the changelog of anything with a new major version. It usually says what changed and what it needs.
- Check that your hosting runs a PHP version the new versions support.
- Update plugins one by one, starting with the ones that fix security issues, and check the site after each. If something breaks, you know exactly which one did it.
- Leave major WordPress versions until your key plugins say they support them.
4. Check the pages that matter
After each update, open the pages that make you money or bring you leads:
- The home and your main service or product pages.
- Every form: send a test and confirm the email arrives.
- The cart and checkout, if you sell online.
- The admin itself, including the editor you use every day.
Check on mobile too, and with a cleared cache, or you may be looking at yesterday's version.
5. Know how to roll back
If something breaks on the live site, restore the backup or roll the plugin back to its previous version, and fix it calmly on staging. Since version 5.2, WordPress also emails the site administrator a recovery link when a plugin or theme causes a fatal error, so check that the admin email on your site is one someone actually reads.
What about automatic updates?
Automatic minor updates of WordPress are worth keeping on: they are mostly security fixes. Automatic updates of big plugins such as page builders, ecommerce or forms are where sites tend to break overnight, with nobody watching. For those, update by hand following the steps above, or let someone do it as part of a maintenance plan.