Author Website Maintenance: The Tasks That Keep Your Site Working

Most author websites are built with care and then gradually abandoned. Not intentionally — writers have books to write, launches to plan, and marketing to execute. But the website slips down the priority list, updates get skipped, broken links accumulate, book pages become outdated, and six months after launch the site that was supposed to be a professional author hub is quietly becoming a liability.

Website maintenance is not glamorous and it is not difficult. For most author websites, two hours per month handles everything required to keep the site secure, current, and performing well. The challenge is making those two hours happen consistently rather than letting maintenance accumulate until a problem forces attention.

This guide organizes maintenance into a practical schedule — monthly, quarterly, and annual tasks — with enough specificity to know exactly what to do and how long it takes. WordPress maintenance differs from hosted platform maintenance; both are covered.

Why Maintenance Matters

Security

WordPress powers over 40% of the internet, which makes it a high-value target for automated attacks. These attacks typically exploit known vulnerabilities in outdated WordPress core software, outdated plugins, or weak passwords — not sophisticated targeted attacks on specific authors. Keeping WordPress core and all plugins updated closes the known vulnerabilities that automated attacks target. An author whose WordPress website is hacked and begins distributing malware to readers who visit it faces a credibility crisis that significantly exceeds the two hours per month that maintenance would have cost.

Broken Links

Links break. Retailers update their product pages. Publisher websites change URLs. Books go out of print. A buy link on your book page that pointed to an Indiebound product page now 404s. A review link in your press kit leads nowhere. Readers who click broken links leave. Search engines that crawl broken links downgrade your site's credibility. A quarterly broken link check catches these before they accumulate into a reader experience problem.

Content Currency

An author website with an 'Upcoming Releases' section listing books that published two years ago, a newsletter signup offering a reader magnet that is no longer available, or an About page bio that refers to your first book as 'my debut' when you have since published eight more does not just look dated — it signals to visiting readers that the author is not actively maintaining their career. Content currency is as important as technical maintenance for a professional author web presence.

Performance and SEO

Google's Core Web Vitals scores and search rankings are not static. New WordPress plugins add code weight. Uploaded images accumulate without optimization. Theme updates change page structure. An annual SEO audit and performance check catches degradation before it substantially affects your search rankings.

Monthly Maintenance Tasks

WordPress-Specific Monthly Tasks

All Platforms Monthly Tasks

• Review new content additions — are all new books added with complete pages, covers, descriptions, and buy links?

• Check any recent contact form submissions — respond to any media inquiries or reader messages

• Verify your reader magnet delivery is working — download your own reader magnet and confirm delivery functions correctly

• Review ScribeCount Website Traffic's daily snapshot data — look for unusual traffic drops or spikes that might indicate a problem

Quarterly Maintenance Tasks

Broken Link Check

Broken link checking finds links on your website that lead to 404 pages or other errors. On WordPress, the Broken Link Checker plugin (free) continuously monitors your site and flags broken links in your admin dashboard. For Squarespace, Wix, and other hosted platforms, run your URL through a free online broken link checker like ahrefs.com/broken-link-checker or the W3C Link Checker every quarter.

Fix broken links by updating them to the correct current URL, redirecting them to the most relevant alternative page, or removing them if no suitable replacement exists. Priority order: buy links on book pages, links in your press kit, links in your most-visited blog posts.

Performance Audit

Run your most important pages through Google PageSpeed Insights quarterly. Look for score changes since the last check — a 15-point drop in mobile score since last quarter indicates something changed (new plugin, new images, theme update) that needs addressing. If your scores have declined, use PageSpeed's diagnostic section to identify the specific cause.

Also check ScribeCount's Website Traffic page timing data for real-user performance trends. A site that shows good PageSpeed scores in simulation but poor actual load times in real-user data (common on certain hosting configurations) needs attention that simulation testing alone would miss.

Content Review

Walk through every page of your website with the eye of a new reader:

• Are all book pages complete — cover, description, sample chapter, buy links, reader reviews?

• Are all buy links active and directing to the correct pages?

• Does your About page accurately reflect your current publishing status?

• Is your 'Coming Soon' or 'Upcoming Releases' section current?

• Does your Press page have your most current bio and cover images?

• Are your newsletter opt-in offers still accurate — is the reader magnet still the one being delivered?

Email List Integration Check

Submit a test signup through your own email capture form and verify: the subscriber appears in your email platform, the welcome email arrives, and the reader magnet delivery link works. Email platform integrations occasionally break silently — your form appears to submit successfully but subscribers are not being added. A quarterly live test catches this before months of potential subscribers are lost.

Annual Maintenance Tasks

Full SEO Audit

Once per year, conduct a thorough review of your website's SEO health:

• Check Google Search Console's Coverage report for any pages showing indexing errors

• Review your top-performing search queries in Search Console — are there queries where you rank on page 2 that targeted content improvement could move to page 1?

• Check that all book pages have unique, keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions — not platform-generated defaults

• Verify your sitemap is current and submitting to Google correctly

• Check that Schema markup is valid using Google's Rich Results Test tool

Domain and Hosting Renewal Review

Verify your domain renewal date and ensure auto-renewal is enabled with your current payment method. A domain that lapses due to an expired card is a preventable crisis — the domain goes offline, your email stops working, and the domain may be captured by a squatter before you recover it. Check annually and update payment information proactively.

Review your hosting plan annually as well. If your website traffic has grown significantly, you may be approaching resource limits on your current plan. Check your hosting dashboard for resource usage metrics and upgrade before hitting limits rather than after your site starts slowing under increased load.

SSL Certificate Check

SSL certificates (the padlock in the browser bar) expire and must be renewed. Most managed hosting providers and hosted platforms handle SSL renewal automatically. Verify annually that your SSL is current and auto-renewing — an expired SSL causes browsers to display a security warning to visitors, which dramatically reduces their willingness to stay on or return to your site. Check by visiting your site and confirming the padlock icon appears and shows a current certificate.

Analytics and Tracking Audit

Verify annually that all your analytics tools are working correctly:

• Google Analytics 4 — confirm data is being collected and your conversion events are firing

• Google Search Console — confirm no coverage errors or manual actions

• ScribeCount Website Traffic — confirm the pixel is receiving data and conversion events are configured correctly

• Any other tracking pixels — Facebook pixel, Pinterest tag, etc.

Tracking tools occasionally break silently due to theme updates, plugin conflicts, or platform changes. An annual audit confirms everything is collecting the data you depend on for marketing decisions.

Maintenance for Hosted Platforms

Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, and similar all-in-one platforms handle hosting infrastructure, security updates, and SSL automatically. Monthly maintenance for these platforms is lighter:

• Review and respond to any contact form submissions

• Check for platform-level updates or announcements that affect your site (new features, deprecated integrations)

• Verify your email platform integration is working via test signup

• Review ScribeCount Website Traffic data for traffic and conversion trends

Quarterly tasks remain the same regardless of platform: broken link check, content currency review, performance audit. Annual tasks: domain renewal verification, full content review, analytics audit.

The Author Website Maintenance Schedule

An author website maintained consistently performs better, ranks better, and converts visitors more reliably than an identical website that is neglected. The schedule above — approximately two hours per month on average — is the maintenance investment that keeps your most important author business infrastructure in the condition it needs to be in. Put it in your calendar. Do it consistently. It is among the highest-return time investments available to you as an indie author.

-Randall Wood