Getting Started with Your First WordPress Site Health Check

Learn how to run your first WordPress Site Health check, understand the results, and decide what to do next as a new site owner.

Why Site Health Matters for New WordPress Site Owners

When you log into WordPress, it’s easy to focus only on pages, posts, and design. But under the hood, your site’s technical health determines how fast, stable, and secure everything feels for visitors.

The built-in Site Health tool gives you a simple dashboard-style report about your site’s configuration, performance, and security. You don’t need to be a developer to use it or to understand the basics of what it tells you.Source

Where to Find the Site Health Screen

Site Health is available in all modern versions of WordPress.

Step-by-step: Open the Site Health tool

1. Log in to your WordPress admin area.
2. In the left-hand menu, go to Tools ? Site Health.
3. Wait a few seconds while WordPress runs its checks.

What You Should See

• A headline showing an overall status like Good or Should be improved.
• A colored circle or bar indicating your current health score.
• Two main tabs near the top: Status and Info.Source

If you don’t see Tools ? Site Health, your WordPress version may be very old or your user account may not have the right permissions. Ask your site administrator or hosting provider for help.

Understanding the Site Health “Status” Tab

The Status tab is the main report card for your site. It groups findings into three categories:

• Critical issues – things that may affect security, reliability, or performance.
• Recommended improvements – optimizations that are not urgent but worth addressing.
• Passed tests – checks that look good and don’t need attention.Source

How to review your Status results

1. On the Status tab, scroll through the list of items.
2. Click each item’s title to expand it and read the explanation.
3. Look for the short description that explains why it matters.
4. Pay attention to any link labeled something like Learn more or Go to – these usually take you directly to the screen where you can fix the issue.

Owner-friendly way to triage issues

As a non-technical site owner, you don’t need to fix everything yourself. Instead, use Site Health as a prioritization tool:

• Handle simple items yourself – like updating plugins, themes, or WordPress core when prompted.
• Flag technical items – like PHP version, REST API issues, or loopback errors – for your developer or hosting support.
• Keep a running list – copy the issue titles and descriptions into a document you can share with your technical partner.

Understanding the Site Health “Info” Tab

The Info tab is a read-only technical profile of your site. It shows details about WordPress, themes, plugins, server, database, and more.Source

Why the Info tab is useful

You’ll rarely change anything directly from this tab, but it’s extremely helpful when you need support. Many hosts and developers will ask for:

• Your WordPress version and site language.
• Active theme name and version.
• List of active plugins.
• PHP version and server details.

Step-by-step: Export Site Health info for support

1. Go to Tools ? Site Health ? Info.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page.
3. Click Copy site info to clipboard.
4. Paste the copied text into an email or support ticket.

This gives your support team a complete, standardized snapshot of your configuration so they can troubleshoot faster.Source

Common Site Health Messages You Might See

Here are some typical messages and how to think about them as a site owner.

1. “You have plugins waiting to be updated”

Updates are one of the simplest ways to keep your site secure and stable. Out-of-date plugins and themes are a common source of security vulnerabilities.

What to do:

• Go to Dashboard ? Updates.
• Review the list of plugins and themes with available updates.
• Update them, ideally after a recent backup or on a staging site if your site is complex.

2. “Your site is running an outdated version of PHP”

PHP is the programming language that powers WordPress. Newer versions are faster and more secure. WordPress recommends using a supported, modern version of PHP for best performance and security.Source

What to do:

• Do not change PHP yourself unless you know how.
• Open a ticket with your hosting provider and share the exact Site Health message.
• Ask them to upgrade PHP to a recommended version compatible with your site.

3. “One or more recommended modules are missing” or similar server notices

These messages usually relate to server-level PHP modules or configuration. They’re important but not something most site owners should change directly.

What to do:

• Copy the full message text.
• Send it to your host or developer and ask whether they can safely enable the missing module or adjust the configuration.

4. “Background updates are not working as expected”

WordPress can automatically apply some security and maintenance updates. If background updates are blocked, you may miss important fixes.

What to do:

• Share the message with your host and ask why automatic updates are disabled.
• Confirm that you have a manual update and backup process in place if they remain off.

Using Site Health Together with User Roles

Not every user on your site should be responsible for technical health. WordPress uses roles (Administrator, Editor, Author, etc.) to control what each person can see and do.Source

Practical role guidelines for Site Health

• Administrators – should review Site Health regularly and coordinate fixes with hosting or a developer.
• Editors and Authors – focus on content; they usually don’t need access to technical settings.
• Subscribers – have no reason to access the dashboard at all.

As the site owner, make sure only trusted people have Administrator access, since they can change settings that affect Site Health.

Simple First-Week Site Health Routine

To build good habits from day one, follow this simple routine during your first week with a new WordPress site:

1. Day 1: Open Tools ? Site Health, review the Status tab, and make a list of all critical issues.
2. Day 2: Handle easy items yourself (updates, unused plugins, basic settings) and note what’s left.
3. Day 3–4: Share remaining technical items with your host or developer, including a copy of the Info tab.
4. Day 5–7: Re-run Site Health and confirm that critical issues are resolved or at least understood.

How Often Should You Check Site Health?

Site Health is not a one-time task. It’s a quick dashboard you can revisit regularly:

• After major changes – like installing a new plugin, changing themes, or moving hosts.
• After WordPress core updates – to confirm everything still looks good.
• On a schedule – for example, once a month or once per quarter as part of your maintenance routine.Source

What You Should See When Things Are Healthy

When your site is in good shape, the Site Health screen will typically show:

• An overall status of Good or similar wording.
• No critical issues, and only a few (or zero) recommended improvements.
• Up-to-date WordPress core, theme, and plugins.
• No warnings about outdated PHP or missing server modules.

You don’t need a perfect score, but you should understand any remaining warnings and be comfortable with the risks.

Next Steps After Your First Site Health Check

Once you’ve run your first Site Health check and addressed the obvious items, you’re in a strong position to keep your site stable over time. From here, you can:

• Set a recurring reminder to review Tools ? Site Health.
• Document which issues your host or developer is responsible for.
• Pair Site Health with a regular backup and update routine so problems are caught early.

Used this way, Site Health becomes less of a scary technical screen and more of a friendly dashboard that helps you keep your WordPress site fast, secure, and reliable.