How to Restore a WordPress Website to a Few Updates Ago
You wake up one day and discover that some unknown hacker has compromised your WordPress website. Luckily, you have a backup from last week. Now you need to know how to restore your site to a few updates ago. While there are many methods to do this, this article will walk you through the easiest way.
Step 1: Check For Any Recent Changes To Your WordPress
As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. This is especially true when it comes to your website because once you lose a customer or a potential customer, it can be very difficult to get them back. One of the first things you should check for is any recent changes to your WordPress website. This way, you can determine what has been modified and how recently the change occurred. If you find that a file has been modified recently, it probably indicates that it has been uploaded by an intruder. From there, you can proceed to step two.
Step 2: Delete All Unnecessary Files From The WordPress Root
Now that you have confirmed the existence of the malicious code, it’s time to remove it. To do this, you first need to secure your WordPress root by deleting all unnecessary files. Once you have securely deleted these files, you can download a free file archiver from the WordPress repository to make sure the malicious code is completely erased.
You should also check to see if there are any other versions of WordPress installed on your server. If there are multiple versions, you must ensure that any one of them is not accessible by the public or anyone else online. Otherwise, anyone will be able to visit the site and see your source code which gives the hacker the ability to modify your website again.
Step 3: Replace All The Website’s Backlinks With Fresh, White Hat Links
After you have securely deleted all the unnecessary files from your WordPress installation, it’s time to replace all of the website’s backlinks with fresh, white hat links. To do this, you must make a list of all the backlinks that are currently in place on your website. The next step is to use a Link Domination tool to find the best domains to use for your replacement links. Once you have a list of promising links, it’s time to go through them one by one and replace them with live links.
Using a Link Domination tool is crucial to ensure that your backlinks are of good quality and won’t penalize your site in any way. If you are unable to use a tool to do this for you, it’s time to contact a professional webmaster to help you out. They can clean up your backlinks for you, whitelist your site, and ensure that your backlinks are always of good quality.
Step 4: Check For Any Unauthorized Access To Your Account
Once your site is back up and running, you should check for any unauthorized access to your account. One of the easiest ways for an intruder to damage your site is to try and log in to your account on your behalf. The best way to prevent this from happening is by ensuring that your account is secure and is only accessible by you. To do this, you must ensure that you always use a strong password and never share it with anyone. Furthermore, you should change your password periodically to ensure that it remains secure.
Step 5: Use A Plugin To Monitor Your Website’s Performance
Now that your site is running smoothly, it’s time to put in place some performance monitoring. To do this, you can install a WordPress plugin that will monitor your site’s traffic and performance. This plugin will then create a report for you that will contain all the important information about your site. In addition to this, the plugin will allow you to track the performance of each individual page on your site. This is very important if you are looking into selling specific products or services on your site because the performance of each individual page will determine how effectively you are reaching your audience and how much money you are making.
Step 6: Delete The Plugin And Install The New One
Once you have completed the steps above, it’s time to delete the plugin and install the new one. Even though this article was geared toward fixing a hacked WordPress website, these steps can be used to restore any WordPress website to a few updates ago. Simply follow them and you will see your site bring back all its former glory.