Why Regular Maintenance Matters

Your school, university, or learning organization’s website is often the first place people go for application deadlines, event schedules, grades, program information, and campus news. Outdated content, broken features, or downtime can frustrate users, damage credibility, and even impact enrollment decisions.

Routine maintenance ensures your site remains secure, accessible, and user-friendly for all — from current and prospective students to faculty, research partners, community members, donors, and other visitors.

Here’s a checklist of tasks you should perform monthly, quarterly, and annually to keep your education website running at peak performance.

 

Monthly Maintenance Tasks

There are a series of analyses that will help you paint a full picture of your new site’s performance. They include:

CONDUCT A BACKUP & DISASTER RECOVERY TEST

Verify that automated backups are working correctly and perform a full restore test so you can recover quickly in the event of a server crash, security breach, or other major failure.

RUN A SECURITY SCAN

Use tools from your hosting provider or reputable services like Norton, TotalAV, or Sucuri to scan for malware and review security logs. If you discover unauthorized access attempts, address them immediately by blocking suspicious IP addresses and updating your security measures.

UPDATE CMS, PLUGINS & THEMES

Apply updates to WordPress, Drupal, or other platforms, plus all plugins and themes. Be sure to test changes in a staging environment before deploying to your live site to prevent functionality issues.

REFRESH VIP CONTENT

Review and update critical, time-sensitive pieces of information, including:

• Academic calendars and schedules
• Program descriptions and course offerings
• Faculty/staff bios and office hours
• Admissions requirements and tuition details
• Student resources, FAQs, and campus policies
• News and blog posts

REVIEW ANALYTICS & TRAFFIC

Check Google Analytics and Search Console for meaningful traffic patterns. Identify high-traffic pages that are underperforming in conversions (e.g., program inquiry form submissions) and improve calls to action or related links.

Having trouble making sense of traditional analytics platforms? Consider a custom dashboard to get precise metrics linked to your school’s specific goals and objectives.

CONDUCT AN SEO HEALTH CHECK

• Verify meta titles, descriptions, and image alt text
• Remove duplicate content
• Ensure proper heading tag hierarchy (H1, H2, etc.)
• Confirm schema markup is implemented, especially for events, courses, and faculty profiles
• Align any new content additions with Google E-E-A-T guidelines (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)

TEST FORMS & APPLICATIONS

Make sure all inquiry forms, application portals, payment gateways (for tuition or events), and other interactive tools work correctly.

FIX BROKEN LINKS

Use tools like Ahrefs’ Broken Link Checker or Screaming Frog to repair or remove any links that return 404 errors or outdated content.

 

Quarterly Maintenance Tasks

REVIEW ACCESSIBILITY COMPLIANCE

Use tools like WAVE or axe DevTools to ensure your site meets WCAG accessibility standards. All content, navigation, forms, and media should be usable for visitors with disabilities.

OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE METRICS

Test your site with Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to identify performance bottlenecks. Optimize caching, compress images, and minimize scripts to keep load times fast — especially important for mobile users.

REVIEW DATA PRIVACY POLICIES & COMPLIANCE

Ensure that any student or user data collected through your site is securely encrypted and transmitted following applicable laws and institutional policies. Audit any third-party tools that handle this data.

 

Annual Maintenance Tasks

CONDUCT A FULL CONTENT AUDIT

Add fresh content like new program launches, student success stories, and research highlights. Remove, update, or consolidate underperforming pages.

REVIEW USER EXPERIENCE & VISUAL DESIGN

Run usability tests — such as card sorting or first-click testing — to see how visitors interact with your site. Identify confusing navigation, outdated design elements, or unnecessary steps in the user journey. Update visuals to maintain a modern, professional appearance.

UPDATE LEGAL POLICIES & DISCLAIMERS

Review and update copyright statements, privacy policies, terms of use, and cookie policies to reflect current regulations and institutional practices.

 

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How Eastern Standard Can Help

Need help creating and executing a long-term maintenance plan for your school or university website? Our team can ensure your site stays secure, accessible, and engaging year-round. Reach out to start a conversation.