- Website maintenance is the recurring work that keeps a site secure, online and accurate: software updates, the security certificate, the domain, backups and the words on the page.
- Security certificates now expire faster. The maximum lifetime dropped to 200 days on March 15, 2026, falls to 100 days in March 2027 and to 47 days in March 2029.
- PHP 8.2, the language under many WordPress sites, gets security fixes only until December 31, 2026, so older sites need a version check this winter.
- CISA recommends three copies of important files, on two kinds of storage, with one kept off-site, and regular test restores.
- A good plan lists each task, how often it happens and who does it, so you can see what the monthly charge actually buys.
What website maintenance means for a Chattanooga business
Website maintenance in Chattanooga covers the same jobs as anywhere else: keeping the software current, renewing the security certificate and the domain, backing up the site and checking that it still loads fast and says the right things. A maintenance plan is an agreement about who does each of those jobs and how often. For most small business sites the work is spread across many small tasks that are easy to forget until one of them fails.
Chattanooga is the county seat of Hamilton County and counted 181,099 people in the 2020 census. In September 2010 the city utility EPB launched the first government-provided one-gigabit internet service in the country, so plenty of offices here browse on fiber all day. That makes a slow or broken page easy to miss from your own desk, while a customer on a phone in a parking lot sees it right away.
This guide walks through each task, what the official sources say about it, and the questions to ask before you sign a plan, whether with us or anyone else.
Software updates and the version underneath
Most small business sites run on a content management system with plugins, and WordPress is a familiar example. Its documentation says automatic background updates arrived in version 3.7, and that minor releases, the ones that carry security fixes, update themselves by default. New installs since version 5.6 also update major releases automatically, but older installs keep the previous behavior. Plugins and themes only update automatically in special cases, so on many sites somebody has to apply those updates by hand.
WordPress also advises backing up the database and every file before an upgrade and checking that the backup is usable, because rolling back without one is very difficult. A plan that updates plugins without a backup taken that same day is skipping the step that makes a bad update fixable.
Below the content system sits the programming language, often PHP. The PHP project publishes its support dates: version 8.2 receives security fixes until December 31, 2026, version 8.3 until December 31, 2027, and version 8.4 until December 31, 2028. Versions 8.1 and older are past the end of their support. If nobody can tell you which version your site runs, that is the first thing to find out, because the host may move you to a newer one whether your plugins are ready or not.
Security certificates and the domain renewal
The padlock in the address bar comes from a TLS certificate, and every certificate expires. The CA/Browser Forum, the group of certificate authorities and browser makers that sets the rules, voted in April 2025 to shorten the maximum lifetime in steps. DigiCert lists the schedule:
| From | Longest a certificate can last | What it means for a small site |
|---|---|---|
| Before March 15, 2026 | 398 days | A yearly renewal by hand was possible. |
| March 15, 2026 | 200 days | At least two renewals a year. |
| March 15, 2027 | 100 days | About four renewals a year; manual renewal gets risky. |
| March 15, 2029 | 47 days | Renewal has to be automatic. |
Many hosts already use Let's Encrypt, whose certificates last 90 days and which recommends renewing every 60. That works without anyone touching it until something in the setup changes, such as a new host, a moved domain or a firewall rule, and then the renewal fails quietly. A maintenance plan should include a check that the certificate renewed, with a warning to a real person well before it lapses.
The domain name is the other date to watch. ICANN's expired registration policy requires a registrar to send renewal notices about one month and about one week before a domain expires, and one more within five days after. Those emails go to whatever address is on the registration, which is often a former employee or a web company you no longer use. Keep the domain in the business's name, on auto-renew, with an inbox someone reads.
Backups you have tested
The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, gives small businesses a simple rule for backups: keep three copies of important files, on two different types of storage, with one copy stored off-site. It also says backups should run automatically, be stored separately from the main systems, and be tested with scheduled recovery tests, both full and partial. Its guidance adds that you should be able to roll data back at least seven days.
For a website, that means a copy at the host, a copy somewhere the host does not control, and a restore drill a few times a year on a test copy of the site. The drill is the step most plans skip, and it is the only way to know the backup includes the database, the uploaded photos and the settings, along with the page files.
Ask any company offering a plan three questions: where the off-site copy lives, how many days of copies are kept, and when they last restored one of your backups to prove it works.
Hours, pages and the checks Google runs
Maintenance also covers what the site says. Prices, staff, service areas and photos drift out of date, and customers notice before the owner does. Hours cause the most trouble. Google lets a business set special hours on its Business Profile for a holiday or a short change without touching the regular hours, and says to mark the business temporarily closed for a closure of seven days or more. The website should change on the same day, so the map and the site agree. Our guide to the Google Business Profile in Chattanooga covers the profile side.
Speed is measured, and it can slip as photos and plugins pile up. Google's Core Web Vitals call a page good when the main content loads within 2.5 seconds, when it responds to a tap in under 200 milliseconds and when its layout shift score stays under 0.1. Google also says it uses the mobile version of a site for indexing and ranking, so these checks belong on a phone. If a security problem appears, the Security Issues report in Search Console shows it, and Google may show a warning to visitors in search results and in the browser until it is fixed across the whole site.
Accessibility drifts too, often with each new photo or form. The Justice Department's web guidance, published in March 2022, says businesses open to the public must meet the ADA's requirements online, and it lists common barriers such as missing alt text, poor color contrast, videos without captions and forms that do not work without a mouse. A quarterly pass over new content catches most of them.
What a website maintenance plan should list
Plans vary widely in what they include, so judge one by its task list. A useful plan spells out each of these, with how often it happens and whether it is in the monthly charge or billed by the hour.
- Updates. Which software gets updated, how often, and whether a backup is taken first.
- Version checks. Who watches the PHP and content system versions and plans the move before support ends.
- Certificate and domain. Who gets the renewal warnings, and whose name and email are on the domain.
- Backups. How many copies, where the off-site copy lives, how long they are kept and how often a restore is tested.
- Monitoring. Who is told when the site goes down, and how quickly someone looks.
- Content edits. How many small changes a month are included, and how fast they go live.
- Speed and accessibility checks. How often, on which pages, and what you get to read afterward.
- Access and exit. Every login stays in your name, and leaving the plan does not mean losing the site.
The last item is the one that saves the most trouble later. If you are weighing a plan against starting over with a new site, our guide to website redesign cost in Chattanooga covers what goes into that quote.
How Nooga Tech handles maintenance
Nooga Tech is a web design and engineering team based in Chattanooga, and support after launch is part of our Web Design & Growth work. You choose the level of support, or none if you would rather make changes yourself, and the domain, code and hosting stay in your name either way.
We work with businesses across the area, from Chattanooga to towns like Ooltewah and Cleveland. If search is the reason you want the site kept in shape, our guide to SEO in Chattanooga covers the profile and page work. Send us your site's address for the free consult, and we will tell you what it needs now and what it will need over the next year.
Frequently asked questions
What does website maintenance include?
Software and plugin updates, the security certificate and domain renewal, backups with test restores, uptime monitoring, small content edits, and periodic speed and accessibility checks. A plan should list each one and how often it happens.
How often should a small business website be updated?
Security updates as soon as they come out, which WordPress does automatically for minor releases. Plugins and themes need a regular schedule, with a backup taken first. Content should change whenever hours, prices or services change.
Do I need a maintenance plan if my site rarely changes?
The software and certificates change even when your pages do not. Certificates now last 200 days at most and that drops to 100 days in March 2027, and PHP versions reach the end of their support on published dates.
What happens if my domain expires?
The site and any email on that domain stop working. ICANN requires registrars to send notices about a month and a week before expiry and once more within five days after, so make sure those emails reach someone.
How many backups should a website have?
CISA suggests three copies of important files, on two kinds of storage, with one off-site, and regular test restores. For a website that means a host copy, an independent copy and a restore drill a few times a year.
Can I maintain my own website?
Yes, if you are comfortable updating plugins, checking backups and watching renewal dates. Many owners handle content edits themselves and hand the technical tasks to someone else.
Will maintenance help my Google rankings?
It keeps the site fast, secure and accurate, which Google measures. Core Web Vitals, a working certificate and a site free of hacked content all affect how a page is treated in search.
Does Nooga Tech offer website maintenance in Chattanooga?
Yes. Support after launch is part of our [Web Design & Growth](/marketing) work. You choose the level of support, and the domain, code and hosting stay in your name.